It is absolutely necessary to have some kind of internet merchant account in order to have a place to receive funds from credit card sales. Choosing a merchant account is an important decision requiring extensive research and can often times be a tedious process. Not all merchant accounts provider are alike, and the merchant account you select for your business will either help you increase sales or can bring your business to a halt.
Merchant account selection should be based on the two most important factors. The first being cost and the other is features.
The Cost factor includes:
1. application fee, which is charged for applying for an account although it may or may not be successful.
2. It will also include set up fee, which is charged for other fees that are in addition to application fees.
3. Monthly fee which is charged recurring every month.
The feature should include:
1. The Interface should be good for your website
2. If you are designing the system yourself, then it should be made certain that the provider has good support in order to interface with their system.
3. Check if the provider offers API, so that you can connect to their system