High Risk E-Commerce Merchant Accounts: What You Need to Know

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Over the last decade, the number and volume of online sales have been increasing on a regular basis. People would rather browse and shop online to buy many types of items, ranging from clothing and pet food to furniture and groceries.

Instead of having to drive to a store, find a parking space, and then wander through the store to find what they need, followed by standing in a checkout line before having to load the car and drive home, e-commerce retailers ship everything to your front door, making shopping so much more convenient.

While online retailers make our lives easier, unfortunately, for them, being able to process and accept credit and debit payments requires finding a high-risk e-commerce merchant account provider. For tried and true retailers, which started with a brick and mortar store and then added online sales, it is not as difficult because these have an established history with a provider.

For a small “mom and pop” operation that is starting a strictly online-only business, things can be much more difficult. They will shop around from one provider to another, to eventually find one with fees and rates they may not like, but they will have no choice if they want to take credit and debit payments and ACH payments.

Why Is It Difficult to Find E-Commerce Merchant Account Providers?

Over the past several years, many merchant account providers are changing the way they do business and reducing potential risks. Part of this is do with fluctuations in the economy. When things are going well, some providers are willing to take higher risks and, when the economy enters a downswing, they start reducing the number of risks they will take.

Another thing that makes it difficult to find the RIGHT merchant account provider is all the lingo contained within the terms and conditions to set up your merchant account. There could be fees and charges for such items like:

• New Account Set Up Fee


• Equipment Fee


• New Merchant Gateway Fee

These are just a few of the hidden charges some merchant providers will charge. This does not even include monthly service fees, access fees, and more.

Whether you are tired of paying excessive fees to your current provider or are getting ready to take your business online or launch a new online venture, you will find securing an e-commerce merchant account is easy and straightforward, here at Leap Payments.

All our fees and charges are clearly defined and easy to find, and there are never any hidden fees and charges. Plus, we work with you to determine the most appropriate type of e-commerce account you need, based on your needs and requirements. Last, we offer our Lifetime Rate Lock Guarantee which locks your rates in and entitles you to regular reviews of your account with our expert feedback on ways you can lower your rates.

Source: B2C