Is it possible to obtain a merchant account if a business in not officially incorporated (i.e. LLC, partnership,etc.) Is there any other type of documentation that can be used, or are articles of incorporation or other such legal documents mandatory? Thanks!

Certainly, there are literally hundreds of solutions for you. Just do a search on 'merchant accounts' here on this board. Most providers will let you start a merchant account based on sole prop., with no paperwork.

Most true merchant accounts i've seen (not 3rd party processors) have required a lot of paperwork - which ones don't require any? I would really be interested in finding one...

Originally posted by MadSkilage
Most true merchant accounts i've seen (not 3rd party processors) have required a lot of paperwork - which ones don't require any? I would really be interested in finding one... Having a merchant account makes it pretty easy to perpetrate fraud by ripping off cusomers, charging stolen card numbers, etc. -- much of which would leave the provider who gave you that merchant account holding the bag. So you'll never get a merchant account without "a lot of paperwork," a solid confirmation of your identity (which also is required by banking regulations), and usually a credit check.

as far as I know all merchant account providers (based in US) will require a legal business to process the credit cards....

Not to mention that they may ask a social security number (TIN works fine too, but may raise your processing rate and some providers may refuse you...). Plus, you will need a mailling address in the US or you may have problems with opening a business checking account in US.

Plus, they will need a business checking account info (that usually requires a voided check to be faxed/sent back to them)...

You may want to check out visa.com and mastercard.com for their rules.......

ps. you may still accept visa/mastercard (and other cards) through some third parties....

ApolloDude

When you are not legally registered and are just a sole propiership (probably spelt wrong) you can have a merchant account although a majority of merchant account providers require you to have a business checking account (which requires at LEAST a dba in your company name)

http://www.charge.com

Lowest Rates, Personal bank accounts accepted, sole propiership... Very lowe start up.. 98% approval :)

Correct. Our company simply has a DBA which we registered in our city just (cost us only $300) - just a basic license to conduct business. Simply take that DBA to your bank and you can apply for a business checking account - took us less than an hour to create the account - a lot of paper work. Though, they did ask us to deposit $1,000 to open it - simply for their protection.

Then you can sign up for any merchant account, all you need is those two things.

Originally posted by Bogdan
Correct. Our company simply has a DBA which we registered in our city just (cost us only $300) - just a basic license to conduct business. Simply take that DBA to your bank and you can apply for a business checking account - took us less than an hour to create the account - a lot of paper work. Though, they did ask us to deposit $1,000 to open it - simply for their protection.

Then you can sign up for any merchant account, all you need is those two things.

Yikes! It cost me only $11.00 for 10 years where I live for a DBA. Where do you live??

Plus, a lot of paperwork to open up a business checking account? I opened up my first one in less than 20 minutes and started out only with $100.00.

I'm with Trade on this one, $17 to register my DBA, 5 minutes, 10 minutes for bank account, free business checking :) Merchant account 5 minutes, set up in 24 hours :)

:eek: $11!!??

$300 was the cheapest I could find - we are located in New York.

Citibank requested a min. $1,000 deposit... you are all lucky!

I live in NJ - Not luckky... Just went to the right place :) (i admit some states are higher, but $300 is too much)

You can use OnlineDataCorp.

You don't need to be registered and you can use your personal checking account.

OnlineDataCorp isn't that bad - But their are a lot of hidden charges.. for example, $100/year.. minimum this.. minumum that... Oh, we didn't tell you about that minimum charge? Well, we'll just take it from your bank account ourselves!!

lol, I've seen this many times - They're not doing anything illegal - Just no one reads the contracts

http://www.charge.com on the other hand, says they'll beat any competitors price - Which they do - 24/7 Support and so on... Never had a problem with them personally, and I know 10 people that I talk to on a continuous basis that doesn't have a problem.