Cheap Online Merchant Accounts

If you’re an Internet startup – a one or two-man band with little capital behind you but a great idea then you may fall into our small fish category.

This is particularly true for non-US merchants. If you are based in the USA, then without realising it you almost certainly qualify for our fully featured US merchant account recommendation so be sure to check it out too just in case.

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If you’re an Internet startup – a one or two-man band with little capital behind you but a great idea then you may fall into our small fish category.

This is particularly true for non-US merchants. If you are based in the USA, then without realising it you almost certainly qualify for our fully featured US merchant account recommendation so be sure to check it out too just in case.

OK then. As a small fish, you can be virtually guaranteed to be permitted to accept credit card orders online. Period.

Just because you’re new to the Internet doesn’t mean you need to give up hope. Infact, for many new businesses, you can start out this way and within a few months apply for full merchant status as per our top merchant account recommendations.

The only drawbacks to the companies which deal with small and startup businesses are that:

(a) Charges tend to be higher (so profits are less)

(b) You have less control over payment options

However, no matter how small you are you can bet there’s a solution for you, and having tried out vast numbers in the past, here is my unbiased recommendation to you whether you’re in the US or not.

I live in the UK so have tested out numerous "international" small business solutions and of all these, one of my favourites is Kagi.

The main reason for my liking for Kagi (which, incidentally is Japanese for "key") is that very few other competing companies seem to offer so much to their merchants, or offer more support.

For example, Kagi enable you to accept a vast array of payment types including all of the following credit cards: Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Optima, Discover, Diner’s Club, Eurocard, Carte Blanche and JCB, together with cash or checks.

You can also take payments in several different currencies allowing customers to pay in their own currency.

Just as importantly, you can personalize the order form to fit more with your site. For example you can modify the text and/or add your own logo. This helps enormously in making you look like a bone fide, responsible company.

I also like the way Kagi’s software has been specifically designed to merge seamlessly with AffiliateTracking software so that you can start your own affiliate program for your site at the same time. Of particular interest is the way AffiliateTracking provides a ready-made affiliate contract so you don’t even have to worry about solicitors fees.

If, like me, you sell "digital" products, like software or electronic books, Kagi can provide you with digital delivery solutions also.

What this means is that after your customer buys, they are sent a unique website address where they can download your product, and once downloaded the link ceases to work.

So your customer pays and receives the product within minutes, and nobody can "con" you by downloading and distributing multiple copies, all without you lifting a finger!

I’ve written an article on exactly how to do it here.

There are numerous other benfits of Kagi, such as translation of order details into other languages, customized emails to your customers, the ability to apply discounts for regular customers and a whole lot more.

The only real downside I can see is that they’re considerably more expensive in terms of transaction fees than my absolute favourite third party merchant account – 2CheckOut.

To read the full list of Kagi’s features, please click here.

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