Merchant Account Payment Gatways
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How To Set Up An Offshore Online Business?
Setting up an offshore online business is a complicated process which can be made simpler by understanding the problems and solutions in advance. The most important factors which must be considered is the payment processing gateway as this is the start of the process and everything else will have to fit around this.
Companies who process credit cards are known as Payment Service Providers and have to adhere to strict compliance regulations. This is in effect to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. These companies have to comply to the regulations with specific regard to the aspect called 'know your client'.
The compliance regulations of the Payment Service Provider or merchant bank require that they have a complete set of documents about you and your company and they also like to see recent evidence of your companies transaction history (looking for any charge backs).
They are required to have photographic ID evidence of the directors of the companies passports or driving license along with proof of addresses, namely copies of recent utility bills. This is standard practice but of course is made a little more complicated when your company is based offshore. Therefor when you set up your offshore company make sure that you have these details from the outset.
Your online website will need to have full contact details including a phone number, address and email details. The website will need to clearly describe your refund policy, the duration of the service, or clear descriptions of the product. They might also require a business plan and copies of your recent bank statements.
You will also need to have a bank account which is located outside of the country in which you are living. Your website will also need to be hosted in a country other than where you live. The Payment Service Provider or merchant bank who will process your credit card payments will also need to be located outside of the country in which you live. This way you will have a truly offshore company.