Merchant Account Question

Unarmed Gunman

Unarmed Gunman

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May 2, 2007
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This very well may be a stupid fucking question, but I'm curious to know how much of an issue it is to use the same merchant account for sales originating from multiple domains. In theory I would think it shouldn't matter as long as the sites are owned by the same company since the account is tied to the EIN. However, when you set the account up they want to see the sales page and all that good shit so that would make this "unapproved" from an underwriters perspective would it not?

Obviously this could be abused to get approved for a merchant account selling legit products only to be used for shady shit, so I'm thinking there has to be a check in place to flag activity from a different domain...

Thoughts?
 


One site has various products with different price points. Other site would have completely unrelated product with 3 or 4 price points.

Who would be checking the sales url's, gateway or merchant account? Or both?
 
These days if you have multiple products, they want you to have multiple merchant accounts. This actually is to your benefit since your whole business won't grind to a stop if there is a problem with one product.

Let me know if you need help with this.
 
Ideally you should setup merchant accounts for each, however pushing it through via an API on your CRM makes it virtually impossible on their end to see where it's coming from. As long as the amounts are within the limits you set, you should be good.
 
Ask your merchant and be open with him. Obviously can't be done without conditions, but, talk to your guy, be direct. Say: I want to do this; can I?

You DO NOT want to get on the blacklist.
 
Different mids for different urls is best this way you keep the descriptors as something people will know and it keeps diversity in your banking one bad apple won't kill the bunch
 
Also PROTIP: if the merchant doesn't let you specify the credit card statement narrative on a per transaction basis, set up a 1 page domain which lists all of your website "brands" and put this domain as the transaction narrative (ideally this would be the same as your company name).

Some card statement narratives only allow 11 characters, so keep the domain short. Also, bid on whatever the transaction narrative is as the first thing most people do when they see an unfamiliar narrative is to search it. Should keep the confusion and chargeback potential down.
 
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spitfire said:
Also PROTIP: if the merchant doesn't let you specify the credit card statement narrative on a per transaction basis, set up a 1 page domain which lists all of your website "brands" and put this domain as the transaction narrative (ideally this would be the same as your company name).

Some card statement narratives only allow 11 characters, so keep the domain short. Also, bid on whatever the transaction narrative is as the first thing most people do when they see an unfamiliar narrative is to search it. Should keep the confusion and chargeback potential down.
Click to expand...

This is what I've been noticing too. 1 domain for multiple products. And then the home page of the domain has pictures of the brands and products that are under the company's umbrella.

Also include some type of sentence like "If you recently ordered one of these products this is why UNARMEDGUNMAN INC. is on your credit card statement."
 
directresponse said:
These days if you have multiple products, they want you to have multiple merchant accounts. This actually is to your benefit since your whole business won't grind to a stop if there is a problem with one product.

Let me know if you need help with this.
Click to expand...

Can you pull this off with having 1 LLC like "XYZ Holdings" and then having DBA's for each domain/product/brand?

I've been trying to figure out the cheapest way to manage multiple info products but still spread the risk at the same time.

I realize these are noob questions but I'm a peasant and can't afford to hire an accountant with a long enough sideburn curl to get the answers I need.
 
Well, here is the thing. You will run into trouble if a chargeback is requested, since the customers might see some strange url or website. If you pulled that nonsense at my place I'd place a hold on your fund for 180 days and not think twice, and I'm the nice guy ;)

Why? cause people do fraudelent shit with the way you are talking about. People don't know this, but the 180 period hold is so the merchant underwriter, me, doesn't get that money taken out of our bank account by our affiliate bank, since I am the underwriter. Any chargeback, comes out of my shit, if your bank account is empty. (this is for the end banks, not your walk-in your office to sell you merchant processing cause I am an ISO. Those guys get commission and residual, and don't do the underwriting).

What alot of people don't know is customers, if they know what they are doing can chargeback items 365 days later. Rare, yes, but it is possible.

Tell your merchant processor about the sites, and get a different id for each. You are going to be better off in the long run.
 
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