Merchant Account Payment Gatways
 |  |
Indian Merchant Services
Though access to the internet is increasing all over the world, there is no country that is growing quite as quickly as India. According to a recent report, the country that is home to the second largest population on earth experienced an internet growth rate of 153% in 2008. This is an incredible number that warrants closer investigation.
While not all numbers or statistics have been verified, we do know that the average Indian has increased access to the internet and that he is also using these new services more than ever as technology continues to improve and costs decline. For these reasons, and many more, the queue for merchant service providers is growing by the day.
What are Indian merchant services ? As you may know, when a company does business on the internet the only reliable payment options they can offer consumers are credit or debit cards… obviously, they cannot accept cheques. This means that the company must hire a qualified credit/debit card processing company to handle all of these transactions.
For this service, the provider takes a small commission for each transaction. The rate of this commission is based upon the risk of the industry that the company does business in. That means that if the industry has high rates or fraud, refunds or chargebacks (customer disputes), a company will likely receive a high commission or transaction fee.
This fact is further complicated by the fact that most credit card processing companies are located either in the US or in the UK, which often means that foreign companies receive the short end of the stick and are forced to pay exorbitant fees. This is especially true when it comes to companies that compete in risky industries. In fact, they are often labeled high risk merchants and are occasionally refused service by some of the bigger banks and credit card processing companies.
What to do? If you live in India and you want to establish a high risk online business, your best option is to obtain an account from an online merchant service provider. Since these companies complete almost all of their business online, they do not care where businesses are located, and they are often willing to work for a client that competes in a high risk industry as long as they have a solid business plan.