New Merchant Account

Congratulations on your new internet business. 
 

Whether you have had a website for awhile or are just starting out, selling on the Internet is exciting and can be very lucrative.  Likely, you have your domain name already and a hosting company.  You probably have an idea on the products or services you would like to sell, a vendor from which to purchase your products or materials and a good working knowledge of the competitive landscape.
 
Now, before you implement your business plan, you need to be ready to accept credit cards as a form of payment from your customers.  You need a Merchant Account.    
 
First, you will need a Shopping Cart.  A shopping cart is a software application that typically runs on the computer where your website is located, the web server.  It allows your customers to do things such as searching for a product in your store catalog, adding a selected product to a basket, and placing an order.
 
The shopping cart "integrates" with the rest of your website.  In other words, there are typically links on your web pages that customers can click on which allow them to perform some of the functions described above.
 
Typically, all shopping carts share the following structure: 

	A database that stores information such as product details, customer data, order information, etc.
	A storefront that displays this information to store visitors (e.g. product detail pages, search pages, checkout pages, etc.)
	An administration area allows you, the store administrator, to manage your store.  For example, this is where you add products, set up shipping & payment options, process orders, etc

 
There are hundreds of shopping carts out there.  We have several recommendations on our Partner Page.  Next you will need a Gateway and a new Merchant Account. The gateway must “integrate” or “plug into” the shopping cart.  A gateway takes the information from the payment page of your shopping cart, including the customer’s credit card information, and transmits that data to the cardholder’s bank.  You will receive back, hopefully, an approval for the transaction amount.
 
Once you have the approval, you can ship your product.  Now for the good stuff… how do you get paid?
 
This is where the Merchant Account comes into play.  A merchant account gives you the ability to get paid on your transactions.  The gateway notifies the Merchant Bank, where you set up your Merchant Account as to the details of your transaction.  This is referred to as "batching out".  Your Merchant Bank then reaches out to the Cardholders bank, gets the money and puts it into your own home deposit account.  The whole process takes 2 days. 
  
We recommend you identify a Merchant Account Provider who will set up and integrate your Gateway for you, provide post-sale support and of course, provide you with competitive rates.  
    
eMerchant has is one of the leading Merchant Account Providers specializing in eCommerce transactions.  We have help thousands of new businesses accept credit card payment on their site.  Check out our reviews and then call us to get started.