Internet Trading
When trading over the internet, a merchant will not only have to accept cards from their customers but they will also need to provide a secure facility or payment page for them to provide their card details.
The charges for accepting or acquiring the cards online are explained in the Card Types section of the web site. There will also be a charge from a Payment Service Provider (PSP) who provides the secure payment page. Typically, there will be a set up fee to run the account and a per transaction fee or click fee that will cover each card transaction that they pass onto the merchant’s acquiring bank and the authorisation response which is passed back to the merchant.
All these pricing elements will need to be taken into consideration when a merchant calculates the cost of accepting online card transactions for their business.
An acquiring bank will explain the different elements of pricing for the products and services they offer when they negotiate pricing with a merchant. They can also discuss the range of fraud prevention tools available which could help reduce a merchant’s card acceptance costs.
