Taking Credit Cards Made Easy
For E-Commerce Stores*
(*And for "Brick & Mortar Stores, Too)
When I started learning about e-commerce, all the terms were confusing and blended together. To help you, here are some basics and any red accented word will open a small window with a definition.
In broad terms, there are four pieces you should consider in order to handle credit cards (or to have a "Merchant Account"):
- Your shopping cart or on-line store
- Your bank who handles your money
- Your credit card processor who deals with the credit card companies
- And optionally, your gateway seamlessly integrates your shopping cart to your credit card processor.
First, My Personal Opinion
Clients ask me who I recommend to take credit cards on e-commerce sites and for brick-and-mortar (non on-line) stores. My favorite credit card processor for great rates and service (and the one I use) is First National Merchant Solutions. They are a national company and my rep has agreed to waive some fees and give some good deals to my clients and others starting fresh or with an existing business. I set up a form to make it easier for you to contact my credit card rep if you want to start the process of taking credit cards.
If you need a gateway, I like Authorize.Net and for that reason, I became a partner to make it easier to sign up. You can go to Authorize.Net's Site for prices and more info. You will need the merchant account before getting the gateway. Your credit card processing rep can help you with the fields pertaining to them.
You don't need to be a Blarneystone client to use either of these services. I have been using them for quite a while and know they are both solid and reputable.
What Is A Credit Card Processor?
For your shopping cart, you could use PayPal, but I recommend you get a full Merchant Account of your own so you can take credit cards without the middleman. I added a contact form below so you can easily start using First National Merchant Solutions credit cards. With minimal arm-twisting, my rep has agreed to waive the application fees, set you up without minimum monthly charges, and give you great rates. Also, there are plenty of other credit card processors available to you if you'd rather shop around. Your banker will have a card processor they work with but be aware of the price differences. If you do shop prices, make sure you understand what you are comparing against so you don't get tricked by some unscrupulous credit card processor. ( More tips on comparing rates .)
An Automated Gateway or Not?
First, what is a gateway? A gateway is the service that allows your e-commerce site to send credit card info securely to your Credit Card Processor. You can take credit cards and manually process them without a gateway but unless you have a very low-volume shop, you will quickly find that the amount of work in manually putting in all the card numbers and customer information and correcting any related mistakes far outweighs the cost to use a gateway.
Sign Up To Take Credit Cards
Complete this info if you want my First National Merchant Solutions rep to contact you and answer any questions and walk you through the steps needed to get set up for credit cards. In addition to low rates, he has agreed to waive the application fees and If you are starting up he has also agreed to have no minimum monthly charges. Naturally your information will not be used for any other purpose without your consent.
[ Return To Top ]