Merchant Account in UK ...

[Scott Jacobs]

Hello

I am planning to open an online business in the UK. It will be an e-commerce website and once I receive good response I will increase the number of websites up to 20, and those sites will be selling the similar brands products and services. I live in the UK, but I am not the resident of UK and to be very honest I don' have a registered company. I know it is essential to open company in UK, however, I am not sure how what to do to complete these formalities. But anyway I will consult this issue with my lawyer. My concern issue is; I am going to receive payments online from customers. Either I use HSBC or Barclays for a merchant account. What documents they will ask to open a merchant account?

[carl owen]

Well, you can use HSBC or Barclays only to accept payments via Bank transfer. If you wish to accept online payments via Debit or Credit cards, you need to consider Merchant accounts from Paypal, Google checkout, Moneybookers etc. You will have to contact them and get Merchant accounts from them. Once you get those Merchant accounts, you will have to integrate them with your website.

[crismarie]

Yes, Carl is absolutely right, aside from banks you need also to consider payments via credit cards as for some online shoppers prefer to use credit cards. You'll just have to get a merchant account from Paypal, Google Checkout and the likes, once you have it, you'll need to get the API or documentation integration to integrate it into your website.

[crismarie]

Also, if you want to reach the maximum number of customers, you should at least give people the option of paying with just a credit card, by entering their card number. You should also be able to accept wire transfers and checks. So you should choose a merchant account provider that offers all of this.