Articles

We at CheapestMerchantAccounts.com are focused on continually working to develop our website as a true resource for small business owners. The following articles are designed to help you improve your business, in many cases these articles are focused on merchant services but we will from time to time also deliver articles that are focused on general improvements to your small business. If you have any questions or have a recommendation for a future article please contact us.

Understanding Merchant Accounts and Payment Gateways

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

If you are new to the world Internet commerce, one of the first decisions you will need to make is how you are going to accept payments from your customers. If you are considering applying for a merchant account and a payment gateway system, the following information will assist you in deciding if this is [...]

A Beginner’s Guide to eCommerce

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

Ecommerce challenges any businessperson, especially those who have experienced it before. The term itself means buying and selling online. Ecommerce technology makes doing business online safe and secure, making it an ideal way for a business to expand or for individuals to start their own business.

How to Select the Best Online Merchant Account

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

For any business to be successful in the current online marketplace, customers need to be able to use their preferred credit cards to make purchases. If not, you may as well forget about staying in business. However, getting to the stage where you can easily process your customer’s credit card payments can be quite a [...]

Avoiding Chargebacks with Your eCommerce Account

Last Updated on October 24, 2024

As a merchant doing business online, your concern among other things is how to avoid chargebacks with your eCommerce (online) account. What are chargebacks and how can they be avoided?

Merchant Account Comparisons

October 24, 2024

Small Business owners are often overwhelmed with the process of find a simple, and cost effective means to process credit cards on their website.
This process is complicated by the number of options available to them, as well as adverse selling tactics which are employed by some credit card processors, which are used to draw your [...]

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Interchange Rates: Learning the Fundamentals

October 24, 2024

Getting Down to the Basics
Interchange Rates are a simple concept once you understand the key factors that make them up. What industry you are in, what type of card you accept, what method of cards you accept- all influence what your Interchange Rate will be. Identifying the answers to these questions and knowing what they [...]

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How to Secure the Lowest Possible Costs

October 24, 2024

The Following is Our Advice for Securing the Best Deal for Your Business:

Avoid Worrying About Rates – Focus on Cost

As mentioned above, the merchant service providers are very experienced at marketing to small business owners. So they try and grab your attention by advertising the “lowest rates” available. Many even offer available rates on their [...]

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Chargebacks: What are they, where they come from, and what should you do?

October 24, 2024

No matter what area of the market your small business is involved in, chargebacks is a term that no small business owner wants to hear, but one that every small business owner should understand, inside and out.
Although chargebacks can seem like a personal attack when someone files a chargeback claim against your business, they were [...]

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Shoestring Data Security for a Small Business

October 24, 2024

Business data and card-processing records are critical information for a small business, particularly those in e-commerce of any kind. The loss of such information can close a business down. However, there are easy solutions available to help maintain operations and protect a small business’ data from disaster.

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Making Sure Your Payment Systems Stay Secure

October 24, 2024

As payment processing technology continues to advance, so do the benefits for small business owners. Along with becoming more user friendly, technological advancements have resulted in credit card processing platforms that are more efficient and exponentially faster than their predecessors, which are ultimately beneficial to small business.

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Best Practices for Contactless Payments

October 24, 2024

Contactless payment is when someone scans their credit card near the credit card terminal, but they never swipe the card. While these were once very rare, now many credit cards have embedded RFID chips. One of the obvious benefits to installing contactless payment terminals is to help satisfy customers, but there are other benefits as [...]

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Advice on Payment Gateways

October 24, 2024

Every time a customer orders product online, the checkout page has a sort of hidden link to a payment processing center. When a credit or debit card is used as payment, the encrypted information is sent to the processing center, and this service is known as a payment gateway. If you are operating a business [...]

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Reasons to Consider Mobile Payments

October 24, 2024

“Mobile” is certainly the latest buzzword when considering payment options for today’s small business. Mobile payment options are non-traditional payment alternatives that enable the customer and small business owner to utilize cell phones or mobile devices to conduct transactions. Mobile payment is fast and easy for the “plugged-in” consumer, and transactions occur instantly, benefiting the [...]

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What is “The Discount Rate”

October 24, 2024

In the realm of merchant accounts offered by banks and credit card processors, the discount rate has a special meaning that is important for a small owner to understand. Where the discount rate classically refers to the rate charged by the Federal Reserve to other banks when they borrow, in the credit card world, this [...]

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When To Change Merchant Accounts

October 24, 2024

Merchant accounts are a means for businesses to take credit and debit cards. Only having the ability to process cash can be detrimental to companies that offer large amounts of purchasing. However, if your merchant services are not giving you what you need and are charging you fees, it might be time to change merchant [...]

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How Retail Credit Card Processing Works

October 24, 2024

For retailers who would like to accept credit card payments it is important to understand how retail credit card processing works. Regardless of the type or size of your business, retail credit card process allows you the opportunity to offer convenient payments to customers while benefitting from a fast payment process.

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What is Your MCC code, and Why Do You Care?

October 24, 2024

What is your MCC code? This stands for your “Merchant Category Code”, and if you don’t know much about MCCs, then this is just going to be a four-digit number to you. However, that four-digit number is actually very important for your business endeavors, especially if you are working with another company, and it will [...]

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Things to Consider Before Accepting Credit Card Payments

October 24, 2024

A merchant account is an absolute necessity as a business owner. With many consumers switching from using cash to using credit or debit cards, not accepting them as a business drives potential clients away and causes them to seek other avenues for goods and services. Before your business is able to accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover [...]

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A Guide to Visa’s EMV Merchant Incentives

October 24, 2024

Visa’s EMV (Europay, MasterCard and VISA) merchant incentives are expanding to other countries including the United States. The new technology was initially introduced in regions such as Europe, Asia and Canada. The new “chip-and-PIN” technology is popular because of its convenience and security when authenticating debit and credit card transactions. Not only is the technology [...]

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Understanding Your Merchant Account Statement

October 24, 2024

If thoughts of reading your merchant account statement send you running for a bottle of pain reliever, take heart. While it certainly isn’t guaranteed to be a pleasant task, it is easier when you understand what all of the fuss is about. So, pull up a chair and put on your reading glasses. You’re about [...]

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Home Based Merchant Accounts

October 24, 2024

Many people have decided to embark on their dream of entrepreneurship by starting their own home based business after facing an uncertain future due to unemployment and laid offs. Although there are many advantages of working from home, mainly low operating and start up costs. There is also a unique challenge which home based business [...]

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Virtual Merchant Accounts and Your Small Business

October 24, 2024

Simply stated, a virtual merchant account is credit card processing done online. It has revolutionized the merchant transaction capability. A business is no longer tied to special merchant equipment tied to a telephone line. A business can accept all major credit cards, debit cards, perform check guarantee and verification. Orders can be processed from a [...]

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Choosing a Payment Gateway

October 24, 2024

When you run an ecommerce website, you need a payment gateway to process credit card payments. While gateways are easy to use, there are so many to choose from that it can be difficult to know what features are really needed, and which ones are just nice to have. This article doesn’t go through the [...]

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Credit Card Processing for Non-Profits

October 24, 2024

As an increasing number of non-profit organizations are now accepting donations by credit cards, it is important to know your options. Accepting donations via credit card certainly provides many advantages, including the ability to collect funds faster as well as larger donations. Donors also benefit as using their credit card is faster and more convenient [...]

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Credit Card Processing by Telephone

October 24, 2024

For small business owners, many orders are processed far differently than for larger businesses; often through mail orders and telephone orders. Rather than processing orders online or being scanned at the point of sale retail location, mail and phone orders involve processing credit card payments when the card is not physically present. While one option [...]

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Connect with Us

October 24, 2024

Over the past few months we have seen an amazing amount of growth here at CheapestMerchantAccounts.com; we could not be more thankful to the thousands of you that have used this site to learn more about the credit card processing industry and the various options available to you.
We have been humbled by how many of [...]

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Google Wallet

October 24, 2024

Just as Google revolutionized the smart phone industry with its impressive Android operating system, the company now looks to do the same to the business landscape with the introduction of its Google Wallet product. The company claims that Google Wallet will not only make transactions faster and easier for consumers, but for small business owners [...]

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Improving Your Social Media Presence

October 24, 2024

In addition to setting your business up with the best merchant account designed to fit your its needs, we here at CheapestMerchantAccounts.com know that there are additional ways to help improve on your business. Over the next few weeks we will be delivering additional articles which we hope will help small businesses both online and [...]

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Process Credit Cards with Confidence

October 24, 2024

It is no simple task to process a credit card transaction. For an outsider, it would seem very simple. All one has to do is to take the card, swipe it in a machine, enter the amount to be billed, and the transaction is done. That’s what the outsider sees. But you, as a merchant [...]

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12 Step Guide to Improving Your Retail Sales

October 24, 2024

In addition to setting your business up with the best merchant account designed to fit your its needs, we here at CheapestMerchantAccounts.com know that there are additional ways to help improve on your business. Over the next few weeks we will be delivering additional articles which we hope will help small businesses both online and [...]

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Is Durbin the end of Square?

October 24, 2024

In preparing my article on the upcoming Durbin Amendment, I came to an interesting realization: Could the Durbin Amendment be the end of Square?
Why?
Well consider this:

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What is the Durbin Amendment?

October 24, 2024

An Overview of the Durbin Amendment
The Durbin Amendment is an addendum to the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by Congress in 2010. Its namesake, Senator Richard Durbin from Illinois, wrote the plan to expand Federal Reserve powers for setting interchange fees related to debit card transaction processing. In setting the fees, the [...]

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Credit Card Processing: Myths & Misconceptions

October 24, 2024

Deciding to initialize service between a small business and a credit card processing account is vital to making your small business legitimate in the eyes of customers. It is simple fact that almost all customers today pay with some form of debit or credit card, necessitating that a small business adopt a merchant account or [...]

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10 Questions to Ask When Selecting a Merchant Account

October 24, 2024

There are several questions that a person needs to ask when getting a merchant account.

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Business Marketing Advice for New Businesses

October 24, 2024

This is a guest post written for CheapestMerchantAccounts.com from our friends at whoishostingthis.com

If you are going to make a success of your new business, you have to make marketing a priority. The marketing strategies you employ will determine the success or failure of your business. There is a great deal of competition out there, some [...]

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Guide to Interchange Rates

October 24, 2024

It is important for every small business to take the time to understand what Interchange rates are and how to best negotiate these rates with your merchant. What industry you are in, what methods of cards you accept and the type of card that you accept determine interchange rates. Interchange fees are paid to the [...]

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Don’t Sign a Merchant Account with Your Bank

October 24, 2024

There are some clear reasons not to sign with your bank locally for a merchant account. Most often a small business owner will obtain merchant account services through a local banking institution. The average small business usually does this without considering any other options.

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Why You Should Always Call

October 24, 2024

One of the things that we have noticed at CheapestMerchantAccounts.com is that nearly every small business owner that signed up for their merchant account “online” (ie they never spoke with a sales rep), was paying extraneous costs and fees – sometimes to the tune of hundreds of dollars a year.

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Advice On Choosing The Best Merchant Account Provider

October 24, 2024

Finding a merchant account provider can be a hard task to decipher. In today’s world, if a business does not have the ability to accept credit cards or electronic payments, it is as good as giving away business to their competitors. No business owner wants to give away business. That’s why it is important for [...]

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Interchange Vs Tiered Pricing Structure

October 24, 2024

One of the most complicated tasks in running or setting up a retail business is trying to understand merchant account fee structures for accepting credit and debit cards. The methods through which these fees are calculated are very different from each other and can have an impact on a business’s bottom line. Understanding the two [...]

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Tips for Saving Money on Your Merchant Account

October 24, 2024

There more many expenses associated with owning and operating a small business. Paying too much money on a merchant account/credit card processing should not be one of them. There are nine things many companies do wrong when it comes to credit card processing that are wasting that hard earned income.

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How to Compare Merchant Accounts

October 24, 2024

As a merchant or small business owner, one of the things that we should scrutinize deliberately is the credit card processor or merchant service provider that we should choose. Comparing merchant account providers can be exhausting as we have to take consideration of so many factors, like the tables that compare merchant account fees, rates, [...]

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Explaining Merchant Account Contracts

October 24, 2024

A Merchant account permits your business to acknowledge credit card payments via debit or credit cards. It acts as an arrangement between the payment processor (for credit and/or debit card transactions), a merchant bank, and the retailer.

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Merchant Account Fees

October 24, 2024

I recently created a Squidoo Lens that I am hoping becomes a resource for all small business owners looking to learn more about their specific merchant account fees. As I’ve talked about various fees in the past, and will continue to bring them up in future articles I though it would be wise to have [...]

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PCI Compliance Fees

October 24, 2024

With companies issuing credit cards demanding tougher security when it comes to transmitting credit card numbers online, most businesses that allow the use of credit cards are currently advised that they will be charged an annual fee that is used to cover the cost of being compliant with the security regulations posed by major credit [...]

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Are You Ready To Accept Credit Cards?

October 24, 2024

Accepting credit cards from your customers can be an exciting phase in your business, because this is where the profits will really start to come in fast. This is also where you need to be careful about your actions, because you are now dealing with very sensitive information. Unlike regular money transactions, your job isn’t [...]

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How to Lower Your Credit Card Processing Costs

October 24, 2024

In modern society almost every business takes credit or debit cards on a daily basis. When one accepts a credit or debit card there is always a fee associated with accepting it. The credit card processing company charges a merchant a small fee so that they can process the credit card and then forward the [...]

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How to Reduce Your Merchant Account Fees

October 24, 2024

There are various kinds of fees involved in opening a merchant account, and this is something that you might already be aware of. But you should also know that there are certain kinds of fees that can be avoided, or reduced to a certain extent. This solely depends on the kind of merchant account provider [...]

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Choosing The Best Merchant Account

October 24, 2024

Merchant account providers are always eager to help you out in opening a new merchant account. Since there is a healthy competition between the various providers, they will try to lure you with attractive rates and schemes. However, it is important that you do not fall for this trick, and you should be able to [...]

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Dealing With PCI Compliance

October 24, 2024

PCI compliance is a topic which most merchants do not like, because they feel that it is hard work for them. The Payment Card Industry (PCI) has laid down certain guidelines, known as the Data Security Standard (DSS), which is used to ensure that all merchants who process credit card transactions provide adequate security to [...]

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Avoiding PCI Compliance Fees?

October 24, 2024

If you have opened a merchant account for all of your credit card processing purposes, then you might be aware of the fact that there are various kinds of fees applicable to your account. These fees will vary depending on the kind of transactions you make through your customers. So obviously, you would want to [...]

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What Fees Are Required With A Merchant Account?

October 24, 2024

Opening a merchant account can prove to be a great turnaround for your business. This is so because you will be able to welcome more customers who would like to pay with their credit cards and this means that your business will definitely grow. So while this means that you will see a lot of [...]

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Credit Card Processing Basics

October 24, 2024

A lot of merchants who take up credit card processing for the first time feel a bit nervous and maybe even confused about the whole process. If you are a first time merchant too, then you should not feel nervous about the whole process, because if you take one step at a time confidently, the [...]

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Things to Consider When Choosing A Merchant Account

October 24, 2024

The first step to opening a merchant account is to choose where you want to open the account. There are many processing providers who can assist you in opening a merchant account. But the trick is to choose from among them. There are many processing providers who will be able to give you attractive rates [...]

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The Benefits Of A Merchant Account

October 24, 2024

Opening a merchant account will allow you to start accepting credit and debit cards at your store, and you will soon begin to notice that you’re getting a whole lot of new customers, who are ready to flash out their cards at your store. In the course of time, you may notice that there are [...]

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Why You Should Invest In A Merchant Account?

October 24, 2024

Running your own business definitely sounds to be an exciting prospect. While running your business, one of the most important aspect that you should take care of is looking after your customers’ needs. You can do this by analyzing what exactly they need, and what they’re looking for when they’re buying from you. One of [...]

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- - “Robert’s expertise in the field of merchant processing led to a substantial savings in our credit card fees at my previous company. In my present position, the ability to accept credit cards for payment on open account can be a dual-edged sword with the cost involved. By using Robert to audit our statements, we found [...]
    
    - Nicholas Guel, Business Analyst
- - “Robert is an amazing person who is truly looking out for the best interest of business owners. CheapestMerchantAccounts.com is revolutionizing the merchant processing industry. It is bringing much needed change, relief, and support. Robert saved our company money by lowering our overall credit card processing fees.” via Linkedin
    
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- - “Robert has a genuine interest in his clients and associates. He offers valuable business advice when asked and I have found it to be sound. Robert is a wealth of knowledge in the credit card and merchant processing field. He has a great reputation in his industry because of his integrity, followup and professionalism. I [...]
    
    - Tyisha Gina Merritt, Senior Marketing Research Manager
- - “Robert was a great asset to our company. We had the challenge of working through the red tape of switching merchant providers. Robert could always be counted on to jump in and help with the process. He provided great advice and even provided new ideas and ways to grow the business. In a business that called [...]
    
    - Shay Draft, Multi-Media Account Executive
- - “Robert is a very sharp man when it comes to finding savings on our credit card transactions fees. He was able to exposed tremendous over charges we had been paying for years and brought in a great processor to correct problem. Thanks Robert for all of your great work!” via Linkedin
    
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