Advantage Processors

The Advantage Processors is A Merchant account is an account at a financial institution that allows you to accept credit cards. You may find that you can acquire a Merchant account directly from your local bank or you may decide to use any of a number of Merchant account Providers that can be found using your favorite search engine. Not all Merchant Accounts can connect to the Internet, and the ones that can may be limited to a particular Secure Payment Gateway, so be sure to determine how this account will connect to your site if you are a web Merchant. A Merchant account Provider will open an account at a financial institution (a bank they are partnered with) for you that can handle Internet transactions. Be aware that there are a lot of non-reputable Merchant account Providers out there, so make sure you check them out before you commit to one. Avoid all the hype and jargon, and don't pay more than a $100 processing fee to get the account. Providers can get you equipment and software to process credit cards, however you don't necessarily have to buy the equipment or software from them if you feel their prices aren't within your budget range. All Merchant accounts will have some kind of set up or application fee, which is usually at least $99. In cases where there is no fee, they are making up the difference with software or equipment sales, or otherwise marking up the transaction charges to cover this cost.The process a transaction goes through is actually quite complicated, however it only takes a few seconds. Here's an inside look at how credit card transactions are processed using an Internet credit card processing solution:
1. The customer elects to move to the check out with the items they placed into their shopping cart or selected from the order form on a Merchant's Website.

http://www.advantageprocessors.com/

2. The customer then selects "credit card" as their method of payment.
3. Their browser connects to the Website host's secure server, and brings up the secure payment form.
4. The customer enters in his or her credit card information on the secure payment form, and authorizes the transaction by clicking a "Complete Order" type button.
5. The transaction information flows to the Website host's secure server using SSL encryption.
6. The secure server connects to the Merchant's processing bank either via a Secure Payment Gateway (a third party who provides the connection to the processing bank via land line), or directly (some processors have their own proprietary Secure Payment Gateway and therefore do not require a third party to provide this service).
7. The processor polls the card network, such as Visa® or MasterCard®, directly, and the validity of the card, and availability of funds is confirmed.8. If the transaction's approved, an authorization code is returned to the processor, or to the Secure Payment Gateway from the processor.
9. The authorization is encrypted by the Payment Gateway or processor and transmitted in encrypted form to the Web server of the Merchant , which triggers fulfillment of the order.
10. The Merchant's Web server then sends the customer's browser a confirmation receipt.
11. The amount due is moved from the card holder's bank to the Merchant 's processing bank. The Merchant's processing bank will then move the money to the Merchant 's local bank within 2 to 3 business days.