subject: Problems and Solutions in Merchant Accounts [print this page] Problems and Solutions in Merchant Accounts
Online business requires you to accept payments online through credit cards. For this you will have to open a merchant account and avail the merchant services. When you accept online payments you may face a number of problems. Any kind of online payment will have some inherent problems. But a little awareness on the part of the user will help you protect yourself from frauds and misappropriation. The rules and regulations of merchant services will be favourable to the receiver of the funds and so lot of frauds can happen in this account.
When a single transaction has been identified as fraudulent then the merchant services may freeze the entire account. Such incidents have happened in case of paypal. Similarly the rules are very stringent and at times you may face login problems. To protect the fraudulent practices these merchant services will block your account if you try to log in form a country which is not included in their specified country list. This will lead to a total confusion and you may have to follow a lot of procedure to reopen them. Certain merchant accounts provider also would include in their agreement the right to enter your account without your permission. They may also take back the money deposited in your account. Such money will be charged as fees or penalty without your consent.
Most of the merchant services will have access to your checking accounts. This enables them to take decision at their discretion. All these will be included in the agreement. If oyu are opening a new merchant account care should be taken to read all the terms and conditions before signing the agreement. If required consult an advocate who will advise you on the matters related to agreement. If already existing account holders must also be vigilant and review the agreement periodically. All these agreements are electronic data which can be easily modified so make sure you review them.
Checking account must be separately opened and use this for clearing funds from the merchant account. Make it a practice to transfer extra money from this checking account to another account. Never give out the details of this account to anybody who is not authorised. As per the terms and conditions you cannot operate more than one account with a merchant account service. Don't violate such rules as their implications will be severe. Some of the merchant account service will allow you to go for linked credit cards for operating efficiency. In such cased opt for secured credit cards so that the risk is less.
For better use of the merchant account services, be careful and read the service agreement and make a smart choice. The benefit of merchant account outweighs the few problems that you may have to face.
