We all know that accepting credit cards is key to online sales. Unfortunately, most merchants are unaware that acquiring a merchant account can actually save them money. And in many cases, big money!

For this experiment, we will use a fictional character named Bill. Bill owns and operates a great online resources for marketing tools and resources. Bills website is a membership based website, and therefore could potentially be approved for both third party processing and an internet merchant account. Bill starts off processing his business with a popular third party processor who offers him following plan:

Start Up FeeNone Monthly FeeNone Transaction Fees 13.5% (Initial or One Time) 15.0% (Recurring)

Bills sets up his business with this popular third party processor and charges $30 per month. He has built an extensive reciprocal link exchange directory, has purchased some PPC advertising on a few of best search engines, and has reached a excellent spot in content based search listings for top 5 search engines. His customer base has grown from zero before accepting credit cards, to 150 members, is just one month. Bill can’t believe his success at internet marketing, and is planning on building even more web based resources and tools for his website, thus increasing value and content. He is ecstatic at initial results, so let’s take a look at Bills numbers:

$30 (Per Membership Sold) x 150 (Memberships Sold)= $4,500.00

$4,500 x 13.5% (Initial or One Time Transactions) - $ 607.50

$4,500.00(In total sales) - 607.50 (Total fees) = $3,892.50(Net profit after all processing fees have been deducted)

Ok. Well Bill certainly had an excellent first month accepting credit cards with his new business venture. But let’s see how Bill would have made out if he would have secured an internet merchant account for his new business:

Start Up FeeNone Monthly Fee$15.00 Discount Rate 2.35% (Initial, One Time or Recurring) Per Trans Fee.30 cents Gateway Mo. Fee$15.00 AVS Fees.10 cents

Now first thing we see is that merchant account company is showing us more fees. This may be disheartening at first sight, but we should really explore what these fees are, and how they affect our bottom line.

Start Up Fee: This remains same. Bill paid zero to get setup with his new merchant account, just as he paid zero to get setup with third party processing account.

Monthly Fee: The third party processor offered us no monthly fees, yet we must pay $15.00 with merchant account company.

Discount Rate: The merchant account has labeled one of their fees as “discount rate.” These fees are fees Bill will pay as a percentage of each transaction. They are similar to main fee charged by third party processor. This fee when charged by merchant account company is substantially smaller than high percentage charged by third party processor. But we will wait till end of this experiment to see who offers better comprehensive deal.

Per Trans Fee: The merchant account company charges Bill .30 per transaction he processes through his merchant account. Of course, we have already established that Bill will pay no per transaction fees with package he received from third party processor.

Gateway Monthly Fee: Because Bill will also need an internet payment gateway for his merchant account to work online with his website, he will also be paying $15.00 a month for his Gateway Monthly Fee.

Some people equate cost of an item to its value. Others comparison shop to try to find best price. Maybe both are correct in a way, but most people try to look at whole picture.

If someone jumped out of a dark alley, and tried to sell you a Rolex watch for fourteen dollars, you might look askance at offer. But if that's what you wanted, you would do your homework, find out going price, and then shop around a bit. Would you necessarily purchase one at lowest cost? Maybe you wouldn't. What factors would you weigh in your decision making process?

Probably one of strongest would be reputation of seller. How long have they been in business? What is their background? What is their refund policy? Do they give appearance of a business, or do they look like that guy who jumped out of that dark alley?

If you hope to have any chance of succeeding on web, you must address this issue. You can't expect people to buy from someone they don't know and have never met. When you deal with someone in a retail "brick and mortar" business, you are in "face to face" contact. You can also see product offered. Since you don't have this capability when buying on web, sellers have to address that issue in a different way.

Your name, picture, a short "bio" and phone number go a long way to allay fears a prospective customer might have. But that should not be focus of your website - your product or service should. However, it is important to include an obvious link, that takes prospects to where they can get that information.

It is extremely important that your whole operation reeks of "professionalism". This includes not only your web site, but also all ads that try to entice people to visit you there.