Merchant account basics
Since we’re online payments wizards, we thought it would be only fair to let you in some of our processing “secrets”. And a merchant account is one of them.
“But I already have a bank account. I don’t need (nor want) any additional accounts”. Is that what you’re thinking? If so, then we only ask for a minute to convince you of the wonders that await our merchant account holders!
Why do I need this merchant account?
Unfortunately, your regular bank account is not enough if you want to accept online payments — at least not in an efficient and secure way. And certainly not in a way that is comfortable for your clients at the same time.
That’s why you need access to a merchant account. It’s a special account with an acquiring bank. By now, you’re probably guessing that it simply allows you to accept payments over the Internet. And you’re right. But remember we said that payment processing took several institutions to complete?
So that’s only a starting point.
Your unique merchant account
Every client gets his very own merchant account. Simple as that. No batching or bundling with hundreds of other merchants just because they have similar requirements. Every client is unique in our book and should be able to collaborate on their PayLane offer, then view their account activity and make decisions regarding their own fraud protection.
This leads us to another advantage of having your own merchant account. We don’t automatically register your business with any institution. At PayLane, we analyze your account and always choose the bank that best suits your needs. Understanding the client’s business is what we do first – then we find the best offer available.
Features, benefits, perks
Now that you know why we give you your own merchant account, here are some of the advantages a PayLane account provides to your online business:
- you can accept credit card payments from all over the world,
- you can accept MOTO and online payments, as well as recurring billing,
- you get comprehensive transaction and settlement reports,
These are mainly benefits for merchants, but do clients benefit from PayLane features as well? Sure they do! For example, once a customer uses his credit card in a certain webstore, there’s no need to enter all the data again. (Note that the merchant’s website will not store any credit card data, only an identifier. Everything stays safe, as always.) So your clients won’t have to spend valuable shopping time typing every time they make a purchase or payment.
Another great feature, both for merchants and their customers, is dedicated (dynamic) descriptors. These short descriptors make every transaction clear, so clients won’t have problems tracking and identifying payments. And you, as a merchant, will save time and money, because no one should request a chargeback because he or she cannot recognize a certain payment.
What about security? We mentioned earlier that you have control over the fraud prevention for your merchant account. Frankly speaking, that’s what merchant accounts are for — they give you lots of methods to prevent fraud. Here are only a few of them:
- Credit card verification – you can check whether a certain card is valid without making the actual transaction,
- Address Verification System (AVS),
- GeoIP,
- card security code verification: CVV2, CVC2.
Of course there are more options to consider, so if you’d like to learn more, please follow our blog.