How much does it cost to get a merchant account if you've...
 

How much does it cost to get a merchant account if you've never had one but have been an affiliate of several programs and your sales rock?

I feel like I'm missing out on recurring $$$. I want to send my traffic to my site...no affiliates.

~Ray

Hopefully you'll get a answer to this.

I had one long ago.. And it cost like $500 setup and like 3.5% of each transaction, plus $0.25 each. But times have changed. This was in 2002ish.

would anyone else care to reply. probably lots of medium level newbs wondering the same thing.

I expected 30 replies by now. :(

I was able to get one very easily through netbilling.

im assuming adult, so typicaly unless your doing 100k a month it will be offshore, not domestic. Good luck

adult?...

I would say a small setup fee, 5% per trans, processing will depend on processor, and a 10% or so rolling reserve. It will help greatly if you have a corp and your books and credit are in order.

Check out ccbill, $750 to start

also itsyourporn.com is good for content.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

where did you get this information?
I have had a merchant account though a US bank since 1999 for my adult site.

I expected some good replies also, but all you got were people guessing.

I have a merchant account that I use with my adult website, I got it through netbilling, check them out, they will give you all the information you need.
www.netbilling.com

Well it depends on where you are located actually hon

If you are US and process under 20k you can get approx 4% discount rate (yes thats for adult and that includes the gateway fees)

offshore is of course higher rates and volume ..

for specific info you can always email me :)

How long ago was this, and how much did it cost?

Contact Mitch at netbilling

I heard humboldt bank was taking adult now (could be wrong)

http://www.ccbill.com/ $750

http://www.epochsystems.com/ Call 888-627-3888

XOXOXO
*Krystal*

Humbolt is being fined at the moment by visa for going over their quota so they aren't taking on any new adult clients puremeds
and Merrick pulled the doors closed on adult now too

:1orglaugh these are not merchant accounts people :1orglaugh

Krystal

those are third party processors
a merchant account is where the vendor gets his own descriptors and has a one on one relationship with the bank
3rd party is processing under the umbrella of the 3rd parties merchant account .. thats where the high fees come in - their merc is at risk if guidelines aren't strictly followed

I don't think it cost that much.

well SOME offshore can be a bit pricey upfront but with the savings you'd get from not having to pay 3rd party rates - most would make that up in a week or two.
you'd definately need to have a volume of 25k per month and even more (75k +)for many banks
their rates are approx 6.5% and up

US based is no app or signup fees
low volume (at present)
4%

credit isn't a great issue but DOES come into play especially with the eastern 'offshore' banks

being able to provide past transaction history helps considerably (even if its 3rd party)

it all comes down to vendor location, volume, and bank location

if someone is interested its really best to talk one-on-one to see what can be done for their individual company.

CCbill no longer will admit celebrity porn sites.. just so you know..


Its no longer cheap to get an adult merchant account so make sure than any site you have will sell. Test it as an AVS site first and if you can make good coin with that for three months steadily, then get a merchant account. Look before you leap.

ummmm....i knew that. j/k Guess i should pay attention. :anon

i think netbilling is what the guy is looking for NetBilling


XOXOXO
*Krystal*

Quite frankly without at least 3 months of chargeback and volume statements you are going to have a hard time getting your own merchant account. The costs you'll incur aren't ROI feasible if you're going with a legitimate underwriter.

My suggestion to you is to get an IPSP account to start with, then once you've established some history with them, apply for a merchant account. US accounts are still available but the field is narrowing rapidly, since banks are only allowed to process 20% maximum of their total processing in high risk. There is also a 1%/100 chargeback monthly allowance without incurring fines and potentially termination.

Visa US, Visa EU, Visa Latin America also strictly enforce cross border acquisition rules -- meaning that you need to have a corporation set up in the region you want to authorize and settle from in order to transact your business. Thus if you have a British company you can't use a US bank, or vice versa.

Mastercard has its own set of rules as well, and reserves the right to count your credits against you as if they were chargebacks if they decide that you are issuing credits purely to avoid chargebacks.

Most processing accounts these days require a minimum monthly volume, and you'll also need fraud scrubbing, gateway services, call center or other customer service as well, in order to manage your account.

Visa also has specific security requirements for anyone who processes or handles consumer credit card data, and you must also meet those requirements in order to get an account. Due diligence is tighter than ever as well; you'll need to provide bank statements, corporate documentation and IDs for the company principals. Most banks and ISOs also require credit checks on the principals as well as financial statements for the company.

Mastercard is also implementing a new rule where the bank is going to have to assume additional responsibility for each account they underwrite as well.

I'm not trying to discourage you, just give you the rundown on how it works. Start with an IPSP account to build some history, then transition over to your own merchant account when you've got more volume and history behind you.

start with a 3rd party. and run the site on NATS you can integrate your own merchant account later once your up and running. A merchant account is generally going to cost about $2500 for adult could be more if you dont have great credit.

I think your better off spending that time and money on getting your site designed so it converts and just use a 3rd party biller. ccbill or epoch.

yes use ccbill and maybe one day you can start weekly threads on all your denials and 1:1500 ratios. :thumbsup

Hi,

Thanks for the plugs above Venus and others. We do apprecite it.

If you are in the US and have no processing history, we can surely help you establish a merchant account if you think that you can do $10k per month in volume or more as long as you have good credit.

Merrick is still taking accounts as we got several approved there this week.

Please contact myself or our sales department if you would like to proceed.

To establish an adult high risk account, the cost is $2000 because you have to pay the Visa/Mastercard registration fees.

Thank you, Mitch Farber

Do like Kimmy said and get a ipsp for 3 full months so you can back your application up with 3 months of chargeback and processing history. This probably helps more than anything else.

You can do that or apply as a new merchant.

Mitch