When you need a merchant account to accept credit card payments and other online payments on your website you will need to ensure that your offshore company is located in an offshore jurisdiction which is accepted by the Acquiring Banks.

Many online businesses suffer in the search of a merchant account while they apply with an offshore company that is located for instant in Panama, Belize, Seychelles or British Virgin Islands, they face huge problems to be accepted by the Acquiring banks and often have to pay ridiculous processing fees.

There are ways to avoid the mentioned problems and to open a Merchant Account for your online business, also the credit card acceptance don’t need to be expansive, for instant if you incorporate your company in Cyprus you won’t be limited and can apply for an merchant account with any bank in Europe which also will accept your company as a merchant (depending on the business) the benefits are a strong privacy, asset protection and a large number of Acquiring banks with which you can apply. To open a Merchant Account isn’t complicated if all the documents required are prepared and the business is acceptable by the Acquiring bank in question, the requirements for the opening of a merchant account with an Acquiring bank are, utility bill in English and not older than 3 months, copy of passport, all corporate documents apostilled and in some cases notarized, a brief business description which explains what it is your website is going to sell your customers and how the payment process is.

When applying for a merchant account it is important to have all required documents and information submitted at once to the Acquiring bank, it will course huge delays when the bank has to request several documents missing, one by one, and often the process will be complicated.

We suggest you to incorporate a new company in Cyprus, have the agency to deal with the opening of the merchant account, since they will have all the corporate documents available and if the right agency is found, they will also pass through “buy rate” to the merchant, which means less expansive and very competive payment processing fees and rates.

CCLOGIC LLC is specialized in the opening of merchant accounts and has a large number of Acquiring Banks and Payment gateways available, our 9 years of experience in this business make us able to place almost any business including High Risk considered merchants. Further to our payment processing services we have many years of experience in the registering of Cyprus Offshore Companies and the opening of bank accounts in Cyprus.

A European Merchant has to apply for a Merchant Account in the European Region of Visa and MasterCard, but when will a merchant be considered any nationality and is it the beneficial owner of a company or the company that is in questions here?

In fact it is the applicant which the *Acquiring Bank will look at, if the merchant is applying as a business then it doesn’t matter where the beneficial owner is located, however, there are certain requirements in the different countries that a company must comply to, such as to have a local registered secretary.

It is not in any way allowed for a European Company for instant incorporated in Germany, to become a Merchant Account in for instant the USA, this would be against the Visa and MasterCard cross boarder regulations; the Acquiring banks are also aware of this and will decline the application.

For individuals or sole proprietors the same applies no exception.

We would have posted some official links to Visa and MasterCard about this, but at the moment we searched we wasn’t able to find the relevant information, if we find it we will add it to this article.

Where do you get this information from?
Since as you can read from many of our blogs, we have been in this business for more than 8 years now, then we have a bunch of contracts, agreements and Visa / MasterCard regulations on hand, but are limited to several NDA’s which prevent us to post any parts or the entire document here. However, you can proof check the above and below very simple try to apply for a merchant account where you not belong to, you will be declined if the Payment Service Provider / ISO / MSP or Acquiring bank you look at are legit.

I found a company which state they can accept merchants worldwide with 1 bank, how comes?
There are 2 options here:

• 1) The Payment Service Provider will ask you to incorporate in the country where the bank is located, this requires additional costs but is of course a legit solution on this and very common.
• 2) They try to fool you into a solution which isn’t legit, this is sadly often the case, so many fly by night companies are popping up with cheap web sites (often just a 6 page site) and which just there to make the quick buck by scamming people, often they are not themselves aware of what they are doing it is simply a lack of knowledge, they don’t know better.

If you find a company which is like described in point 2, it might be true they will get you started, but be sure this solution will not last and the risk you will lose all your moneys is 90%, our advice, stay away from this, the last 10 years have shown it incident after incident, it won’t work.

Visa and MasterCard have divided the world in 6 regions and a merchant which has its business incorporated in a country which belongs to a certain region need to apply for a merchant account in the region it belongs too, it is now allowed to have a merchant account in another region than where the company is registered.

Source: http://www.mastercard.com/sitemap.html

We hope to have clarified this issue and that this post can be distrubuted to as many as possible for all of us to conduct an honest business.
On behalf of CCLOGIC.COM we whish you all the best.

Accepting credit card payments on your website is standard practice these days and if your site is not yet doing this, then you will definitely be losing customers and business. Credit cards can ensure business transactions are quicker and easier for all involved and lead to expansion.  Online businesses are nervous about accepting credit cards due to the penalties banks charge if credit card fraud occurs, setting up a merchant account can be a simple process that will identify and reduce the number of fraudulent transactions. A little research can find the right merchant account suited to your type of business

There are a number of benefits to accepting credit card payments online, first and foremost it will enable your customer base to grow and you’ll never have to turn a customer away again. Many people now use the internet to shop for a wide range of products as it is now possible to purchase items online without ever having to leave the comfort of our homes. The availability of the website will also open up your products to the worldwide market and attract international customers. Credit card payments are more convenient for everyone involved. With the setting up of a merchant account, everything is done automatically so sales will increase due to their availability 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Merchant Account & Payment Gateway

When researching merchant accounts don’t just go for the cheapest one you can find. Cheap merchant accounts won’t offer the services that more expensive ones have; check out the features attached to each to see if they are worth the money.

Also some account providers will offer a low rate to entice you into choosing their account, but then will increase this rate after a few months. Look out for any hidden fees that haven’t been mentioned or advertised up front by the account provider. Some merchant accounts have penalties if you decide to cancel or increase the rates if volume targets aren’t met. Junk fees can be disguised by using a variety of names, such as security fee, conversion fee, excessive transactions fees, discount rate fees or over the limit fee, so verify what these are before you settle on an account.

Most merchant accounts have a cancellation fee, mainly these are fixed amounts. The costs of setting up and operating a merchant account for a business can be expensive; this fee helps recover some of the losses if a merchant cancels, particularly in the beginning. Providers will offer to reduce or discard this fee should you have unresolved problems or issues; check with them as to their specific policy.

CCLOGIC.COM

Accepting credit card payments on your website is standard practice these days and if your site is not yet doing this, then you will definitely be losing customers and business. Credit cards can ensure business transactions are quicker and easier for all involved and lead to expansion.  Online businesses are nervous about accepting credit cards due to the penalties banks charge if credit card fraud occurs, setting up a merchant account can be a simple process that will identify and reduce the number of fraudulent transactions. A little research can find the right merchant account suited to your type of business.

CCLOGIC.COM

One of the first things to consider when you plan to sell your products or services online is the type of payment methods to offer your customers. For increased sales and to attract a larger section of the market it makes common sense to accept credit card payments. Gone are the days of writing cheques or sending postal orders, most shopper’s now possess credit cards for their convenience. People with credit cards are more liable to buy on impulse if they like what they see and also accepting credit cards will attract international customers for its easy payment process and no need to convert currency.

To enable your website to accept credit cards you first need to set up a merchant account. You can either open up your own merchant account through a bank or other financial institution, or use a third party merchant account payment processing service. Below are some basic guidelines on both methods to help decide on the best option for your online business.

There are fees connected with both types of merchant accounts including transaction fees to be paid to the bank or third party merchant each time a sale is made. As with any business, there are risks involved with credit card fraud but these can be reduced by utilizing a high quality anti-fraud system.

CCLOGIC.COM

The purpose of this website is to provide all the informationa Merchant need to accept payments online and to inform about merchant accounts in general, why you need one and why it always is mentioned when looking for a payment gateway!