Merchant account?

Hey, I have heard a lot of people using a merchant account.
I am really not sure what this is?!?!? Can you guys just explain what exactly it is and does? Thanks guys :)

A merchant account is what all businesses use to handle Credit Card and Check transaction. Merchant accounts are linked to your bank account and the funds from credit card transactions are deposited into your bank account.

If your an ebay seller you may have Paypal. Paypal is a 3rd Part processing service. They handle your credit card transactions through their merchant account and you pay paypal a fee. And they offer so called protections.

Paypal really has no protection, mostly false claims and thier own people handle the claims. Generally screwing over the seller intentionally to favor the buyer. Even if the buyer is obviously lying.

Of course with paypal you have no way of identifying the buyer or their address and verifying the validity of their card holder information without jumping through hurdles and hoops.

With a merchant account you have the ability to fight charge back claims and you are able to verify the identity of the buyer. Especially if you want to contact local authorities and file charges of theft or fraud.

Then on top of that paypal can freeze your account and your funds inside. Costing you a ton of money and possibly destroying your ebay reputation in the process if your money is frozen.

Serious sellers bypass paypal and Use a real merchant account.

EBay is presently being pretty tough on users applying for a merchant account. I am hearing stories of merchant account approval taking weeks and then still not approving.

If you have a pre 07 eBay account then your OK.

There are some tricks to using Payal though, such as using a third party cart manager.

There are some other tricks too.

Ahh wow thats a lot of information! I think getting a merchant account seems like the smarter thing to do? How do I get one? Thanks for your help guys!

Ps. Planes, if I do get a merchant account... will I be able to use it on ebay? Or do you think I will have the same problem as the rest of the people because I made my account in 2008?

Thanks!

A merchant account is anything which usually you have most of the control over and that is NOT a strict third party like Paypal.


Amazon Payments is an example of a merchant account, you have exclusive control over it and can fight charge backs- however you still give partial ownership to Amazon in any dispute.


A real merchant account is something like 1st data payment solutions or Google Checkout most often. They verify everything and keep really no part of the transaction, you keep the full amount.

Paypal always acts as a third party agent and takes a large processing fee, hence why many have switched from using this service.

Amazon Payments is actually pretty good because almost anyone just starting out with a merchant account can use it, and Amazon takes a very small % usually just final value to begin with.

1st Data Solutions is much better for larger credit card transactions, again you can fight chargebacks its just there is an interest % deducted. Google Checkout seems to be one of the better ones since any charge can be fought and there really is nearly no interest % on any new payment.

Moneybookers is really about as bad as Paypal, so its a shame eBay decided to go with them.

You can NOT use real merchant accounts such as 1st data solutions, Amazon payments, Google Checkout or Checkout.com or even Auction Checkout on eBay's official site.

You can use it on your own site, as a separate transaction but eBay nearly always forces you to use Paypal. So you'll have to put up with that instead.

You can use real merchant account to link to your ebay account. I use first data and paypal at the same time on ebay. If I don't want to accept paypal, all I have to do is remove that option from my shopping cart which was provided by first data free and from ebay itself.

Ahh wow thats a lot of information! I think getting a merchant account seems like the smarter thing to do? How do I get one? Thanks for your help guys!

Ps. Planes, if I do get a merchant account... will I be able to use it on ebay? Or do you think I will have the same problem as the rest of the people because I made my account in 2008?

Thanks!

I have heard from members of another forum I belong to that ebay members are having a difficult time getting approval for merchant accounts on ebay.

I would suggest getting a Paypal account fully operational before requesting a merchant account. I would suggest upgrading your Paypal account to a business account and getting the Debit card. That will show Paypal and eBay your legit.

Then do transactions with 'Paypal only' until you get 20 FBs with DSRs.

Then request a merchant account. Be prepared to provide your supplier info
as well as your merchant info.. And you life history LOL.

Along the way you will probably get limited by Paypal if you haven't already. Just be prepared for this.
On every transaction you do on eBay enter the trackin info into Paypal so they can check for delivery. You can get tracking info on all shipping through Paypals shipping service. Its about 10% more but worth it in the beginning.
You can even get tracking for 1 st class mail shipping.

Most new eBay accounts will have this issue until they get 20 DSRs.

Don't do any dropshipping until your feedback is over 20 DSRs.

Just sell stuff around the house or stuff you have on hand and ship it out within 24 hours. You will need DSRs over 4.5 or higher.

Once you reach 100 DSRs over at least 4.5 and a FB rating of no less than 9.8
Paypal should leave you alone at that point and merchant accounts should be easier to get.

I say DSRs of at least 4.5 and no less than 98%

But in reality, you should have DSRs 4.8 or higher and a FB of 100%

You are going to have to kiss buyers a$$es for awhile and jump through hoops to keep 100% FB.

Ideally you should have DSRs 4.9 and 5.0s across the board.

After you get one eBay account at 20 DSRs you should open a couple more.

If something bad happens to one, drop it for awhile, let it kool off and go to another one.

SOrt of like spreading your losses out. 1 neg each on three different accounts is a lot better than 3 on one especially within a months time.

Well if you're dealing with eBay I guess.

But it's such a hassle, and I'm a veteran of the eBay world with over 60 FB (Blue Silver Star) which means I know that it has always been a hassle on eBay.

To try to use a merchant account I mean. They don't like that, you have to run through hoops to get approved.

It isn't that cool when you open a new account and can't just immediately use 1st data solutions, you have to jump through hoops instead.

I like it much more at real merchant sites, even to be honest Godaddy marketplace. And you know why? Nothing to prove.

No need to. If you want to accept payment by Amazon payments for all credit cards you can. If you want to do 1st data solutions you can, or Google Checkout you can anytime. The options are pretty endless.

I've sold over 500 things at least through merchant accounts like Amazon etc and I think I'm permanently moving to that model.

The auction model is alot less flexible, & it isn't safe either. I sold more things through iOffer yet again and what makes it perfect is you can accept any payment option.

You can accept that at Bonanzle also, which is good news. You have to jump through all these regulations with the 'eBay' world, hence why I barely ever do much there anymore I suppose.

It just has alot more integrity and is easier on the new venues, directly through my store.

But Merchants is a different world then Auctions or eBay. As many advantages it has there is alot of drawbacks, you will find people who you end up fighting chargebacks with etc. At least you can fight them yourself though without any big one looking over your shoulder.

Also with shopping feeds, you can list your products anywhere. That I really like, that is a huge advantage over eBay/ubid auction houses.