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What is a merchant account?
Any business that requires the ability to accept credit cards must obtain a Credit Card Merchant Account. A merchant account simply provides the ability to accept credit cards and is independent from the ability to accept credit cards over the Internet. Credit cards accepted in person or via e-mail, telephone or fax are typically processed manually through a credit card terminal, either physical (a Point of Sale terminal) or software-based (a virtual terminal), usually rented or purchased with your merchant account. Alternatively, merchant accounts can now be interfaced with an online payment gateway to enable automatic authorization and processing of credit card transactions over the Internet.
Traditionally, businesses could only acquire a merchant account through the banks, which have substantial monthly, application, and terminal rental/purchasing fees, along with strict screening processes to prevent credit card chargebacks (the refusal of a credit card owner to accept responsibility for a charge made to their credit card). This has made it very difficult for small businesses, especially those taking orders over the Internet, to obtain a merchant account at an affordable cost. Over the past few years, however, the popularity of Internet Merchant Account Providers has exploded. An IMAP, through partnerships with financial institutions, makes it much easier for small businesses to obtain a merchant account.
Obtaining a Merchant Account
LFC's MultiPay service offers dedicated multi-currency merchant accounts for small to medium-sized businesses. Merchants have the option of pricing and settling in U.S. and Canadian Dollars, Euros, and British Pounds.
With MultiPay you can start accepting credit cards securely from your web site in less than 24 hours with a free virtual terminal, free live credit card processing, no application fees, a free quote with no commitment, unsurpassed security, and discount (per transaction) rates lower, on average, than with merchant accounts obtained through a bank.
Contrary to services such as PayPal and other "third-party processors", LFC MultiPay provides you with your own merchant account, offering much lower direct processing rates by eliminating the middle-man, and showing your company name on the credit card statements of your customers.
We specialize in getting Internet merchants set up to accept credit cards at merchant websites with the least amount of hassle, paperwork, and the best Internet merchant account rates around - hands down!
U.S. Retail Merchant Accounts
LFC MultiPay allows any business anywhere in the world to process credit cards in their own currency over the Internet, telephone, or fax.
We now offer lower rates for retail businesses in the United States where transactions are conducted in person and the credit card is present - well below our competitors, even the banks! Rates start as low as 1.65% of your total sales and only $0.20 USD/transaction. There is no setup fee aside from the cost of the advanced Point-of-Sale equipment needed to professionally process credit cards in a retail outlet.
Easy Online Application - Great Customer Support!
We will provide you with an online application that's a breeze to complete, has a 99% approval rate, and in most cases, will have you accepting credit cards in 24 hours.
Merchant Account Features
General Features
Merchant Control Center for Managing your eBusiness
- Advanced Web-based Merchant Control Center
- Advanced Transaction Management
- User-friendly Product Management
- Detailed Customer Management
- Database Exporting Tools
- Sales Feedback Forum
- Product Distribution Reports
- Customer Geographic Location Reports (State and country analysis)
- Daily Sales Activity Reports
- Chargebacks/Refund Reports
Benefits
- Time-to-market reduced to less than 24 hours
- Proven Technology
- Easily secure international customers with multi-currency and multi-lingual systems
- Ability to cost-effectively accept payments online
- Marketing support services:
- Assist merchants in closing sales
- Enhance merchant credibility
- Provides direct customer interaction (voice, email and chat)
Merchant Settlement Features
- Merchants are paid every 7 days
- Payments via Bank Wire, Corporate Check or Visa Debit Card Payment
U.S. Retail Merchants
- Advanced card present (in person) credit card Point-of-Sale equipment, including a professional physical processing terminal
- Lifetime warrantee on all POS equipment
- Free POS equipment training
Merchant Account Rates and Fees
LFC MultiPay provides dedicated multi-currency merchant accounts for small to medium-sized businesses. Because the bank that we use varies based on the type of business and the country in which it resides, rates vary slightly from one customer to the next.
Furthermore, to give you the most accurate rate, we have divided our prices into three comprehensive categories: United States businesses, Canadian businesses, and international businesses (outside of the US and Canada). To apply for a United States or Canadian merchant account, your business must be registered and reside in the appropriate country, although your website can be hosted else ware.
Click here to get a free 100% accurate quote, with no commitment!
In addition to providing No Application Fees, No Software Setup/Licensing Fees and a FREE Payment Gateway for live credit card processing (this is unheard of), we are also providing you with the best processing rates around - better than the banks in many cases. Here's what you'll be paying:
| United States (Internet) * | United States (Retail) β | Canada | International |
| Setup Fee θ | From $395 | From $200 | From $295 | From $295 |
| Monthly Fee (Gateway & Statement) | $20 | - | $35 | $0-35 |
 Internet Processing Rate (Discount Rate) | From 2.35% | From 1.65% | From 3.79% | From 3.95% |
| Per Transaction Fee | From $0.25 | From $0.20 | From $0.25 | From $0.60 |
| Rolling Reserve | 5 to 10% | 5 to 10% | 5 to 10% | 5 to 10% |
| Monthly Minimum | $0-20 | - | - | - |
Prices are in USD
* Limited to sales made over the Internet, e-mail, phone, or in person when the credit card itself is not present or a signed receipt does not exist
β Limited to sales made in person when the credit card itself is present and a signed receipt exists
θ For United States Retail merchants, the setup fee consists of the cost of all card-present (in person) credit card Point-of-Sale equipment including a processing terminal, training and a lifetime warranty
What Happens Next?
Once you've completed the free quote (online application) form, we will send you a free 100% accurate quote. Upon approving the quote, we will process the application, shortly after which you will receive either:
- A notice of approval for your Merchant Account along with a request for the payment of your setup fee
- A request for additional information. Particularly if you are located in the United States or Canada, we may require tax returns, banking information (ex: statements) or business financials. If you are able to compile this information ahead of time, we are able to complete the process more quickly and easily
Once you are approved and your setup fee has been paid, we will send you a confirmation e-mail with your new merchant account ID numbers for Visa, MasterCard, and American Express, your username and password to login to your FREE secure online virtual terminal, and the phone numbers for customer support.
If you have applied for our new U.S. Retail Merchant Account, we will arrange for the delivery of your card-present (retail) Point-of-Sale processing equipment.
NOTE: We will never bill you for your setup fee until you have approved our quote and your merchant account approval is confirmed.
You Can Accept Credit Cards Three Ways:
- The first way to accept credit card orders is by phone, fax or email. Orders that come to you in this manner would be manually entered into your Virtual Terminal for processing. Many merchants start out with this approach to avoid the costs associated with an automated solution, which can be easily implemented at a later date when the flow of orders becomes too great to handle manually.
Orders can be taken via e-mail in three different ways:
- By simply providing an e-mail link on your website, promotional material, etc., requiring customers to manually type an e-mail to you with their order details. This is becoming quite rare, as it is not user friendly for consumers.
- Via a dynamic (automatic) secure order form on your website. All of our Business Hosting Plans include a free script that makes it very easy to implement an unlimited number of secure online order forms on your site. Our customer service team will also help you implement online order forms on your site and ensure that they are 100% secure, without the need for any knowledge of HTML, etc. A secure online order form is an excellent way to minimize the costs associated with selling your products and services online, particularly if you have a very limited number of products/services available.
- Implementing a complete secure online shopping cart (or online storefront). A shopping cart is generally considered the most user-friendly way of selling through a website, particularly if many different products, styles, etc. are available.
LFC considers security a top priority, which is why all of our Business Hosting Plans (starting at only $9.95 USD/month) include free support for 128-bit SSL encryption, the strongest form of widely supported Internet security.
- The second way to accept credit card orders is for your website to automatically authorize and process the credit card transactions. This requires a Credit Card Processing Gateway service, included free with MultiPay.
A gateway is typically interfaced with a shopping cart. A shopping cart automates the transaction process for your clients by providing a point-click-and-purchase environment for customers browsing your online store.
The shopping cart keeps track of your customer's order. At "check out", it sends all the necessary information about the purchase to your Processing Gateway, which then prompts your customers to complete their transaction by selecting their choice of credit card with which to securely pay for their purchase.
- U.S. Retail Merchants swipe credit cards through the advanced professional processing terminal provided, instantly processing the credit card and issuing a receipt to be signed by the customer.
What is a "Shopping Cart"?
A shopping cart allows your website visitors to travel through your site adding products to a shopping basket and then complete the order upon "check out". The shopping cart keeps track of the items ordered and automatically calculates shipping, tax, etc., making it easy for your clients to make informed purchases.
With all of our business-oriented hosting packages (starting at only $9.95/month), you have the ability to use virtually any third party shopping cart software; however, we recommend using the extremely versatile and innovative shopping cart software included free-of-charge with your account, a huge advantage in using LFC to conduct secure electronic commerce on the Internet. Our Shopping Cart solution is closely integrated with our network to operate extremely efficiently and securely, while being simple to install and manage.
Authorizations, Receipts, and Getting The Money
No matter which way you choose to process your customers' credit cards - manually or live, the following things happen once a credit card number is entered:
The credit card and its holder are subject to an authorization process. The system will dynamically assign a fraud score to the transaction through the advanced eFalcon System. If everything checks out:
The sale is approved - Receipts are automatically generated and e-mailed by the system (printed in the case of retail merchants) to you and your customer. If you are using live processing, the customer will also have the receipt displayed on their browser for printing.
Your customer's credit card is then debited, and shortly after the transaction, the money is deposited into your local business checking account.
That's all there is to it!
Free Quote!
So, if you're looking to establish an online store, there's no question that you need the ability to accept credit cards.
With most other merchant account providers, including your bank, you will have to go through a substantial screening process, pay applications fees, and undoubtedly a fee for the cost of your processing terminal (either physical or virtual).
However, to close the loop in our one-stop shop for eBusiness, Loose Foot Computing is able to offer you with the ability to accept Visa, MasterCard, and AMEX through your website with your own merchant account (so that your company name will show up on the credit card statements of your customers) with no applications fees or obligation whatsoever. Therefore, why not get your Free Quote today, with no obligation, and start accepting credit cards almost immediately!
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