Multiple Merchant Accounts Payment Processing
One of the many challenges facing business owners accepting credit card payments today is fees. Any credit card transaction made with an online or retail business today will involve some sort of percentage rate, transaction fee, and/or monthly fee. Such fees can come from various sources. These usually include associations, sponsoring banks as well as merchant service providers, and payment processors. In addition to fees, merchants are now faced with other challenges. Due to the current business climate, it’s a good idea to think outside of the box. Putting your trust in one particular payment processor, especially for a large volume merchant is no longer sufficient. Learn how running multiple merchant accounts, (Multiple MID’s) can help you reduce fees. It can also help you mitigate risk on many different levels. Streamline your business operations with multiple merchant account payment processing & intelligent transaction routing with SecureGlobalPay.
The Benefits of Utilizing Multiple Merchant Accounts
In fact processing, online payments using credit cards like Visa or American Express is fraught with charges. Therefore, it is extremely important to understand these charges, especially with more modern alternate payment services such as Google Pay or Apple Pay. Similarly, the challenge of processing a large volume of credit card transactions brings problems of its own.
An excellent way to avoid a great many such problems is by operating multiple merchant accounts, (Multiple MID’s). Although it may sound more complicated, operating multiple merchant accounts has a great many benefits. Multiple Merchant Accounts payment processing is a must when you are operating a High-Risk Business.
Single Payment Gateway Multiple Merchant Accounts
Is it possible to use a single payment gateway for multiple merchant accounts? It is possible. As a matter of fact, some gateway providers love recommending this option to merchants because it helps to evenly distribute their risk.
If you are interested in a single payment gateway with multiple merchant accounts, there are several gateway service providers that can act as intermediaries and run different merchant accounts for you through a single payment gateway.
Payment Gateway for Multiple Merchant Accounts | Benefits
Merchants who choose to use a payment gateway for multiple merchant accounts payment processing enjoy a number of benefits:
- Save on Surcharge Fees. Merchant accounts are of two types: (1) card present and (2) card not present. Processing one type of account through another will accrue excessive downgrade fees. Keeping one account for each different type will allow you to streamline processing and reduce costs.
- More Processing Options. Some banks have restrictions on processing credit card payments involving certain types of currency. For example, your bank may support Visa transactions in rupees. But you wish to process Australian dollars through MasterCard. Having multiple accounts enables more payment processing options.
- Multiple Websites. Most merchant services will only open one account per website URL. In the event your business operates multiple websites, having multiple accounts will enable you to process payments through different URLs.
- Profit Losses. Multiple accounts allow you to maintain ties with multiple banks and multiple service providers. This will enable you to minimize profit loss in the event either one or both experiences downtime.
- Dispersed Monthly Sales Volume. Some MSPs view accounts with high monthly sales volumes as high-risk. By dispersing your profits among accounts, you can avoid any attendant fees or penalties.
- Dispersed Chargebacks. If your business begins to encounter a high volume of chargebacks, distributing these among numerous merchant accounts is one option. This can help you avoid the penalties that can come with excessive chargebacks to a single account.
Payment Gateway for Multiple Merchant Accounts Benefits
Using a payment gateway for multiple merchant accounts allows businesses the flexibility they might not otherwise enjoy.
The “Doing Business As” (or, DBA) designation is increasingly popular. However, customers may balk at doing business with a merchant if the line item on their credit card statement doesn’t match the name of the firm from which they made a purchase. Multiple merchant accounts (Multiple MID’s) enable you to clearly label all players and components of your online business.
Another benefit is the mitigation of risk. Some banks and service providers will label a business with an unusually high volume of monthly transactions “high-risk.” This comes with additional fees and penalties.
Using a payment gateway for multiple merchant accounts, you can spread transactions and revenues across multiple accounts. This will lessen the likelihood of a “high-risk” designation.
Finally, businesses can negotiate separate processing rates for different accounts. Depending on the business type and volume of transactions, this can be an excellent way to mitigate risk. It will enable you to negotiate better merchant service prices for their low-risk operations.
Can You Have Multiple Merchant Accounts | Is it Really Necessary?
There is no need to ask if you “Can you have multiple merchant accounts?” Instead, a better question to ask is if multiple merchant accounts are really necessary.
Having multiple accounts allows merchants to mitigate risk, accept payments in multiple currencies, streamline transactions, and cut costs. However, maintaining multiple accounts comes with some risks.
Having more accounts involves more work. There are simply more customers and transactions to keep track of, so vigilance is a must.
Having more accounts usually means more payment gateways unless you are processing with SecureGlobalPay and our Multi MID platform. Running transactions through merchant accounts simultaneously also means monitoring multiple accounts for fraud and chargebacks. Make sure you have the right infrastructure and tools in place to do this.
Similarly, having multiple accounts does not necessarily protect a merchant from the consequences of a negative MATCH or TMF report. Processors may learn of a negative MATCH report on your other accounts. They may choose to upgrade their terms with you or even terminate the relationship.
Multi Merchant Credit Card Terminal
A multi-merchant credit card terminal allows several businesses to use one credit card terminal. As many as 20 different businesses can be loaded on a single terminal.
A major advantage of using a multi-merchant credit card terminal is that these businesses do not have to use the same bank.
What this means is that with a multi-merchant credit card terminal setup: consultants, attorneys, stylists, and barbers in the same workspace have no reason to lump their earnings together just because they are sharing the same terminal.
As long as these businesses have their unique merchant IDs, their earnings will be conveniently diverted to their individual merchant accounts.
Autonomy is a strong point when it comes to using a multi-merchant credit card terminal with every business responsible for setting their pricing and sorting out fees or chargebacks that may arise down the line.
How to Use a Multi-Merchant Credit Card Terminal
A merchant uses a multi-merchant credit card terminal by logging in with a name or identification number.
After swiping a customer’s card, the terminal transfers the information on the card to the acquiring bank before forwarding the details to the credit card network. In a matter of seconds, the card network sends the information to the issuing bank requesting approval.
When this process is completed, the issuing bank sends back an authorization through the card network which goes through to the acquiring bank before it eventually ends up back at the multi-merchant credit card terminal.
Multi Merchant Payment Gateway | SecureGlobalPay
SecureGlobalPay provides multi-merchant payment gateway solutions and has the expertise to guide merchants through the process of establishing and monitoring large merchant volume accounts. Whether you choose to go with a single account or multiple, select a service that will offer you both efficiency and proper oversight.
At SecureGlobalPay, we will take the time to listen to you. The more we learn about your business and understand your needs, the better we can assist you. Whether or not you are a high-risk merchant, we can help you manage card processing, set up your multi-merchant payment gateway channel, and control chargeback ratios.
