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In today's world, many purchases are made with the retailer and the customer never coming face to face. People buy just about everything online, from personal care items to furniture. With this large volume of rapidly moving e-commerce, money changes hands continuously, and customers don't even need to leave the comfort of home. Getting in on this market requires online merchants to provide easy payment options for customers. A merchant account is vital for making this happen.

If you retail products or services on the Internet, then you'll need to have a merchant account to process credit card transactions online. A merchant account works just like POS terminals that you see in brick and mortar stores, except the 'terminal' exist in cyber space and transactions are processed and approved online.

Internet shoppers tend to be fickle, making a merchant account vital for your business success online. It's harder to develop customer loyalty online, where shoppers are primarily interested in convenience and low price. If you don't offer online credit card processing, you may lose valuable customers who can't or won't pay by any other method. Most customers simply aren't willing to pay by check or money order. They want the convenience and security of online credit card processing.

You'll also make a better impression on customers with a merchant account. Consumers will view your business as legitimate, and are more likely to purchase from a retailer that displays credit card transaction options and relevant security features. If you can't accept a customer's credit card, consumers may perceive your business as unprofessional, or may assume you're not a legitimate retailer.

A merchant account also simplifies the process for you as the vendor. Your online merchant gateway will automate the processing of credit card payments. Most online shopping carts are set up to automatically calculate sales tax and shipping as well. Your shopping cart and merchant gateway perform the same functions as a cashier and POS (point of sale) terminal, but you don't have to do a thing to complete the transaction.

Another advantage of a merchant account is the ability to process transactions in real time. If you process transactions offline, you could lose money through fraudulent or bounced checks, or you might manually take down credit card information only to find that the transaction is declined by the bank. Plus, you'll have funds from online transactions deposited right into your bank account.

You may choose to offer PayPal as another way for your customers to pay, but you will still need a merchant account to be as competitive as possible. Not everyone has a PayPal account or wants to create one. Besides, you could end up paying much higher transaction fees if you use PayPal alone. Whether or not this is true for you depends largely on sales volume and typical transaction amounts.

A merchant account for your online business is crucial for your ability to make the sale. While you may have the best product on the market, if you can't accept credit card payments, the chances that you will lose customer transactions is very high. The more payment options you provide for your customers, the better your chances of making the sale.

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