Hi guys,

First of all, I would like to say that I am a long time BHW member, but have created a new identity because I am paranoid.

I have a successful eshop that brings in XX,XXX figures on a daily basis [revenue, not profit]. The problem I have encountered is with merchant accounts. I have been burnt by the ones that are widely used and I since there has lately been a large increase in the sales, I want more control of the money. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with setting up merchant accounts under legit banks? My company is registered in the EU, would it be difficult to set up a merchant account under my bank? What are the benefits/difficulties as opposed to, for example, PayPal [damn freezing of funds]...

Basically I would like to have a legit Merchant Account which would be able to cope with a high volume of money, as Im hoping to further increase the eshop. From what I understand, High Volume = High Risk?!
I would also like to have the lowest possible time the funds are frozen, for tax purposes...

I appreciate any and all input. Worse comes to worse, I will be going with this to my bank, but as I am a complete n00b and couldnt find anything about "legit" merchant accounts, I was hoping I could at least get an idea of what the implications and processes/fees are, so that I dont get screwed


Thanks!

joyous,

It's not difficult, you just need to be set up with the right processor. Most people aren't aware that it's the processing company that takes the risk, not the Banks. if you flake out and leave a mess behind through fraud or high amount of chargebacks, the Bank is going to hit the processing company with the bill. If it's adult oriented, that's not such a big deal. It really depends on that your websites are selling.

Let me know if I can help.

john