FAQ

A merchant account allows a business to accept credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and other forms of payment. This process has many pseudonyms, among them, payment processing or credit card processing. Merchants, or business owners who wish to accept credit card payment for goods and services, must apply for a merchant account, usually through a merchant bank or MSP (Merchant Service Provider).

The bank that issues a credit card or debit card to a cardholder.

A financial institution that provides customers with the ability to process credit card transactions. Acquiring banks are charged by Visa and/or MasterCard for processing and these charges are passed along to the merchant.

At PSBill, we work directly with merchants to get sites in compliance with bank regulations as quickly as possible. For Low risk Merchants, approval times are usually 24-48 hours. For High Risk merchants the process can take anywhere from 1 to 7 business days is a typical approval process timeline depending on the business type, providing PSBill has all the necessary documents at its disposal. A brand new business may take a bit longer, owing to the need to assess business risk and identify any requirements unique to a particular merchant account. Switching to PSBill from another processor is a simple affair, and switching merchants can anticipate a quicker turnaround.

Once you are a merchant account holder, you can begin accepting credit card payment, either online or in a retail setting. In the brick-and-mortar world, credit card transaction are initiated by swiping with a credit card machine or virtual terminal. The transaction is approved electronically, then processed by your bank and deposited into your bank account.

Through transaction approval, an agreement between consumer and merchant is reached. The consumer agrees to pay for goods. In exchange, the merchant agrees to deliver them as advertised. A merchant is subject to penalties for non-delivery, or if goods are services are determined to be faulty. Consumers are permitted to request a refund for purchase from their credit card company at any time. This is called a chargeback, and they are hefty concerns for merchants.

Chargeback risk varies, depending on numerous factors including industry, product, service and the degree to which goods are delivered as promised or as advertised. Sadly, there is no way a credit card system can ascertain the level of a merchant’s end-user commitment, so it is vital that merchant accounts remain in good standing with the sponsoring bank as well as all parties involved. All fraud protections are in place to protect both consumer and merchant.

At the end of the day, the main goal of the credit card processor is to act as a conduit, connecting Merchant and Customer to one another while providing a safe, efficient forum for the purchase and sale of goods.

Online processing bears a striking resemblance to any offline, brick-and-mortar retail shopping experience. Consumers browse through products, place items they wish to purchase in a “shopping cart,” and proceed finally to a checkout screen. PSBill processes all sales in a secure environment. Consumers enter their credit card information; transactions are scrubbed for fraud and authenticity; and in the end, end-user and merchant are notified of a successful transaction. PSBill member banks then deposits funds collected from the sale into your merchant account typically in 2 business days. To get the detailed scheme, click here

Well this is entirely up to you. We do not facilitate any order processing. We only process the tranactions through the banking system and provide an approved or declined transaction. At this point its up to you to provide the product or services the customer has purchased.

Processing and services costs are variable, and dependent mainly on assessed merchant risk and transaction volume.

Payment timelines are unique to each merchant, and dependent upon conditions of the acquiring bank and the nature of the business itself.

PSBill can help you establish a merchant account. We offer comprehensive solutions for credit card and alternative processing. You can take advantage of one of our merchant accounts and/or our billing software, which can be used as gateway to connect directly to our system.

Yes. PSBill offers all merchants the option of opening direct merchant accounts with unique, personalized billing descriptor.

We specialize in offshore merchant account services for all the major online companies. In addition to U.S. accounts, we also provide merchant accounts for Canadian and international merchants.

We process USD, EUR, GBP, HKD and JPD. As a PSBill client, you can actually advertise pricing in any currency. Upon purchase, our system will automatically convert transaction amounts into your settlement currency.

PSBill offers a proprietary anti-fraud system based on our years of experience in Internet credit card processing. For added protection, our fraud control team manually checks all transactions processed by our system. Click here to find out more.

Generally speaking with all merchant account processing companies, there are small monthly minimum fees for maintaining your account. These are only imposed if you do not process any transactions.

Almost any business is qualified to process with PSBill. Click here for a list of restricted merchant processing categories.