How to Select the Best eCommerce Merchant Services
Your ecommerce merchant services provider is one of the easiest factors to overlook when it comes to the success or failure of your ecommerce business. It can be easy to assume that all merchant services providers are the same, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The processing partner you choose will impact everything from your profit margins to your online security to the ease with which your ecommerce business operates and beyond.
So, with so many options on the market, how can you be sure you select the right ecommerce merchant services provider for your business? Shopping around is key, and it’s important to establish specific criteria to allow you to clearly distinguish between one service provider and the next.
The first high-level factor to look into when selecting the right ecommerce merchant services provider is experience. There are a lot of providers out there, ranging from payment processors to independent sales organizations (ISOs) to merchant service providers (MSPs). Looking into providers with a reputable brand and a long history of experience and success in ecommerce is always a great place to start.
Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential ecommerce merchant service providers, the next big factors are the features that each company’s merchant accounts offer and the platforms the accounts integrate with and support.
There are a wide variety of features that you should look for, ranging from software integrations to value-additions like fraud protection, to the level of service personalization, and beyond. But it’s important to keep an eye on rates as well. An ecommerce merchant services provider that offers a lot of features but charges heavily for them might end up costing more than they’re worth, so always balance available features against cost.
Essential Features to Look for from Ecommerce Merchant Services Providers
While each unique ecommerce merchant services provider will offer its own unique set of features, there are certain features that you should look for across the board. The following is a list of essential features that the ecommerce merchant services provider you select should offer, at a minimum.
Payment Gateway Services
Payment gateways should factor into your decision-making in two ways: which gateways your ecommerce merchant services provider integrates with, and which, if any, they can directly provide. Most ecommerce merchant services companies can integrate with the vast majority of gateways, but being able to get your gateway directly through your merchant account provider makes your life easier, minimizes the number of vendors you have to juggle, and simplifies your billing.
Advanced Fraud and Chargeback Protection
Fraud and abusive chargebacks are unfortunate realities of doing business, especially online. Choosing an ecommerce merchant services provider that offers a robust anti-fraud and chargeback defense program is a great way to help ensure any potential losses from bad actors are minimized. A good ecommerce merchant services company should offer advanced third-party fraud monitoring and should also offer assistance with both monitoring and responding to chargebacks, to ensure fewer cases are lost unnecessarily.
PCI Assistance
PCI compliance is an extremely important part of doing business online. Unfortunately, it’s also complex and confusing. When choosing an ecommerce merchant services provider, it’s a good idea to inquire about what kind of support you can expect when it comes time to get your PCI compliance in order. Ideally, your merchant account provider should be there to guide you through the process as much as needed, since successful compliance is as much to their benefit as it is yours.
Next-Day Funding
Next-day funding sees the industry’s standard two and three-day holds on funds waived so that your money will hit your bank account the business day after you batch a transaction. It’s a feature that only applies to more experienced merchants, so it won’t be relevant to new merchants looking for their first ecommerce merchant services account. But, if you’ve got a strong history behind you and are looking to switch providers, choosing one that offers next-day funding is a great way to boost the health of your cash flow.
Competitive Fees
As mentioned earlier, features and value-added services are great, but if they come at the cost of high transaction fees, they’re often not worth it. When weighing features, it’s important to look for an ecommerce merchant services provider that offers a wide set of features and services, but also offers low pricing. That combination does exist, so compare pricing carefully, and don’t ever just accept high transaction fees as an inevitable cost of doing business.
Check out BAMS eCommerce Merchant Services
BAMS is an ecommerce merchant services provider with over 15 years of experience helping merchants of all sizes in a wide range of industries, both online and off. BAMS ecommerce merchant accounts offer a huge range of features, from integration with all the most popular gateways, to next-day funding, to advanced fraud protection, to chargeback defense, to dedicated support, and more.
Better still, BAMS offers interchange-plus pricing — the most affordable and transparent pricing model in the payments industry. As a result, in addition to the many value-added features and services they enjoy, BAMS merchants also get guaranteed low pricing, ensuring more money from each transaction stays in their pockets.
To find out more about BAMS ecommerce merchant services and how much you could save by becoming a BAMS merchant, get started with your comprehensive five-point price comparison today.
