What to do when A Vendor Won’t Accept My Foreign Credit Card
Article written by USA2Me.com Let’s throw you into a situation. You’re online and shopping for clothes on a well known site. You’re browsing and browsing and find a lot of things that you want to buy. So you add them to your cart and proceed to checkout. Everything seems to be going fine up until the site asks you for your billing and shipping address. Naturally, you put your home address, which is in a different country as the vendor. Suddenly you get this red warning message saying the don’t accept your credit card! What will you do? Here’s a simple solution. It really doesn’t matter if your credit card is issued in your own country or the vendor’s country. The thing is, the billing and shipping address you enter into the site has to match the country the vendor is in. You obviously can’t lie because the package will never end up in your hands. What you should do is avail of a mail forwarding service. These services will give you an address that you will enter in the site, this will be the forwarding address. Then your purchase is sent from the vendor and to the forwarding address where it will be accepted by the mail forwarding service. Then from there, the mail forwarding service will send it from the forwarding address to your home address. And presto, you get your purchases with no hassle! It’s a simple solution to your online shopping setback. Never again will you have to worry about your credit card getting rejected.
USA2Me.com is a parcel and mail forwarding service that offers forwarding at smart plans with affordable rates.
What Makes a Good Online Shopping Cart
Having a user-friendly shopping cart is a must for any online business. Find out what to look for when evaluating different eCommerce shopping cart options.
If you want your online business to succeed, you need to give your customers an online shopping experience that is intuitive, easy to use and encourages them to purchase your products. Like Internet credit card processing, packaging or shipping, the online shopping cart is an integral part of the process of the eCommerce experience.
Finding the right shopping cart solution is critical for your business. Many providers of eCommerce credit card processing services also can set your business up with an online shopping cart. But how do you choose the right one? Here are a few things to look for as you evaluate different options:
User-Friendly Design and Structure: An online shopping site should be easy to navigate, with as few additional screens to visit or buttons to click as possible. Study after study has shown that customers are less likely to make a purchase for every additional screen they have to visit in order to complete their purchase. Along with being easy for customers to navigate, you also want to make sure that the shopping cart is easy for you to make updates, add products or fulfill and track orders.
Access to Additional Credit Card Processing Options: Even if your business is currently entirely web-based, that might change as you grow. You want to make sure you work with a company that can provide you with access to a credit card machine or mobile credit card processing options as your business evolves. You also might want to consider Virtual Terminals that allow you to process orders taken over the phone, via email or through “snail mail.”
Stringent Security Procedures: It can be a disaster if a hacker is able to access credit card information or other personal financial data relating to your customers. Reputable credit card processors like Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc. will have stringent security measures in place to keep this from happening. Any company you work with should have software and equipment that is compliant with Payment Card Industry standards and send information using 128-bit SSL, military-grade encryption methods.
Social Media Hooks: Websites such as Twitter and Facebook are powerful tools for spreading word of mouth about your products. And there’s no better time to ask someone to share the word about you to their friends than right after they’ve bought something from you. Many eCommerce sites will give customers the option to share news about their purchase with their friends and family members after the sale is complete. You can even automate it so the status update gives their online friends a discount code if they order.
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This story was written by Charge.com Payment Solutions, Inc., a leading provider of Internet credit card processing services. They help small businesses who need access to eCommerce credit card processing or a credit card machine. Find out more at www.charge.com.
What You Need to Know About Merchant Fees
This article submitted by: www.charge.com.
The most important part of a merchant account contract is the fee structure. Business owners should know the basic fee structure prior to opening an account. The discount rate is the most important rate on the contract. The discount rate is a percentage that is charged to you per transaction and gets paid to the processing company for the merchant account. If you only do face to face transactions, you will have a low rate but if you also sell online, the online rate is higher. The setup fee is assesses to you to set up the merchant account
This is only a one time fee and some companies will charge this setup fee whereas others will waive the fee as part of a special they may be running at the time you sign up. The equipment fee is for the credit card machine or the peripherals that go along with it. The chargeback fee is assessed to you if a customer disputes the credit card charge on their account that came from your place of business. If the credit card company sides with the consumer, you are assessed this fee for the return. The minimum monthly fee is a charge that is assessed when you do not met the minimum Visa and MasterCard requirements. This fee is to make up the difference should you sales be low for that particular month. The address verification system fee is only assessed if you manually key in the consumer’s credit card instead of swiping it.
What is Terminated Merchant File (TMF)?
This article submit by Credit Card Processing Blog.
A terminated merchant file, or TMF, is used when a merchant wants to open a merchant account in order to accept credit cards. When consumers do not pay their credit card payments or auto payments, the creditor has the option to report the consumer to one of three credit reporting agencies. If this occurs and the consumer then tries to get a loan or open another credit card, the potential creditor can pull their credit report and see that they were late on their Citibank payment or that they missed five automobile payments. A consumer’s credit report can hinder their ability to get a loan, a car or even an apartment.
What is the MATCH / TMF File?
When consumers do not honor the terms of their credit agreements, the creditor may report the default to a credit reporting agency. If the consumer applies for additional credit, the new creditor obtains a credit report and learns about the consumer’s previous history. The merchant processing banks (also known as “acquiring” banks) do not have a similar credit-reporting agency available that can report information about the way that a business handles its merchant processing responsibilities. The card associations, instead, use a file known as “MATCH.” The MATCH File is a database file, previously and most commonly known as the Terminated Merchant File “TMF.” This Terminate Merchant File is used by MasterCard and Visa processing banks, known as “acquiring banks,” to identify specific merchants and principals who have already been terminated. Once a merchant is on this list, it is highly unlikely that future merchant account applications will be approved. The “TMF”, or MATCH list, is essentially a BLACKLIST from which it is almost impossible to be removed.
How exactly is the MATCH file used when I apply for a Merchant Account?
Your new merchant acquiring bank must query every merchant account application against the Terminated Merchant File to determine whether a company, or its principals, has been terminated. If your new acquirer receives a response indicating a “possible match” against a merchant or individual listed on the file, the acquirer must double check and make certain the listed merchant or individual is truly the same as the one for which the inquiry was generated. If so, the acquirer must contact the listing bank to determine why the business or individual was added to the file.
If a previous acquirer listed your business or your name, that does not mean you are prohibited from obtaining merchant processing privileges in the future, however, being on the Terminated Merchant File makes it VERY unlikely that you will be approved for a merchant account with most merchant service providers. The new acquirer is to base its approval decision on complete investigation and to use the Terminated Merchant File as an informational tool in the decision making process. Some acquirers will issue an approval conditioned upon having the listing removed by the prior processor while others will review the circumstances surrounding the listing and make an informed decision.
