To find out your Discount Rates, select the above button that best describes your business

Step 1: Your business (also known as the Merchant's Business) submits a credit card transaction to the Payment Gateway (example Authorize.Net) when a customer buys with a card, using your website or you process a payment with a Web Virtual Terminal or a Retail Terminal Swipe or by phone for MOTO Center or with a Wireless PDA Device. .

Step 2: For Internet transactions, Authorize.Net receives the secure transaction information and passes it via a secure connection to us (Merchant's Bank Processor).  For Retails terminals, transaction information are sent directly to us.

Step 3: We submit the transaction to the Credit Card Interchange (a network of financial entities that communicate to manage the processing, clearing, and settlement of credit card transactions).

Step 4: The Credit Card Interchange routes the transaction to the customer’s Credit Card Issuer.

Step 5: The Credit Card Issuer approves or declines the transaction based on the customer’s available funds and passes the transaction results, and if approved, the appropriate funds, back through the Credit Card Interchange.

Step 6: The Credit Card Interchange relays the transaction results to us.

Step 7: We relay the transaction results to Authorize.Net.

Step 8: Authorize.Net stores the transaction results and sends them to the customer and/or the merchant. This communication process averages three seconds or less!

Step 9: The Credit Card Interchange passes the appropriate funds for the transaction to your Merchant's Bank, which then deposits funds into the your personal Bank Account $$ within 48 hours.

* Hassle Free.  Internet Discount Rates are not available at centers walk-in/phone-in, you have to apply online for these eSavings.  The fee structure are typical to all VISA MasterCard Merchants, compare and ask any competitors. Our non-qualified rate is a low 1.5%-+1.55% spread above the qualified industry discount Rate 1.  If you are a retail and would like an Internet gateway, you will apply for both accounts.

:: Retails with an average $20,000 monthly sales can qualify for $0.15 cents transaction fee.

Can none U.S. Businesses open a Merchant Account? We currently only accept U.S. based businesses.

Why do I have to give you my social security number?
The U.S. Federal Government demands that a proper check be conducted on everyone we allow to accept credit cards in their place of business. You might have heard of the Patriot Act? This is a law introduced after September 11th to prevent laundering of money by terrorists. Required by law, we need to verify that you are a U.S. citizen or resident and are a legal business before setting you up for credit cards.  We will however take extreme care to protect your privacy.

How is my merchant account supported?

We have a very comprehensive and large support group once your account is approved.  It consist of 3 levels of operation supported in 3 locations.  You will be provided 3 toll-free numbers to reach specialists and subject experts.

• In-house Customer Service Center and Technical Support 24 hours.
• Equipment Partners and VISA/MC/Amex/DiscoverCard Support Center.
• Client Partners and Risk Managers

Our Solution:  All rates established here are long term, lock-in rates unless industry changes or when the cost is affected.  This will include Authorize.net and POS software.  As a sponsor of the CyberCEO society, we make every attempt to pass savings to developers and the eCommerce community.  VISA/MC publishes the yearly interchange rates that all VISA/MC merchants are subjected to change.  All discount rates are Risk Free, providing you the ability to cancel at anytime.

To better educate our clients, we always encourage our clients to compare, know the typical merchant banking fee structure and understand the terms offered by various banks and companies.

Recurring fixed monthly fees:
Monthly Service Fee with Statement
This is a fixed monthly fee that virtually all banks/merchant account providers charge. This is a handling fee and though it is called "statement fee" by most merchant account providers, it is a "Monthly Service/Support/Statement" which is more accurate. Each month you will receive a detail statement send to you by mail for your tax records.  Find your statement fee on the rate table above.

Monthly Gateway Fee (optional feature only for Internet businesses)
A traditional Retail would have the cost of an electronic terminal (about $400-$700) and daily ink/paper supplies.  Using a Internet Virtual Terminal, you will have a small gateway fee instead.  This is a fixed monthly fee that virtually all gateway providers charge for their services, example Authorize.net. This fee is for the use of the gateways transaction processing services and usually includes items such as online payment cancellations and transaction reports.   This is only applicable to Internet merchants using a Virtual Terminal instead of a traditional swipe terminal.  You will find the Authorize.net very special offer price on the rate table above.

Per Transaction Fees and Batch Header Deposit Fee:
This is a "per transaction" cost that is primarily related to processing your sales. If you are a retail, you will only pay the Bank Processor's transactions (example $0.20).  In this situation if you had 100 transactions you would pay $20 dollars in "transaction fees". If you are a Internet Merchant or using a wireless terminal, you might see a $0.05 transaction fee for gateway fee. So if you are a high volume business, look for our low transaction fees. You will also noticed that each evening settlement is considered a transaction or batch header fee (transaction + $0.10) $0.35 (think is terms of a retail or restaurant, for example tips added, refunds, corrections, Authorize.net sales that are made for the day are batched up at the end of the day for your deposit). So if you settle weekly, you will have an additional transaction fee for the batch header settlement deposit.  In summary, transactions/batch are each transmission of your sales.

Our Solution:  Our e-Savings plan, we have arranged with Authorize.net to waive setup fees and provide a very low monthly fee.  See rate table above.  As a exclusive partner, our overall rates are much lower, you will be saving 10 cents or more for each transaction with no limits to the number of transactions. As we are their Processor, Authorize.net will bill you directly at the discount rate based on our service agreement.  We also will provide you free scripts that allows you to create order forms on your web pages. read more about our integration  solution.

Monthly Minimum Fee:  It is important you check with any competitors and find out the Truth of Merchant Rates.  The monthly minimum amount is what you must pay each month for your Visa/MasterCard processing. However, this fee is only billed when it is not exceeded by your monthly processing fees. The monthly minimum does not apply to statement fees or transaction fees.

The minimum is calculated by multiplying your discount rate against your total sales for the given month. This amount is then subtracted from the minimum and you are charged the difference. For example if the processor requires you to keep a monthly minimum is $20 and you processed $714 in sales for the month, that is $714 X 2.1% = $15.00. Subtract $15.00 from $20.00 and you would be charged the $5.00 difference. If you processed $1000, then there would be NO minimum charge as it equals $21.00, which exceeds the minimum. Keep in mind you are charged the difference. You can do the math, and estimate your amount of sales each month and decide if you want to have a monthly minimum.

Our Solution:  Our e-Savings plan, we have waived all monthly minimum with the exception if you opt to participate in our Free Terminal Program or Optional Offers. Waiving a monthly fee can easily save you money for new businesses.  Keeping it just as attractive for established high volume businesses, we can waive your annual fee when you keep our low monthly minimum. Apply online and make your choice.

Amex and Discover:  I would like to offer Amex in the future. Am I going to get charged a setup fee for Amex, Discover, Diners?

Our Solution:  No, not with us.  It is FREE so why not get your business approved for it up front.  In fact Amex and Discover are your sponsors for this eSaving program that waives your Authorize.net setup fees, so if you are accepting this offer, you will automatically be considered for these cards.  You can of course not offer it to your customers by turning it OFF on your gateway configuration at any time.

Our Solution:  There is NONE - $0 cancellation fee, even though we would like you to stay for 5 months in good faith.  The industry banking standard is 3 years, because there is a significant cost to approve an account for any single merchant.  The application must be reviewed, audited, presented, go through the underwriting and approval process, setup by technical support, clear the billing department, shipping and end its journey at the filing station. This whole process requires the use of about 8 employees working behind the scenes to make it all happen.  You will be impressed from the moment you click on your online application, you will be interacting with several specialist working throughout the day.  Try it and you will realized the amount of technology and effort we placed in helping you begin your business of accepting credit and debit cards.

To Cancel:  We hate to see you leave, but a simple process has been established for you.  Before you cancel, you may want to consider a no monthly minimum plan. To cancel, call 800 Customer Service for form.  Fax a letter to authorize your cancellation.

Qualified (Rate 1) – This is your daily discount rate.  Use a 3-D Secured Qualified Internet Ecommerce Gateway (example Authorize.net) for Internet orders or Magnetic stripe is read and batch is settled within appropriate guidelines.  For Retail, cardholder and card must be present.  Yes, customers with standard issued card, Corp Data III, Corp Data II Int’l, World Card Public Sector, processed directly through Authorize.net will have a Qualified rate.

Mid-Qualified (Retail Only Rate 2) – Card is not present or magnetic stripe is not read in a retail store. This is the percentage amount that is charged when the sale is keyed in, but all of the address verification information matches. In addition, when a customer uses a rewards-based Visa /MC credit (CPS Rewards, Traditional Reward, World Merit). On behalf of businesses; VISA/MC very often advertises, promotes specialty cards and the cost is pass to you as interchange reimbursement fee. This percentage is usually less than the non-qualified fees.

Non-Qualified (Rate Ecommerce 2 or all Rate 3)–  This is the percentage amount added by VISA/MC to your daily discount rate when a customer uses some rewards-based Visa /MC credit, corporate, business, or government credit card. On behalf of businesses; VISA/MC very often advertises, promotes specialty cards and the cost is pass to you as interchange reimbursement fee.
• "On time" is defined as batching the terminal out on the evening of the sale.
• A "late" batch is defined as batching the terminal more than 24 hours after the sale occurred.

Our Solution:  Our principle has always been based on supporting our community; we continuously negotiate with Vendors/VISA/Amex/Gateways on behalf for you to keep your rates low.  Even though the Qualified Rate 1 is the publish rate in the industry, Please note the Mid-qualified is at a low 1.3% + 10 cents and Non-qualified surcharge is a low 1.50% + 10 cents spread above the qualified rate.  Rate charges are  determined by VISA/MC at point of sale.  With these surcharges, you can estimate your effective rate and will be pleased to discover how low our rates are.  Unfortunately, your customer's decision on how they pay with their credit card is not within your control, you should therefore account for the cost as part of doing business.  What VISA/MC has done is to pass the cost of promotion to you, by offering frequent flyers, rebates, shopping points etc. to your customers.  As an added benefit, we therefore lowered your qualified rate upfront with a valuable base point discount.

When you, as a Credit Card Merchant, want to accept a credit card for payment of your goods and services, you first submit an authorization transaction to your Processor.

Your Processor accesses the Visa/MasterCard/Amex network to communicate the authorization transaction (containing a "Transaction Amount") to the Issuing Bank to ensure that the credit card is valid and that the Transaction Amount does not exceed the Cardholder's credit limit. The authorization transaction also puts a "hold" for the Transaction Amount on the Cardholder's credit limit. That way, the funds are available to you when you submit the corresponding "Deposit" transaction.

If the authorization succeeds, and you subsequently (or at the same time) submit the Deposit transaction, you are informing (in effect promising) your Processor, your Sponsoring Bank, and the Issuing Bank that you are prepared to deliver to the cardholder the goods and services that are expected by the cardholder, and that you wish to receive payment for these goods and services from the Issuing Bank.

Your Processor, based on your Deposit instruction, then again works within the Visa/MasterCard/Amex network to request the Issuing Bank to deposit the "Net Settlement Amount" (i.e. the "Transaction Amount" less the "Discount Amount") into your bank account at your Sponsoring Bank.

The Discount Amount (i.e. the Discount Rate times the Transaction Amount) and other fees, such as transaction fees, are used to pay the various entities that help you collect from the Issuing Bank. In particular, the Issuing Bank, the Visa/MasterCard/Amex Network, the Sponsoring Bank, and the Processor all share in dividing up the Discount Rate proceeds.

Along with accepting credit cards is the responsibility of handling chargebacks and retrievals.  A chargeback is a transaction that is in dispute by the cardholder or issuing bank. The chargeback occurs when a customer disputes a charge or the bankcard procedures are not followed. There are several reason codes for a chargeback including merchant fraud, product/service not as described, never received product/ service, transaction not authorized by cardholder, etc. If you handle your sales properly and smartly, you will not have any chargebacks at all.   If your business receives a chargeback, your checking account will be debited for the amount in dispute. In addition, a fee for handling the chargeback may be imposed and reflected on the merchant statement.  In some circumstances a cardholder’s issuing bank may request a copy of the retail sales slip containing the authorized signature. This is why it is essential to keep accurate records of all sales slips and/or sales drafts.
Federal law requires merchants to maintain signed sales slips for a minimum of two years. The retrieval request will provide the cardholder’s account number, a reference number.  As this is a community bank processor, our interest is not to profit off wrongly chargeback, the chargeback/retrieval fees therefore range between $15-$20, paid to investigators when requested by the cardholder’s issuing bank.

Voice Authorization is used at times in a Retail store, when a card is in question. A merchant will call VISA/MC/AMEX for a authorization if your terminal indicates it.  However eCommerce users should just use the internet - Authorize.net to obtain a card authorization, which cost you nothing additional.  You will not use Voice Authorization unless needed.

Merchant Verification Seal allows your customers to learn more about your businesses.  As a Verified Member, you can proudly display the Seal on your website or auctions with a redirected link we provide.

What it Means to be Verified?

To become Verified, a merchant member in the United States must provide us with proof that he or she has opened an account at a bank or other financial institution. Because these institutions are required by law to screen account holders, our verification process increases security when customers shop with you. Please note that this does not constitute an endorsement of a member, nor a guarantee of a member's business practices.

• Looking for referrals?  We do not need to post fictitious or old "testimonials", as we are never short of referrals.  The best referrals you can get are merchants who have completed their research recently and have been our client.  Get all the referrals you need from our new Merchant listings

Applications with ALL supporting documents submitted before 12 noon Eastern Time, Mondays to Fridays, can get approved by 10 pm on the same day.  You will find more complete details here.

All Sexual Oriented or Pornographic Merchant, Gambling, Vitamins/Health Supplements and “Get Rich Quick” Books, Programs, etc.  Review a copy of our underwriting process.

We have compiled a list of the most common issues with credit card terminals and standard fees that occur on merchant services.  Download a copy for your reference.

Now that you are excited to begin, rest assure you will be pleased with our system in place.  You have to apply online, at the end of the online application, you will be able to download the computerized forms for review and your signature is required.  You will be assigned a VISA/MC account number instantly.  You will need to check your email for final approval confirmation.  Amex, Discover and our Relations Manager will then contact when your account is approved.  Please provide a phone number that is reachable.  Apply now and very soon you will begin accepting Visa and MasterCard as well as any optional cards you may have such as American Express, Discover Card and Diners Club for payment.