Accepting ACH or Check Transactions

ACH transactions have been around a long time. 75 million Americans use checks instead of credit cards, and with the advent of the web and ecommerce they are easier than ever to use. ACH transaction fees are often much lower than credit cards so it makes sense that you should offer this option of payment to your customers.

Payments Gateway
Most payment gateways will allow you to send over a ACH or Check transaction. This can be done from your website or customized software. The gateway will return an Approved or Declined message similar to a credit card.

Checks by phone
Checks (ACH) can be collected by phone using a Virtual Terminal. The Virtual Terminal will allow you to login to a website and enter the check Transit Routing Number or TRN and the account number along with the customer information. Checks by phone or using the Virtual Terminal to perform check transactions allows you to get up and running very quickly. All you need is an internet connection.

Accept Checks Online
Ecommerce shopping carts are often integrated into the payments gateway out of the box. This means you can accept checks on your ecommerce site quickly and easily. Customers never need to mail in checks again when you start processing transactions at your web site.

Major Benefits of Online Check Acceptance

• Accept transactions similar to credit cards using TRN and Account Number.
• Offering an additional payment option will increase sales.
• Access to funds within 48 hours.
• Automatic deposits to your business checking account.
• Low low transaction costs. Half the cost of credit cards..
• No more paper statements.

Accepting Credit Cards

So your customers are complaining that you don't accept credit cards. What do you do? Well you can accept cash only, or break down and get a merchant account. A merchant account will allow you to accept all major credit cards MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover.

The first thing the merchant account provider will ask is what kind of business are you doing. They are usually broken down in to three major categories. ecommerce and internet, retail, mail order telephone (moto). Depending on what type of business your doing and how your doing it will affect the prices you receive.

eCommerce and Internet
When doing e-Commerce type transactions you'll need a Virtual Terminal and a Payment Gateway. These should be included in your merchant account. The Virtual Terminal is like a credit card machine but for the web. The payment gateway allows you to perform transactions on your website.

Retail Credit Card Processing

Normally for businesses with a POS terminal. The terminal will allow you to swipe a credit card at your point of sale.

Mail Order and Phone
These types of transactions can be either done on a Virtual Terminal or physical terminal.

Quick Books Transactions
Quick books is a popular accounting software among small businesses. The software covers most types of businesses and allows you to perform transactions from within it.