Congratulations! You created an impulse in a customer to buy your product. One small catch… without some way to take their credit card number, your sale is as good as gone. One of the most important ways to grab that sale NOW, is to have your own Visa/AMEX/MasterCard merchant account tied to your shopping system. It used to be hard for just anyone to get a merchant account, but those days are long gone, (as you probably know if you turned on your computer today.) It seems like just about every company out there is ready to give you merchant account status, well, not give; sell. To find a relatively inexpensive one, visit my site at http://www.KickStartCart.com .

You will run into all kinds of deals with people trying to lease you credit card swiping equipment. Unless you do a ton of back-of-the-room business, you will never see a credit card and that machine will serve you better as a doorstop. I can safely say that nearly all of my sales are done via the Internet or telephone, and once in a while I'll get the very rare fax order.

It's important to get firm numbers on up front fees, monthly fees, credit card percentages, and per transaction costs. While you're at it, find out what exactly a "transaction" is? Does calling for an "authorization only" constitute a transaction? What about processing a return? All of these fees ad up, but will seem like mere pennies when you start doing a lot of business. I've heard you can get a merchant account at the warehouse superstore, Costco. Don't quote me on details, but apparently if you shop there, they have a program to set you up with a merchant account. An offer like this is definitely worth looking into.

One more thing, don't try to save yourself a few bucks by signing up for your merchant account before choosing your shopping system. That is like tying your shoes before they're on your feet; it just doesn't work. Your shopping system is the most important part of your system when it comes to selling products, so do it right the first time. Taking the short cut will only leave you with a piece of junk free shopping cart.

You must sign up with American Express directly; you can do this online at http://www.americanexpress.com/homepage/merchant.shtml

Assistance on securing merchant accounts
http://www.KickStartCart.com (scroll half way down the page)
http://www.acceptcreditcards.com