Merchant account

[adamnichols45]

So you have to be a ltd company to open a business account or a merchant account?

can somebody explain this please?

im in the uk

[RailMan]

no, sole traders and partnerships can open business bank accounts if they want to - walk into any high street bank and ask to open a business bank account - really simple

sole traders and partnerships can also get merchant accounts if they want to (if the bank lets them)
expect the bank to want all sorts of information / security etc
oh, and then you'll need your online processing account (gateway)

or save yourself a lot of hassle and go to worldpay - costs similar to or less than bank merchant account + gateway and much easier, especially for the new / small business

[adamnichols45]

so if i go to world pay i wont need a merchant account?

[shri]

Adam,

If you mean merchant account as in you want to be able to process credit cards -- yes, companies like Worldpay, paypal will process credit cards using their own accounts. They will then charge you a commission and send you the payments collected -- after holding them for 30 days.

[adamnichols45]

thanks for the info - im not sure i would get a merchant account very easily beeing only 20. Maybe world pay is a better option.

Bit of a bummer though having my money tied up for 30 days.

[Staffa]

If you are selling to the UK only, have a look at Nochex.
Money transfer any time at your request.
They do not have the possibility to accept international payments yet.

[Corey Bryant]

Check out Barclay's and Protx as well

-Corey

[chodges84]

adam,

I got my Worldpay account when I was 19 no problem.

I *expect* i could have got one through a bank such as Lloyds or Barclays and integrated it with a gateway such as Protx (which I think I will do for future websites). It's up to each individual bank as to whether they would accept you or not. Now I've done a good couple of years with Worldpay, I think I should have a good enough record to get an Merchant account with one of the companies above.

I would definately reccomend a merchant account or worldpay over Paypal though, it definately helped me when I made the switch i'm sure.

[webdevfv]

Corey - how long do you wait for Barclays to transfer money.

Opened up Amex merchant account (via Protx) and its very quick - 7 days or even less.

But Barclays is 30 days. I can remember something about this being reduced after a certain period - anyone know?

[Corey Bryant]

I am actually in the United States and we use a different processor here

-Corey