Now that home-based businesses have e-commerce and Internet they can accept credit card payments online without the high fees that go along with it just like big business.

Many merchant account providers have special packages for the home-based business. You need to carefully research all possibilities before you make a decision to accept credit card payments for business. It is a huge convenience for you to accept credit cards from customers so you need to check everything. The good, the bad, and the ugly.

At one time it was a difficult and lengthy process to receive payments from customers. But with a merchant account you can accept payments through a bank, independent sales organization or a third party such as PayPal. To establish a merchant account you need to be approved for a banking institute or independent sales organization. This process is necessary and involves reviewing and evaluating your personal credit rating. Many merchant account providers offer high approval rates, and special options for home-based businesses.

Once you have your merchant account you will be able to automatically deposit funds that you receive from credit card payments directly into your personal account. Remember, there are fees are charged by Independent Sales organizations or banking institutes. Third-party providers are usually a little cheaper. When your sales volume increases though the fees from Independent Sales organizations in banking institutes will be less than third-party providers.

With third-party payers you would deposit money into your merchant account first and then transfer to your personal. The whole process can also take several days to transaction to clear. You also want to be careful because many of these businesses are fraudulent and you may never see the funds are transactions.

Both banking institutions and Independent Sales organizations have positive and negative features as well. Banks usually do not like to open a merchant account for business that wants to accept credit cards online. They also are likely to close a merchant account if you have too many charge backs. Independent Sales organizations are more likely to accept a business with a less than perfect credit rating. But they do charge a higher fee and have a tendency to overcharge.

Many merchant accounts that are now available for the home-based business have a high approval rate, and most are approved within 24 hours or less. Many of the merchant accounts providers have done away with all the application, set up, monthly and annual fees. Be sure to ask questions up front about any fees that may be associated with obtaining your merchant account. Once you have your merchant account set up you will even be able to accept credit cards on your website.

How do you know which credit card processing company to work with? How much will it cost? Are they reliable? How can they benefit your business? Well, you could check your local yellow pages for a credit card processing company. You could also search the Internet, which is a great tool for finding most anything. By using the Internet you can find a company that has a good reputation and the features that you want for your business.

The most important things you need to look for our reliability and trust. If you are just starting out you might want to center on the startup costs of accepting credit card payments online or your retail storefront. You might be lucky enough that to find a company that does not charge anything for startup. Many can charge as much as $300 in startup fees.

Do not forget to check out the other fees that may be acquired as well. Many credit card processing services in charge many types of monthly fees. There is a gateway fee that can range from $10-$50 per month. You might even have a statement fee that could be charged to you each month. The statement fee may not be more than $10.00 each month but you need to consider the monthly miniums that will vary from company to company.

Do not be fooled, there are more fees than you think. You also have a transaction fees. These fees usually ranged between $.24 -$.35 per transaction and service will probably take a percentage of each transaction as well. That percentage could be anywhere from 2.14%-2.4%. If you take the option of address verification you may also have to pay a fee for this as well and that is usually about 5-10 cents per address.

This is why you will need to find a service that is affordable, trustworthy and honest to will fit your budget. Fitting your budget is the only thing you should be concerned about. You need to look at the features that you need and whether the company can provide them. These features are just as important as the costs because you definitely do not want to pay a lot for accepting credit cards online.

Some of the features you might look for that you may or may not need, includes:

Payment Gateway

* Virtual Terminal
* Merchant Account
* How many days the payments clear
* e-Check services
* Point of Sale Swiper
* Recurring Billing
* Shopping Cart

I know one good credit card processing company that has all of these, Strategic Merchant Solutions. They have been in the business for 22 years. So they have the experience and knowledge that you need.