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Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

why? holy crap no wonder so many merchants are stuck with working with stripe & paypal. These stupid banks want:

90 days of processing history

good credit score

clean background

10 to 15 x of projected monthly sales in your bank account

Like seriously wtf? is there any gooddamn bank account that has easy sign up for a merchant account????

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

Every local bank I've opened a business account with wants to push their merchant account solution. I've declined since I know my business doesn't fit their guidelines. But if you are legit, shouldn't be a problem.

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

It's a process to open a merchant account but it's doable...

I have opened 3 merchant accounts over the years (Authorize.Net) with little trouble.

They want to know what you're selling, how you're selling it, your terms, customer support information, credit score, etc.

Accepting credit card is HIGH risk for ALL parties so I assume that's why they vet so heavily.

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

Yea, I never knew how chargeback happy customers are, and how hard it is to win those disputes until I switched to processing with Stripe exclusively. Paypal mitigates a lot of these claims its seems.

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

@OP - I seriously recommend you try applying for TSYS or any other processor that isn't also hosting your bank account. I got approved for TSYS within 24 hours. I did have to give a detailed return policy, 6 months sales history, and a couple other things. I have credit now but had zero at the time, which is why Wells Fargo declined me for one.

Like everyone else has said - they have to make sure you're a trustworthy business before giving you the ability to run anyone's card.

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

http://www.tsys.com/

Is that similar to Authorize.Net ?? Or is that an affiliate of Authorize.net?

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

i' ve read all your comments im not sure how to multi-qoute however what do you guys reccomend? every merchant account provider literally ignores the first sale doctrine meaning i cant sell branded products however under the first sale doctrine law it states if you buy it you own it & you can do whatever you please with it. Also can i use another bank account & someones else credit score or fico score?

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

I believe they offer merchant accounts and payment gateways just like Auth.net, but I only use TSYS for my merchant account. The two companies aren't affiliated.

My TSYS merchant account is linked to my Auth.net gateway which is linked to my eBay account.

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

hows your credit score? they want six months of processing history? do they allow selling branded products? do they honor first sale doctrine??

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

Since its merchant accounts so it takes time like 90 days and to prevent 3rd party they

want clean background

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

I've built my credit up now, but at the time I had zero entries on my credit report so I had fresh credit. I was referred to TSYS by Wells Fargo after they denied me for having fresh credit because TSYS has "much less strict underwriting guidelines".

All our stuff is branded and I told the TSYS guy we source everything from China when he asked about that. I basically told him we sell gray-market without mentioning the term "gray-market". Plus we had to show several of our listings in the application process so they knew exactly what we sell when they approved me. With that being said though we sell in an overall low-risk, low-chargeback, low-fraud category which we were able to show with our Paypal sales records.

Which leads me to your next question... Yes they require a six-month sales history but that shouldn't be an issue for you unless you're a brand new seller. Any processor is going to require at least 6 months of sales history during the application process. It's required because they use it to determine what kind of processing rates they can offer you.

No idea about "first sale doctrine" since I've never heard of it. I will tell you there's a guy on eBay right now selling loads of phake beats through an Auth.net account. So it's possible even with really high-risk items. Perhaps during the application process you could list a few low-risk generic type items in your store so you can have something nice to show whatever financial institution you're applying with. Then once you're approved go back to selling your normal items. :spy:

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

nice lol, sounds good i'll give it a shot. first sale doctrine law states if you buy it you own it you can resell it which includes branded products as well. Do you know anyone or any place where i can hire someone to edit processing history docs?

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

They're merely protecting themselves against charge-backs and such, if a bank solution fits your model, you'll have a much better chance in person

Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

No experience with merchant account, I use multiple PP all night long, 365 days
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Re: Why is it so difficult to get a merchant account???!?!?!?!
 

Oh, I remember these times, when I first wanted to create a merchant account. It was so much pain and suffering, so many attempts and errors, approvals, I almost went crazy creating one, almost gave up at that point. What a relief that from the when our company started to collaborate with sphereit.uk, we got an amazing IT department, which is doing most of the stuff, I only have to introduce some data which is necessary and that's it. I am so glad that those times are in the past, but I wish they could make this process easier anyway, because it's insanely hard.