Anyone know a reputiable company to obtain a merchant account from? I would rather not use a third person company to process my credit card orders over the internet. My bank wont set me up a merchant account because the business is homebased.

Well, most merchant accounts (that I know of) will not deposit money from your account to your bank account if you do not have your DBA on your banking account.

You can check out CDGCommerce.com, they have a WHT Promo at http://www.cdgcommerce.com/whtpromo.php.

I haven't used their service yet, but I've spoken with pre-sales support many times, and see a demo. All looks good, with great prices.

I'd also recommend looking at CDG - great sales/support staff they've got working there

Yeah, if you are US-based, definately give CDG a glance. I think you will be hard pressed to find someone on this forum who has experienced them and are unsatisfied.

Good luck.

Regarding the deposit comment. This is how it works. Most banks will not allow ACH's transfers to happen when what the provider is using doesn't match with what is one file with the bank. You can contact the bank to see if you can set it up to allow the ACH's to happen even though the names will not match, however, some banks will not allow this.

Curtis Stevens

you should be aware that there are over 45,000 banks in the US and less than 1% are able to actually process credit card transactions themselves. Most contract with a third party to do it. Then the bank becomes a middleman passing on additional cost to the merchant. Here are some more facts & figures you need to know about banks:
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Banks decline more Merchant Account applications for credit card processing than Merchant Account Providers. In addition, the application process is usually much less intensive with a full service Merchant Account Provider.
Banks are in the banking business, Merchant Account Providers are in the credit and ATM/debit card processing business.
Banks outsource credit card processing and focus on lending and deposits.
Banks often have conservative pricing with higher transaction rates & fees because the Merchant Account business is an ancillary service. Merchant Account Providers have to offer competitive pricing because this is the only business they are in.
Banks are less likely to risk chargebacks and fraud. Because banks typically farm out their credit card business if there is any additional maintenance like administrative costs
from chargebacks, you are in greater danger of losing your Merchant Account. Merchant Account Providers are much better prepared to take on risk through loss prevention and
chargeback departments.
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Should you be interested in accepting credit cards over the internet you will find there is a greater likelihood most bankers will have no idea about shopping cart rates, secure gateways, and internet credit card processing fees – particularly when something goes wrong. Do to the conservative nature of banks, they are many times unable to place high-risk merchants and/or start-up companies with merchant accounts. Full service Merchant Account Providers do this every day.

Since this is their main business, they have the operations in place that cater to small & medium start-up companies who need Merchant Accounts, higher risk or not.

I did not see about you saying the name of the business on the checking account but HScene Mike is correct - the DBA needs to be on the checking account - but that is easily done. Your probably already have it done if you have been in business for awhile.

You can also obtain a merchant account even if you have just a personal checking account, if you are a sole proprietor.

It is not necessary to have a pre-printed check with a DBA on it in order to get your own merchant account, although most businesses do have this if they have been in business for awhile.

Some merchant processors -do- require a check with DBA for approval and don't allow personal checking accounts to be used but this is not the case for all of them.

As far as being home-based, that is also not a problem. Most banks are reluctant to approve any Internet / e-commerce merchants at all - and so being home-based is considered even more risky to them.

However, I think you will find that this is NOT the case with the majority of ISO/MSP's on the market today. Many of them are willing to readily approve home-based startup merchants.

Funds from your merchant account sales are always ACH'd into your designated checking account by your merchant processor.

Make sure that you ask about Monthly Minimums, Termination Fees and Annual Fees - and see if you can get all three waived with the various merchant processors that you interview, especially if you are just getting started with credit card processing.

Most importantly, look at the feedback that the provider has received from merchants who are actually using their service - this is the best way to determine if a provider is reputable and does a good job.

Never hesitate to ask a lot of questions and "grill" each prospective provider on their business, service, specifically what they are providing, how they manage risk & chargebacks, etc.

Best of luck with your search for the ideal merchant account for your needs!

Thanks so much guys thats a lot of very good information!

Very good information indeed. :)