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Collectibles & Antique Store Merchant Account & Payment Processing
In order to best serve its customers, any business dealing in antiques or collectibles needs to be able to accept credit and debit payments. This is certainly the case for brick-and-mortar antique shops and collectibles stores, and doubly so for any of these businesses with an online or ecommerce presence. Antiques and collectibles are often large-ticket items, and accepting payments via credit or debit card makes your business much more accessible and convenient to your customers. Unfortunately, those high-ticket transactions also make it more difficult to obtain a merchant account for an antiques or collectibles business.
Why Do Antiques and Collectibles Businesses Need High Risk Merchant Account?
Credit card processing companies, like most financial institutions, are highly risk-averse. These processors regard certain kinds of businesses as more inherently high-risk, simply due to certain traits inherent to the industry. Because the antiques and collectibles industry tends toward high-ticket transactions, and because of the subjectivity of the collectibles and antiques market makes pricing disputes more common, the institutions that provide merchant accounts are wary of the heightened potential for chargebacks and fraud. Many processing companies refuse outright to deal with businesses in any industry they regard as “high risk,” while others impose high fees and punishing restrictions that make it difficult for the business to operate. When looking for an antiques and collectibles merchant account for your business, you need to dig deep and ask questions to determine whether the merchant account you’re being offered has all the features your business needs, and that it doesn’t include restrictions and limitations that will hobble your business.
Avoiding Chargebacks and Fraud is Important for Antique and Collectible Merchant Accounts
Many business owners applying for a merchant account for the first time don’t understand why their business is considered high risk. The risk in question is the likelihood of a chargeback – when a cardholder calls their bank to challenge a charge on their bill. This can happen for any number of reasons, ranging from innocent mistakes (“I don’t recognize this business name,” “I was accidentally charged twice for the same item,”) to customer dissatisfaction (“The item I bought was in unsatisfactory condition,”) to outright fraud. Expensive items are tempting targets for fraud, both from thieves who make purchases with stolen credit card information and from dishonest customers who make legitimate purchases and then deny the charge in the hope of getting something for nothing. The chargeback investigation process is heavily biased in favor of the cardholder, and if the merchant is unable to provide the funds to cover a chargeback, the processing company is responsible for the difference. In an industry that regularly sees four- and five-digit transactions, that’s a substantial risk that some payment processors won’t take. Of those that will, many impose restrictions on merchants intended to mitigate that risk.
Transaction Size for Antique Store and Collectibles Payment Processing
One of the restrictions that should most concern a collectibles and antiques merchant is a cap on transaction size. Under the terms of some merchant accounts, you may not be able to accept transactions that exceed a specified dollar value. This is a critical matter to discuss with the representative you speak with about your merchant account; you should provide an estimate of the approximate range of transaction values you expect your business to see, and ensure that you will be able to accept payment from your customers for purchases of that size.
Cash Reserves May be Required for Antique Store Credit Card Processing
Another restriction you may be asked to accept is a cash reserve – a percentage of your transaction profits held back by the processing company as a fund intended to cover chargebacks. This may present a serious complication for antiques and collectibles businesses that need to know how much money they have on hand to purchase items from customers for eventual resale.
National and International Options for Antique and Collectible Store Merchant Accounts:
Durango Merchant Services works with several gateway processors and suppliers with sponsor banking relationships that provide both US based national and international credit card processing solutions. We can provide merchant accounts for antiques and collectibles under one of the following two options:
Requirements to open a merchant account for antique businesses in the USA:
- Company entity based in the USA.
- REPRESENTATIVE of the company based in the USA.
- Bank Account is in the USA
Requirements of the European collectibles merchant account:
- Minimum $ 50,000 USD per month in sales
- The company must be based in the EU
Merchant Service Prices and Contract Terms:
If you are looking for a antique store merchant services provider, contact us by email or call us today to discuss setting up a merchant account for your business. We will discuss the following:
Available prices for credit card processing:
- Discount rates that range between 1.95% and 4.95%
- Authorization fees ranging from: $ 0.15 to $0.25
- Monthly installments: rates ranging from $ 5.00 per month to $ 60.00 per month
Other terms of the antique store credit card processing contract:
- Rolling reserve requirements that range from: 0% of the rolling reserve to 10% of the rolling reserve
- Variable contract lengths including availability of month to month
- Free application processing
- Direct financing with regular deposits (either daily or weekly depending on international vs. onshore)
Additional benefits of the antique store merchant account:
If you get a antique store merchant account with Durango Merchant Services, then you will also be eligible for other benefits that we offer, we can set you up with electronic commerce and recurring billing via our online portal. Businesses can receive the following additional benefits:
- Competitive rates
- Acceptance of multiple currencies and deposits
- Compatibility with major gateways and shopping carts
- Accept Visa / MasterCard / American Express at your store
- Integration assistance with more than 100 shopping carts
- Chargeback prevention tools and advice
- eCheck processing
- Our gateway comes with industry leading fraud detection and prevention tools
We provide merchant accounts for the following:
- Startups and existing businesses – we help all types of businesses
- If you have been Previously rejected or discarded by another processor, we can help you get back on track
- High ticket merchants and merchants with bad credit
- Minimum processing: $5,000 minimum for national accounts, $50,000 for international accounts
How do I get Affordable Antique Store Merchant Accounts With Fast Approvals
Durango Merchant Services has a dedicated team that has negotiated on behalf of more than 35,000 clients. We understand the back and forth and give and take of negotiating processing accounts for high risk merchants, including hundreds of nutraceutical merchant accounts.
