Friday 23 September 2011

Exploring Third Party Payment Processors



Third party payment processors are growing in popularity. More and more merchants are utilizing third party payment processors for Visa card processing and Mastercard processing because they are easy to set up and are low maintenance. The content below will enable a merchant to choose if a third party payment processor is definitely the right choice.

What Is a Third Party Payment Processor?

A third party payment processor is a tool that allows a merchant to accept payments without needing to go through the process of applying for a merchant account. A third party payment processor can be integrated with a website, as many have free shopping carts and buy now buttons that you can put on your website. Many of these features are free and make it so customers can purchase from merchants quite easily.

What Does a Third Party Payment Processor Do?

A third party payment processor enables merchants to accept payments with ease. Third party payment processors do have merchant accounts that operate under their companies that are used to process various transactions for merchants. Each time a customer pays for goods, the money then enters into an account that the merchant has with the third party payment processor. In the event the merchant wants the funds, he or she can transfer it into the bank account that's connected to the third party payment processor account.

Examples of Third Party Payment Processors

There are several third party payment processors that a merchant can consider. Here are examples of the best and most popular ones.

• 2CheckOut, Inc.
• Google Checkout
• Paypal

Paypal and 2CheckOut, Inc. have merchant accounts for merchants who outgrow the basics. All three of the third party payment processors right here have proven track records, allowing merchants to be able to put implicit trust in them.


Pros and Cons for Third Party Payment Processors

Before a merchant decides whether or not a third party payment processor is the right choice for his or her business, pros and cons have to be considered. To enable merchants to make an educated decision, some advantage and disadvantages of payment processors are listed below.

Benefits of Third Party Payment Processors

• A variety of free shopping carts
• Options which facilitate recurring Billing 
• Integration of the shipping costs
• Integration with the design of the merchant's website 
• Support for digital products
• Low monthly fees or no monthly fees at all

Disadvantages of Third Party Payment Processors

• Higher transaction fees--four to five percent
• Some require customers to get an account (This type of requirement could potentially cause a merchant to give up sales, especially if a consumer does not want to register.)
• Sometimes will not fit with certain website designs

Since a merchant understands enough about third party payment processors in making an informed choice, there are a couple of things that can be done to insure that the merchant chooses a solid company that will provide merchant services. Talking with other colleagues and doing some background research on each company will insure that this merchant makes the smart choice. Once the choice has been made, the merchant has the ability to run his or her business with no trouble. Click here to find out more about third party payment processor.