By Mark Brooks

YNOT – Finding a payment processor for your online business doesn’t have to be an arduous process. The key is to find a processor offering the right merchant account for your deposits, a secure payment gateway to process the transactions, and fraud prevention and detection tools to safeguard your online business. You can source each service separately, but choosing a single-source provider offering all three will simplify the management of your online payments, saving you both time and money.

To help navigate your choices, keep these points in mind.

The right merchant account. If you are planning to accept payments from around the world, you should consider multi-currency processing. Some payment processors will allow you to accept payments in one currency and receive settlements in the currency you choose. If you have locations in multiple countries, it is important to choose a payment processor with banking relationships that can provide merchant accounts in those countries.

The right price. While it is important to make sure you are not overpaying for processing, beware of gravitating to the lowest-cost provider. Often, incremental, slightly higher rates are associated with tangible benefits. These can include services like a dedicated account manager and an in-house risk management team. Your payment processor is an important partner, and it is important to know the company is monitoring your account for fraud and keeping you informed about new services that can benefit your business. Many processors still mail statements and chargeback reports. It can be a significant benefit to managing your business if your processor provides you with access to online reporting of your processing and any incoming chargebacks.

The right factors. Some factors you may not consider can impact your processing costs. Inquire whether the processor has the ability to provide some type of “intelligent transaction routing,” a service that routes transactions to the lowest-cost acquiring bank based on the card type and where the transaction originates. For example, if a customer presents a U.S.-issued BIN credit card with a U.S. address through a U.S. IP address, that transaction could be sent to the merchant’s U.S. merchant account. If another transaction bears a U.K.-issued BIN, address and IP, it will route to the merchant’s U.K. merchant account. This can significantly lower your costs and your customer’s, because the consumer will not pay the cross-border fees often levied by banks.

The right gateway. Payment gateway functionality makes all the difference. Make sure you choose a secure online payment gateway that offers global payment processing, fraud tools, comprehensive integration tools and set-up support. You should be able to accept all major international credit cards, and many gateways offer processing of direct-debit payments as well. The gateway should be easy to integrate with your website and provide hosted pages if needed. If you are offering subscription services, make sure you can manage your customer profiles and set recurring billing schedules. If you need to enter transactions manually, you will need a web-based virtual terminal.

The right fraud protection. Online payment fraud is a concern for all online merchants. To minimize your fraud exposure, your online payment gateway should provide the standard array of fraud-prevention tools including CVV/CCV2 and address verification as well as more sophisticated tools like credit card BIN look-up and velocity checking. Your online payment gateway provider also should be able to provide you with Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode and will even configure custom risk rules to fit your business model.

The right reports. To manage your business effectively, you will need to ensure you have adequate reporting tools. Real-time reports are the best option, allowing you to monitor transaction processing as it happens. Make sure to ask if you can schedule reports and whether they are available in various formats.

The right infrastructure. PCI-DSS compliance is mandatory for any business that processes credit card payments. When sourcing a payment provider, ask whether the company is PCI compliant. If you as a merchant require assistance in becoming PCI compliant, your payment processor should be able to provide assistance. The better providers will offer knowledgeable staff and partnerships with organizations that can provide you with certification. If you are a larger business that stores credit card data, you may want to utilize a payment processor provides tokenization, a process that can significantly reduce your PCI compliance liability.

After starting and then selling several successful matchmaking and social network beginning in 1998, Mark Brooks founded Courtland Brooks Agency, a consultancy providing electronic dating services with media relations, business development and product and marketing strategy assistance. He is a popular keynote speaker at conferences worldwide and serves as the president of the Internet Dating Executive Alliance. For more of his perspective about white-label dating sites, visit OnlinePersonalsWatch.com or email him.