Is it normal/ok to have more than 1 merchant account? I'm thinking about either expanding my current business or creating a new one in addition to my current one. I'm happy with my current merchant account, will getting another account with them cause them to review my current merchant account? Last time it was reviewed because my average ticket price went up, my processing was down for a week. So I don't really want to get it reviewed again if I increase my monthly sales volume, to avoid downtime.

If I try to get a merchant account from another company, will they see I already have one? Any ideas? thanks!

down for a week for a review

that is not normal

i would recommend you get a new provider period!

Well, I'd get a new provider for my new business, but I guess what I'm asking is, are you allowed to have multiple merchant accounts? Do all the providers communicate to each other? If I get a new one, will my current provider be notified and wonder why I didnt go with them or something?

You basically need a different merchant account because the name that is sent to the processor needs to match the business name so it shows up on people's statements with the name they recognize. If you had a decent merchant provider, they would just review you or make you reapply but not shut you off cold like that. I have been through the same thing with Wells Fargo and they let me continue to do business as usual until I reapplied with them or got another provider. And I went from like $2,000 a month to $6,000 a day overnight with the account!

Yeah, makes sense. I'm actually really happy with my current merchant account provider. The only problem is the way they review, but it's only happened once since I've been with them. I'd really like to go with them for a second one, but if it's going to cause my main business to go down due to a review I'd rather avoid going with them. Any thoughts on if opening a new account is cause to review the current one?

If is it for another website/business it has nothing to do with your present one, so I do not know why they would put you out of business for a review.

Alright, I think I'll give it a shot. Oh, one more question, I promise!

Can you have 2 merchant accounts for the same business name on the same website? Now that I've been looking at merchant accounts, I really could use another one for when my current processor fails, or doesn't support a certain transaction. It happens more than I realized.

If I sign up for another account, will they expect me to close my current account? Or will they close it, or contact my current processor for refrence or how does that work? thanks again

If you are simply applying for a new account, there would be no reason for your processor to take any action against your existing account. The only time this might be an exception is if you had an egregiously bad chargeback track record or a lot of NSF's or other risk activity that had not been already flagged for some reason.

It will simply make the review process that much easier as they can pull the historic processing information directly instead of waiting for you to send over statements. (Any new processor will want to see previous processing statements so really either way - this info will need to be disclosed)

In addition, if you have an account in good standing with a current processor, it usually will only help to speed the process to setup a new account with the same processor.

In terms of the processor failing out - are you referring to your merchant processor or the payment gateway you are using? In most cases, any time there is "downtime" it is a result of the gateway component. In that case, you may want to think about switching to a different payment gateway.

Thanks for the response. I'm good with my processor, so it should be no problem. As for the failures, I believe it's my processor. There are certain things it can't process, a lot of times the errors aren't very descriptive, but verified by visa doesn't work, and sometimes it just doesn't accept certain cards on the first try, but will work just fine with the same info a couple minutes later. I just checked on how often this actually happens and was quite suprised. So, wanted to know if you are even allowed to have more than 1 merchant account in the same name/site, but different processors. Thanks again

Yes, you can have different merchant accounts. They dont have the power to tell you that you cant, until you start abusing the accounts. Reviews shouldnt even affect your account.

Many merchants have multiple merchant accounts from different processors for the same business. Using different processors as back-ups or to run different transaction types is common. However, processors attitudes toward the practice can vary quite a bit. Some feel that it adds risk, others will have no problems with it. If you have a good relationship with your current processor, you might want to speak with them about it, especially if its driven by transaction failure. Also, if you do add an account, each time you apply for a merchant account your credit is run. Processors can have a negative reaction if they pull your credit and see a lot of inquiries from processors in a short amount of time, so you don't want to apply to too many places at once.