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Merchant Account Application

A merchant account is a bank account that permits businesses to accept payments in various ways online.

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Before applying for a Merchant Account Application, it is vital to understand everything about this bank account type and the processes included. A merchant account is a bank account that permits businesses to accept payments in various ways online, typically through debit or credit cards.

This account is needed only if a person is using the payment gateway for processing the transactions from your website. Moreover, it is established under the agreement that is made between the merchant obtaining bank and an acceptor for the settlement of payment card transactions.

Process

Prior to moving ahead and opening a merchant account for your business, you need to own a business. Hong Kong is a great place to start a business due to its tax-friendly regime and the business-friendly environment.

Set up a company

With the help of Startupr, you can easily get a company incorporated in Hong Kong where the process may be as short as under 24 hour to the normal processing time of 3-5 working days. In short, you can have a company in Hong Kong in just a short time and there is no need to be a resident of Hong Kong for this. You can learn more about the incorporation of a Hong Kong company Here!

Opening a bank account

Now that your company has been established in Hong Kong, the next step is to open a bank account for the business transactions to take place smoothly. This is where you select the type of account that you want. The following process is involved in the opening of a Hong Kong bank account:

  • Visit the bank personally, all the directors and shareholder with more than 10% holding have to visit the bank in Hong Kong. Some banks allow visits in other countries.
  • Keep all the documents prepared and give the records to the representative of the bank you want to open an account in.
  • Have a meeting when you visit them personally in Hong Kong. You would be asked many questions about the business like the financial forecasts, business needs, experience, business scope, etc. The questions would be very generic and easy to answer, so you do not have to worry about it if you are a legitimate company and well-prepared.
  • After the meeting, you would need to wait for two weeks for them to review the documents and process the bank account opening. (base on different banks’ procedures, time will be different)

Once this has been done, you can choose a merchant account and submit the merchant account application for the online transactions for your business.

Choose merchant

There are a lot of payment processing and payment gateway companies that offer merchant accounts for businesses. Moreover, these accounts can be opened with any large banks that offer these services as well. There are cases where ISOs (Independent sales organizations) or even the MSPs (Member Service Providers) offer these accounts.

And we are choosing these organizations since they have agreements with the payment processors. Along with this, there are independent agents or contractors of the ISOs who also offer these merchant accounts. But it is not that easy to get a merchant account, as the person needs to have some arrangement with the payment processor to charge a customer’s debit or credit card.

There are many payment processors and gateways in the world and each varies as per the monthly fees and costs of transactions. And it is crucial to select the applicable company for sending the merchant account application, if you intend to run a successful online business. A list has been shared below that can help you choose the desired company for sending a merchant account application to.

Criteria for opening a Merchant Account (As per many organizations)

There are some criterias regarding your business that need to be fulfilled for opening a merchant account and they are:

Company Requirements

The following are the general questions that you might be asked if you wish to apply for a merchant account:

  • When did you establish your business in Hong Kong?
  • What is the nature of the business?
  • What services would you need with this account? MOTO or installment plan, internet payment gateway, Mobile terminal, Wire/Wireless terminal?
  • What is the predicted total sales and card sales amount per year for your Hong Kong company as this would be used to calculate the transaction fee for the Master and Visa?
  • What is the average size of the transfer for one transaction?
  • How many card types would you prefer, that is Amex, MasterCard & Visa?
  • If applicable, how many currencies would you like to accept for the online payments to your account?
  • Provide the Audited Accounts of your business in Hong Kong.
  • The company has to be about two to four years old and running in the market since then. Explain about this.
  • A setup and annual service fee for the account
  • All charges for transfer fees would be on the merchant’s own account.
  • A possible security deposit on the account for e-commerce accounts.

Documents Needed along with the Merchant Account Application

The criterias do not end here, you would also have to provide the organization with the supporting documents for the opening an ecommerce merchant account with GPAP on credit card acceptance services.

The documents would include the previous 3 months of the company’s bank account, identity proof of the directors, company documents including the certificate of incorporate, business registration certificate and other company documents, and business plan proposal and latest audited financial statements.

It must be noted that the merchant account application from the merchant and the company has to be setup in Hong Kong for at least three years in most of the cases. Otherwise, there are many agencies that would not accept the application. There are some organizations that ask for 4 years as the minimum time as well.

List of merchant account providers for Hong Kong Limited Company

Startupr has collected some of the best merchant account providers and have listed them below so that you can contact them directly and submit your merchant account application. This can be done as soon as you have incorporated your company in Hong Kong and have been running it for sometime now.

Moreover, the list just lets you know about the company that can be considered. It is your choice in the end to choose the right one as per your criteria. The following are the companies that you can contact:

Check21

The Check21 provides several financial transaction processing services that includes the e-commerce solution, electronic check processing, and credit card processing. Their mission is to offer the merchants who are submitting the merchant account application with them, a seamless worry-free electronic check and a credit card solution.

Address: 3389 Sheridan St, Suite # 503, Hollywood, FL 33021
Contact: Ido Meros
Office: 866-989-CHECK
Direct: 954-839-6414
Mobile: 954-605-0003
Fax: 954-635-5562
Email: Ido.Meros@Check21.com
Web Address: http://www.Check21.com

CardReady

CardReady provides several latest products of the electronic transactions industry. This includes credit card transactions, for which the agency would create a payment system that would fit all yours and your company’s needs. Select from a large variety of terminal configurations and software solutions for getting a solution that would promote the business growth. Submit your merchant account application to CardReady if you feel that they are the right ones for your needs and you can meet their required criteria.

Contact: Drew Padnick – VP Business Development
Phone: 888-398-6001
Web Address: http://www.cardready.com/

BankCard USA

If you do not match with the above agencies, you can also submit your merchant account application to the BankCard USA for the merchant account. The account is open for retail, MOTO and E-Commerce. Moreover, you can use the traditional low risk services and the high risks experts that also includes the next day funding. Also, get the onshore direct sponsor to Visa or MasterCard.

Address: 28720 Roadside Dr #299, Agoura Hills, CA 91301
Contact: Scott Hardy – VP
Phone: 800-589-8200
Fax: 818-540-3740
Email: scott.hardy@bankcardusa.com

Banctek

In this company, you can use the services of the debit and credit card processing. Moreover, they specialize in the card present and non card present merchants. They also setup the processing and have all the equipments and software packages that would fit your needs for retail, restaurant and service establishments, to mail order, telephone and internet business.

The Banctek Solutions company has agency agreements with MASTERCARD and VISA. They also facilitate the acceptance of Discover, American Express, and all the other major credit cards. With this, they ensure that you get the most number of options and even a cost-effective processing for your Hong Kong company.

Address: 1660 Wynkoop St. Suite 1100, Denver, Colorado 80202
Contact: Christopher M. Bridges
Phone: 303-895-4515
Fax: 303-374-7885

List of merchant account providers for not only Hong Kong Limited Company

Other than these, here is a list of merchant account providers for companies that are in any part of the world. You can easily send a merchant account application to them in desires to expand your business:

InterBill Inc.

InterBill Inc. has been in the market for a long time now and offers the Merchant Processing Services where the agency specializes in both the High Risk as well as the Traditional merchant accounts. Other than this, they also offer both the International and the Domestic solutions. So, if you own a company that is out of Hong Kong, you can still send them the merchant account application.

Web Address: http://www.interbillinc.com/

InChek, LLC

With the expert help of InCheck LLC, you can be sure to get the best payment processing solutions for your business online. They offer customized cost-reducing services for their customers. Other than this, there are six main areas of service that you can use from InCheck and there are various solutions and products within each of them. A few of the services are the Management of High Risk Accounts and Processing of Credit & Debit Cards. You can connect with them or visit their website to know more.

Web Address: http://www.inchek.net

Humboldt Merchant Services

Humboldt has been a devoted provider since it was established to offer the best-in-class credit card processing. You can easily submit the merchant account application with them and their knowledgeable representatives would connect with you directly to offer the customized solutions that would fit your individual business needs. Visit the website to know more about them.

Web Address: http://hbms.com

Global Merchant Advisors (GMA)

If you have been looking for a payment processor that is global, GMA is the one for you where it has the ability to assist and advise the Merchants as well as the Advertisers in maintaining and establishing a merchant account by submitting the correctly filled merchant account application. GMA has a lot of direct and indirect relationships with banks that permit them to offer the solutions for the most challenging account. If they match your needs, you can try them out by visiting their website.

Web Address: http://www.globalmerchantadvisors.com/

Glacier Payments

Glacier Payments has been providing clients with some of the best payment processing services for a long time now. They openly offer their clients the capability to accept all the major credit cards along with the vital tools so that you can prevent any fraudulent cases to come up. Hence, if you are submitting the merchant account application here, you can feel secure about the situations where you have to process the card-not-present transactions.

Web Address: http://glacierpayments.com/

ExpiTrans, Inc

ExpiTrans is known for providing the international and domestic Credit or Debit Card processing, and check processing accounts for almost each and every kind of business model. They also specialize in the high-risk processing associated with Internet marketing merchants.

Web Address: http://www.expitrans.com/

EMC2 Billing

EMC2 has been an innovative leader in the global transactions processing solutions where they would provide you with everything that you need from a payment solutions standpoint so that you can build and maintain a large scale, high volume business online. If you are a person who has a company that is not located in Hong Kong, you can easily opt for this company by submitting your merchant account application. Moreover, they also specialize in the high risk/card not present businesses and would assist you to easily setup an International Merchant Account, and a Domestic Merchant Accounts, or even both.

Web Address: http://www.emc2billing.com/

Credipayments, LTD

Credipayments is a renowned merchant account provider that specializes in offering the Dot Comís with easy access to any or all of the major credit card payment systems. They comprehend the ecommerce merchant and recognize the significance of nurturing your publishers, ad-networks, and affiliates.

Web Address: http://www.credipayments.com/

Now that you are clear with the complete idea and know where you can submit the merchant account application, start with first incorporating your business in Hong Kong with the help of Startupr. After this, you can choose the providers that you want to join for your merchant account and submit the application there to get accepted.

Let us know should you have any further questions.

Note: In order to apply for a merchant account for the business, the company must have an active bank account in Hong Kong. Most merchant accounts will only consider an application as after the Hong Kong bank account has been established and the company is conducting business.