Online card payments without a merchant account

As a retailer you probably already have a merchant account for taking card payments with your chip and pin machines. However, you can't use this merchant account for Ecommerce payments. It may also be that you are an online only retailer and don't yet have a merchant account.

I do not have a merchant account

Many small online retailers do not have a business bank account, and therefore cannot get a internet merchant account. Perhaps this is something for the future. In the meantime, you need to allow customers to checkout on your website and take payments by credit card.

Paypal Website Payments Standard

There are a very small number of companies that offer a service to small companies without a merchant account. The main one is Paypal. Paypal have a service called Paypal Website Payments Standard. This allows you to send customer from your checkout to the Paypal website to pay by either Paypal transfer or by credit card - they can pay by credit card even if they don't have a Paypal account.

As the retailer you will receive the funds into your paypal account, minus the Paypal fees. These fees are quite high, but you don't really have any choice - without Paypal or a merchant account you do not have an online business. Expect to pay 3.5% to Paypal in fees on each transaction.

As you are using Paypal, you can put the Paypal logos onto your site to inherit some trust from the Paypal brand.

Most Ecommerce software solutions can integrate with Paypal website payments standard. Even if they don't, any website developer in the world will be able to setup the integration and you can start taking payments online straightaway without a merchant account.

Even if you do not have a merchant account you can start taking payments online using the services provided by Paypal. This is an expensive way of doing business, but it is much better than nothing. Try and get a merchant account as soon as possible and use a cheaper service.