Merchant account providers help provide accounts to merchants. Banks are the best known providers of business accounts. Additionally, there are third-party merchant account providers that are extremely popular with international and internet merchants. In order to become a successful merchant account provider, there are a few basics that one must understand.
The merchant account provider requires the help of at least two other entities to grant a merchant account to a customer. One is an ISO (Independent Service Organization) and the other is the underwriter. An ISO normally comes from local debt collection. Your job is to check the risks involved in granting the merchant account. They look at the applicant’s operation, as well as their history and assets. ISOs are often also trading account managers, with the power to liquidate the trading account should anything go wrong. The subscriber is usually a bank. Their responsibility lies with the cardholders. They re-evaluate the website, the merchant’s operations and the report provided by the ISO. It is the insurer that actually awards the merchant account to the applicant. Subscribers often request cosmetic and even structural changes to the merchant’s website to protect the merchant’s interests.
The merchant account provider must be adept at handling high-risk accounts. These businesses include pharmacy accounts; adult accounts; travel accounts; telemarketing accounts, etc. They are high-risk in nature due to their potential for unnecessary chargebacks, legal violations, or may simply give the merchant account provider bad publicity for accepting your type of business.
Nowadays, it is essential that someone who wishes to become a merchant account provider has some experience and knowledge with the doctrine, terminology and workings of electronic commerce. Computer skills essential.