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Credit Card Processing Online:
Mail & Phone Orders

To make it easy for you to compare services for credit card processing online of mail and phone orders, just use our list of The Top 7 Services For Processing Mail & Phone Orders.Please note the list below is for low risk merchants. If you have a high risk business like credit repair or collection agency, you may need a provider that specializes in credit repair.

credit card processing online: mail and phone orders

In compiling the list, we reviewed more than 30 merchant account and credit card processing services, their fees and products.

USE OUR 3 STEP PROCESS
to Evaluate the Top 7 Credit Card Processing Online Services:

Step 1
Compare the fees of the merchant accounts. CLICK on those that interest you.

Step 2
Read the descriptions and ratings of each for their fees and products.

Step 3
Review further information to help understand credit card processing online.

evaluating the top online credit card processing services


 

Step 1:

The Top 7 Services For
Credit Card Processing Online

Our Top Recommendations Are Featured in Red

NAME FEE TO APPLY DISC. RATE TRANS. FEE MONTHLY STMT. FEE MONTHLY MINIMUM SET-UP FEE SOFTWARE FEE
Charge.Com None 2.25% 25 cents $10.00 Not Specified None Free
Total Merchant Services None 2.24% 25 cents (includes 10 cent Visa/MC charge; free address verification) $9.00 Not Specified; Monthly Gateway Fee of $10 to $39) None $99.00 one-time payment
The Transaction Group None 2.20% 25 cents $10.00 None None Call for a Quote
CardService International None 2.35% 25 cents $10.00 Not Specified None Contact the company
Moneris None 2.30% 25 cents $10.00 $15.00 None Contact
Merchant Express None 2.28% 25 cents plus 5 cents AVS $9.95 Not Stated None Apply for Quotation
Free Credit Card Processing None 2.49% 30 cents $10.00 $25.00 None FREE. No upfront payment or lease payments.

Fees quoted above are as of July 15, 2007. As fees are revised from time to time, be sure to check their websites and to speak to their representatives to ensure the fees mentioned here are still up-to-date. Discount rates quoted for credit card processing online are for VISA and MasterCard. Contact the merchant accounts providers for credit card processing rates for other card issuers. Very high-risk businesses may be required to pay higher fees than those mentioned in the Table above.

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Each of the 7 credit card processing online services is discussed below. We provide information on their products, as well as rating both their fees and products, utilizing a "10-star" system:

Charge.com
Website Online Since: August 11, 1995
Fees Rating: 9 stars
Product Rating: 9 stars
Apply: Online

Highly recommended, Charge.com provides free applications, free setup, free shopping cart, free Internet check software, free technical support and free search engine submissions. Charge.com has received the highest ratings from AOL, Apple Computers, Excite and others.

Online applications are often approved the same day. If you find another provider offering a lower advertised purchase price for the same software within 30 days of becoming a Charge.com merchant, it will refund you the difference in price - and also pay you an additional $100.00.

Charge's Internet merchant accounts, real-time credit card processing and virtual terminal solution enables both automated credit card processing for website orders and manual processing of email, phone, mail, fax and face-to-face orders. Both you and your customer receive email confirmation of the order. The funds from the transaction are transferred to your bank account within 2 to 3 business days.


Payment Solutions for the Legal Marijuana Industry
Website Online Since: May 1, 2008
Fees Rating: 9 stars
Products Rating: 9 stars
Apply: Online

The National Processing Group, a company that focuses on the marijuana and cbd industry truly provides great service, helps to enable your mail/phone order or home-based business to accept credit cards and other non-cash transactions. Without the customer being present, there are still a number of ways to accept payment. The National Group will work with your business to determine the most appropriate solution, as rates vary according to the transaction type.

The National Group is equipped to provide a merchant account for your card-not-present transactions. In doing so, they will provide you with web-based software accessible anywhere with an Internet connection, or a credit card terminal to manually enter credit card numbers.
Features Include:

Easy recurring monthly billing for clients

Real-time transactions.

Mobile transaction solutions

And if you are currently processing and are looking to lower your rates, contact them for a free rate analysis.



Total Merchant Services
Website Online Since: May 6, 1998
Fees Rating: 8 stars
Product Rating: 8 stars
Apply: Online

Total Merchant Services is a top provider of credit card processing online services for mail and phone orders. It offers an automatic approval, so that you can begin to accept credit cards almost immediately, provided that your VISA/MasterCard monthly credit card processing volume is less than $10,000; your average item for sale sells for less than $300; your future service liability is less than 30 days; and your business type is not on its prohibited list. If you don't meet the auto-approval requirements, you may still qualify if you have a good credit history or provide financial statements.

PC Charge: PC Charge is an award-winning product that helps reduce fraud losses, saves the merchant time and money, and provides powerful features and performance. It is highly recommended for direct marketing and mail/telephone orders (Note: other less expensive software is also available).

Its many features include:

accepts all major credit cards 

certified with the major credit card processors 

split dial authorization available for Discover and American Express (available for selected processors) 

meets up to date compliance standards for Visa and MasterCard 

multiple payment types accepted: credit cards, debit cards, EBT, check verification, guarantee and check conversion 

customer database with recurring and installment billing allowing you to schedule payment processing according to your specific business requirements 

single or multi-user 

robust and customizable reporting features 

all software is upgradeable so it won't become obsolete 

System Requirements:

PC with Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, or Windows 2000 

486 or higher processor 

15-30 MB free space of hard drive recommended 

16 MB minimum of RAM, 32 MB preferred 

Hayes compatible modem (capable of 1200 BPS or less) 

CD ROM drive 


CardService International
Website Online Since: August 28, 1998
Fees Rating: 8 stars
Product Rating: 9 stars
Apply: Online

Cardservice International is a global leader in providing secure credit card transaction to more than 185,000 businesses in both the traditional and Internet marketplaces. You can download a free copy of their Merchant Account Buyers Guide to help you make intelligent choices when selecting the best Merchant Account Provider for your business.

LinkPoint Central provides one secure location where merchants can manage everything related to transaction processing, from running secure transactions or setting up their Web sites to run transactions for you.

LinkPoint Central incorporates two of the main processing products, LinkPoint Basic and Virtual LinkPoint, and makes them easily accessible in one central location. Virtual LinkPoint empowers merchants with the Internet equivalent of a point-of-sale (POS) terminal and software without the hassle or expense of hardware/software maintenance. Ideal for the merchant who requires a PC-based solution, Virtual LinkPoint enables merchants to process credit card transactions via any Internet-connected computer. Its innovative system processes customer orders received from a Web site, telephone, fax, mail or e-mail, then generates sales, returns, real-time authorizations and reports through the LinkPoint Secure Payment Gateway. LinkPoint Basic is a payment-posting tool that uses HTML. Ideal for merchants with Web sites, LinkPoint Basic HTML script can be easily integrated to enable secure payment processing to the LinkPoint Secure Payment Gateway. In addition, LinkPoint Basic supports sales, returns, real-time authorizations, purchasing cards and real-time reports.

LinkPoint Central also supports LinkPoint VirtualCheck, a value-added enhancement that allows merchants to accept and process electronic check payments using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption.


Moneris
Website Online Since: August 9, 2000
Fees Rating: 9 stars
Products Rating: 8 stars
Apply: Online

Moneris Solutions helps to enable your mail/phone order or home-based business to accept credit cards and other non-cash transactions. Without the customer being present, there are still a number of ways to accept payment. Moneris Solutions will work with your business to determine the most appropriate solution as rates vary according to the transaction type.

Moneris is equipped to provide a merchant account for your "card-not-present" transactions. We will provide you with web based software accessible anywhere with an Internet connection, or a credit card terminal to manually enter credit card numbers.

Moneris solutions features include: easy recurring monthly billing for clients, real-time transactions and mobile transaction solutions.

In addition to terminals Moneris offers the leading web based internet solution, AuthorizeNet.

To check out their website:

Moneris


Merchant Express
Website Online Since: April 8, 1998
Fees Rating: Not available
Product Rating: 9 stars
Apply: Online

Merchant Express will provide you with a written guarantee that it will not raise the discount rate charged to you for its credit card processing online, unless VISA/MasterCard raise their rates.

PC Charge Pro: An award-winning software that lets you process all major credit cards and check guarantee services right on your own PC and automatically deposit the transaction amount into your existing bank account. PC Charge Pro helps reduce fraud losses, saves the merchant time and money, and provides powerful features and performance.

Whether you are a direct marketer or process mail or telephone orders, PC Charge Pro is a cost-effective solution. You don't need to purchase any additional hardware - simply use your existing PC. With an optional card swiper attached to your PC, you can use PC Charge Pro in retail locations instead of a stand alone terminal. PC Charge Pro is upgradeable so it won't become obsolete like credit card terminals do (Merchant Express offers the latest version of PC Charge Pro). 

For a review of some of the many features of PC Charge Pro, see the discussion in 1st American Card Services, above.

For a quote on the software pricing for credit card processing online, fill out the free application on the Merchant Express website. They also offer a lease-to-own plan, where first and last month lease payments are not due upfront. While their fees for the software require that you apply for a quotation, their discount rate for merchant accounts is very low.

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Free Credit Card Processing
Website Online Since: 2003
Fees Rating: 8 stars
Product Rating: 9 stars
Apply: Online

Receive a free virtual terminal, valued at $495. No integration is necessary --- simply login to the Pay-Me-Now, select one of the Virtual Terminal menu options, fill out the form with your consumer's account information and payment amount, and press Submit.

No upfront payment and no lease payments.

Customizable fraud and risk management system helps you maximize sales and minimize risk.

 

 

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In the previous section where we discussed low cost merchant accounts, we briefly reviewed the standard costs and fees that you can expect to be confronted with, no matter what credit card processing online service you select. [NOTE: Other sections deal with low-cost merchant accounts for real-time processing for websites and retail swipe machine processing.]

With credit card processing online, you will be manually entering in a window on your computer the credit card data you receive from your mail order or phone customers, utilizing the merchant account provider's software program. Your processing service will then do the required authorization checks on the data and within a few days, transfer the sales proceeds to your merchant account - and then to your business checking account.

All providers of services for low-cost credit card processing online - and those that aren't so cheap - will require you to either purchase or lease the software needed to process your mail and phone orders online. 

This cost is in addition to the costs that we discussed in the previous section where(that you will face no matter which processing solution you require).
 

making decisions about credit card processing online service

Sidenote: Before making a decision on a credit card processing online service for your business, you should take The Nine Minute Tutorial. You'll learn what credit card processing is all about, how to evaluate merchant account providers and what questions you should ask them, how you can avoid costly chargebacks for fraudulent transactions, what merchant account providers look for when you apply, etc.). It will be time well spent.

 

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