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Buyers' Guide to
Online Payment Acceptance
Chapter 3: International
Merchant Accounts
Accept Credit
Cards ONLY $49 - No Monthly Fees
If you
live outside the U.S. you may encounter quite a
few problems getting a merchant account. The cost
of getting a real merchant account is quite
expensive. You have three options: Go with a 3rd party
processing company (more on this a little
later), establish a U.S. presence or use a
company that specifically deals with foreign
firms.
To
establish a U.S. presence, you'll need to
incorporate your company in one of the 50 states.
Nevada and Delaware are both popular choices with
over 50% of the Fortune 500 companies being
incorporated in one or the other due to their low
fees and business-friendly regulations. The best
way to go about incorporating in the U.S. is to
seek out a firm that can set up a mailing address
with mail forwarding, a telephone number and fill
out all the incorporation papers on your behalf -
this might cost up to $1000. You'll find a list
of incorporation services firms at: List
of Incorporation Services
Another
good option is working with a company that
specializes in foreign firms. This is a very good
way of going if you intend on doing a large
volume of credit card transactions. One of the
best and most reputable firms out there for this
is PlanetPayment which doesn't require a
US bank account, and allows you to accept Visa,
MasterCard and American Express payments. Don't
be surprised to encounter extra fees, though, if
you are a foreign corporation. Two other
companies that do International merchant accounts
are: MerchantService.com and iTransact.com.
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