A NOTE ON NON PROFIT MERCHANT ACCOUNTS

The non profit making organisations like charity trusts and NGOs can accept payments made through the credit cards from the customers. In the recent time, merchant account is also provided to the non profit making organisations. These organisations can securely accept online payments over the internet too. This service has given great benefit to these organisations as they can accept payments easily through the online services for their establishments.

The non profit making institutions mainly receives donations from the people. They also sell goods but have a low profit margin. At the time of registering or setup, merchant accounts will be charged some amount of money but there are no setup or registration fees for the non profit merchant accounts. In these organisations, recurring donations play a vital role. After the introduction of credit card acceptance services in non profit merchant account, the donors have found the service more convenient and easy. These days, majority of the people use the credit or debit cards for making payments. Therefore, the non profit merchant accounts services have become more efficient as well as accurate. The non profit making merchant account holders should offer the donors to make recurring donations through the credit cards.

Let us see the structure of fees or charges that are applied to the non profit making merchant accounts. There is no cost or charges applied for the setup or registration process. A merchant account holder can apply through the online application form or by directly filling the application form and submitting it to the merchant account provider. Discount rate is charged to the non profit merchant account services. Various rates are set up for different types of transactions. For the online transaction or the mail order, phone call order transactions, 2.19 % is charged from the overall sales value. For the transaction, where both the customer and the merchant is physically present face to face, where the credit card is swiped against the card terminals, 1.69 % is charged from the overall sales. The discount rate is charged to the merchant account holder for processing the credit card through any mediums or terminals. A fee, called as per transaction fee, is also charged to the non profit merchant account. This fee is charged, every time a transaction is processed. The online order, mail order or phone order transactions are charged $ 0.28 for each transaction. The face to face or card swiping transactions are charged $ 0.23 for each transaction that is made.

Monthly fee is also charge d to the non profit merchant account holders. This fee is a fixed amount that has to be paid at the end of the month. The monthly fee is charged by the merchant account providers for maintaining the merchant account, generating statements, transferring funds, etc. Another fee, which is charged to the non profit merchant account, is the gateway fee. The rate varies between $ 0 and $ 10.99 per month. However, the non profit merchant account is very essential for the charitable trusts, non profit making organisations and NGOs.