If you do not accept Visa Card you could be missing out. Processing credit cards through a merchant account is simple. This article has information on Visa Card history, the pros and cons of accepting Visa credit cards, and how to start accepting Visa Cards.

If you're trying to sell on the Internet and only accept checks, your transactions probably take longer to complete than your competitors. Ever wondered about what has to happen to be able to accept Visa credit card payments? Read this article to understand more.

About Visa Card

Visa is a multinational corporation, and the largest of all the retail electronic payment networks. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Visa great out of Bank of America's charge card, with revolving credit, called BankAmericard, which debuted in 1958. As time passed, Visa went on to create a global ATM network. It was the first company to offer an international prepaid card, called Visa TravelMoney. In 2008, Visa both made its initial public offering (IPO), as well as opened trading of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Advantages of Accepting Visa Cards

It's good for merchants in general to accept credit cards, since almost a third of US consumer purchases are made with one. In addition, accepting credit cards streamlines transactions, leads to greater transaction security, and gives customers more flexibility of payment options. But Visa has some special draws all on its own. First of all, consider the fact that there are over 1 billion Visa cards being used across the world, and over 450 million in the United States alone.

Visa has consistently been the top runner in marketshare for credit cards, enjoying as much as 48% of the market for debit cards in 2006 and 44% of the credit card market in the same year, according to the Nilson Report. In fact, U.S. Visa cardholders have an annual volume of over $1 trillion, and consistently spend more with their cards than with cash. according to the Visa website.

Another advantage of accepting Visa is that you are able to display the Visa logo. For a new customer, this well-known brand helps signal the reliability and credibility of your site and your business.

Steps to Accept Visa Cards

Setting up a way to accept Visa cards can take you in several different directions. You can set up a merchant account yourself, with an acquirer that is either a financial institution or a merchant bank, or you can participate in a pre-established merchant account, such as that offered by PayPal.

To set up a merchant account, you begin with Visa's Acquirer list and select one with which you are interested in setting up a merchant account. You will note that some operate in a single state, some—such as BB&T Merchant Services, Compass Bank, and TD Banknorth—in multiple states, and several (including the ones you are most likely to have heard about)—BA Merchant Services, Capital One Merchant Services, Chase Paymentech Solutions, Citi Merchant Services, Fifth Third Bank, Merrick Bank, National Bank of Commerce, WestAmerican Bank, and Woodforest National Bank. Your arrangements are made with the specific acquirer you choose, not with Visa directly.

If  you prefer not to set up your own merchant account (small businesses, particularly, may not require their own account), you can join up with PayPal to accept all major credit cards. PayPal offers two different services for processing credit card transactions: Standard Website Payments and Pro Website Payments, both of which allow you to accept Visa cards.

The key difference in the two levels of service is that the Standard service requires your customers to (automatically) leave your site briefly to complete their transaction on the PayPal site, from which they are quickly returned to your site. This service costs less, having no monthly fee and being paid for with a percentage transaction fee and a small flat fee per transaction. The Pro service allows the completion of the financial transaction directly on your site, so your customer doesn't go anywhere. The cost for this is a monthly fee, as well as a percentage fee for each transaction with a slightly higher minimum than for standard service, as well as a flat fee per transaction.

Sources

PayPal - paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/Marketing/general/PaymentSolutions-outside

Visa - usa.visa.com/merchants/new_acceptance/acquirer_list.html

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