Start a Merchant Account for Website Payments

This step is optional. Not everyone will need or want a merchant account. They allow you to accept credit cards directly on your site without being redirected to an online payment service such as Paypal or Google Checkout. If you would like to know how to get a merchant account for your small business web payments, then you should know that these accounts are based on your monthly sales volume and credit history. These accounts can be difficult to acquire and expensive to start but if you are interested we have included a link on WebPalPro. Just click “Establish a Merchant Account” and you will be directed to a site with a 98% approval rate. You can always add one after your businesses are established. There are other elements you will need to incorporate into your site if you choose to use your own merchant account such as a payment gateway, SSL certification, and shopping cart software. We will cover all of these topics in other chapters. During this phase, the most important thing is to have at least one method of accepting credit cards so you can use as many, or as few of the suggestions we have made. We hope this has been helpful in showing you how to get a merchant account for small businesses web payments.