OfficeOnWeb- Merchant Account

Fact: Today’s payment option of choice is the credit card. Research shows that when visiting a Web site that does not accept credit cards, 85% of all potential online buyers will abandon the web site, use a search engine to identify a competitor, and purchase similar products/service from an e-commerce-enabled competitor (Forester Research). With our systems you can:

Let us give you some business advice from our certified business specialists and every knowledgeable Internet consultant worldwide. If you sell something by any remote advertising media, be it phone, catalogue, TV ad, or the Internet, and you only take checks and money orders, your sales are going to be reduced by more than 20 times than it would be if your business took credit cards. This has been verified and reported by cNet, PC Magazine, and others.

Accordingly, most businesses plan to take credit cards on the web and through their business phone lines. However, many don't know where to turn for these services. Most banks are not very Internet aware and on line authorization is not a possibility with them. Plus, for what ever reason, many "brick and motor" banks STILL discourage conducting business on the Internet. If you have a merchant provider, OfficeOnWeb can work with your existing provider. If you have not established that relationship, we can help you create that ability through our ECHO Merchant Card Services (we are an authorized ECHO sales agent). We ourselves use it and are saving hundreds of dollars per month over our old bank services.

The type of service selected depends on your needs. Here are three typical ones we have recommended and used, and some analysis of the true costs. Due to the nature of start up situations and some of our clients needs, IF you do not operate principally from a store front, your credit card service is considered MOTO (mail order, telephone orders). The cost is higher for MOTO as banks favor businesses that can scan the card and request an ID if desired. Look at this comparison table and business analysis after the table.

Feature Description	Standard Merchant Account	MOTO Online Merchant	Store Front Merchant
Physical location	Local bank	Worldwide	Worldwide
On line authorization directly on web	No	Yes	Not Applicable
Automated transaction verification	Yes. Use IC Verify Import Feature	Yes. Full capacity on net	Yes. Equipment purchase
Initial cost	$600 for software	$199 application fee, $249 setup for net (setup sale $100 off coupon).	$199 application fee, plus on-site hardware. Cost depends on hardware selected
Use you own merchant account	Yes	Yes	Yes
Credit card transaction fee	Varies. Average is 2.9%	2.69%	2.19%
Monthly transaction fee minimum	$10 to $20	NO minimum fees	NO minimum fees
Monthly bank merchant access fee	None to $20.	$10 statement (if active), $20 optional access fee, and optional $20 reporting software access	$10 statement (if active)
Can be used in any server, domain, or virtual mall	Depends	Yes	Yes
Requires Secure Server	Depends on application	Depends on your needs	Not Applicable
Additional fees apply to each transaction	Yes. Varies. Average is $0.47 for credit cards	Yes $0.30 for credit cards	Yes $0.20 for credit cards
Estimated daily cost to transact a single $30 order each day	$0.79 + $.47 + labor of $1.25 to run card through PTC = $2.51 ($76.35-$96.35/mo)	$.75 and $.33, $1.00, to $1.60 allocated to monthly optional service charges = $1.05-$2.35 ($1.75 is most common) ($32.82 to $72.82/MO)	$.60 and $0.33 allocated to monthly optional service charges plus labor to run card= $.99, plus labor of $1.25 per run ($41.12/MO, plus labor)
Estimated daily cost to transact twenty $30 orders each day (600/day)	$26.00 + labor of $25 to run card through PTC= $51.00 /day ($1,551-$1,571/MO)	$20.94 + $.33, $1.00, to $1.60 allocated to monthly service charges = $21.27 to $22.54 /day ($646.93 to $696.93/MO)	$15.94 plus $.33 allocated to monthly service charges= $16.27 /day ($484.84/MO, plus labor)
Startup issue: Estimated minimum cost to transact one order a month in a startup	$0.79 + labor of 1.25 to run card through PTC + 10-40 minimum= $22.04 avg	$0.75 + 10-50 minimum= $20.75 avg	$0.60 + 10 minimum= $10.60
Startup issue: Estimated minimum cost to have account, even if no orders come in that month	$10-$50 $30 avg	nothing - $40 $20 avg	nothing - $10 average
Cost to upgrade from start up situation	$500-$1,000	$448 (limited time, get it for $199 application fee)	$199 plus equipment
Other fees that may apply	Charge backs and other typical fees	Charge backs and other typical fees	Charge backs and other typical fees

In all cases our merchant service combination less expensive than a bank and will protect you and your clients more than any other service known to us. It is the service combination we use and it saves us hundreds of dollars each month as compared to our previous bank's system.

The established business:
If you are getting a really great rate (better than above), you may want to use your established relationship with a bank and existing merchant capacity. However, remember, as you can see above, the labor costs for a off line system and really add to your true costs. If you expect your site to generate a lot of orders right away, adding another on line merchant capacity is advised (ECHO merchant with on line capacity turned on). In the above sample, it would save you nearly $900 per month if you transact 20 - $30 orders per day.

The start up business:
If you expect your site to generate a lot of orders right away, adding an on line merchant capacity is advised (ECHO merchant with on line capacity turned on). Most businesses take about six months to really get started in seeing orders. Others take more. In these cases, the ECHO merchant account is the really best option. The bank solution is a little more, to significantly more, expensive in all cases.