US Merchant Account

US Merchant Account Benefits

Ever increasing access to affordable broadband spreading across the world, the ability of businesses to market a product or service not only to their local customers, but a global market. However, there are some essentials for doing business with a global market, one of which is the ability to accept payments from customers wherever they may be from. With a US merchant account the largest market in history is opened to any business new or old.

With an idea, a website and a US merchant account, any budding entrepreneur can build a business through the internet, selling their idea to the world. There are many benefits to having a US merchant account for businesses, the ability to accept payments in many different currencies and quickly and easily have them converted into a single currency of choice can be extremely beneficial.

Setting up a US merchant account is also a simple process, for most situations it requires just proof of identity and pass a credit check. There are exceptions, in industries that require government licensing or other kinds of restrictions to be legal, proof that these are in place will also be required, although for any legal business this will of course never prevent any issues.

When considering a US merchant account there are several aspects to be considered, firstly is the kind of account that the business requires. There are broadly speaking two kinds of US merchant account, and which is required depends on the business itself. The card companies split merchant accounts into normal and high risk versions, with the high risk accounts required by businesses in certain markets that have a higher risk of fraud, chargebacks and so forth. These are well outlined by the companies, and good examples are the gambling and finance industries, with any company operating within those markets requiring a high risk US merchant account.

In practical terms there is no external difference between the two types of US merchant account, the high risk accounts differ mainly in the level of charges to maintain it and a delay on accessing funds once a sale is made, both designed to mitigate the extra risks to the card companies of the products or services being sold, and for the customer using the payment gateway, there is no difference at all.

Whichever kind of US merchant account a business sets up, it incurs costs in two ways. Firstly, there is a per transaction charge taken from each sale, and then there is a monthly or yearly maintenance cost for the account itself. The other aspect of the US merchant account to consider is the delay between a customer buying goods and the time the business has access to those funds. As well as usually slightly higher per transaction costs and significantly larger account maintenance costs, from a business perspective this delay is often the biggest difference between a normal and high risk US merchant account. For normal accounts, a delay of 7 days is the norm, however for high risk accounts, 14 or even 30 day delays are not uncommon. This need not be a problem however, as long as the business allows for this cash flow delay beforehand.

A US merchant account brings a huge market to any business, and with a simple set up process and manageable costs, is an option for any business no matter the size.

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