Opening an online business? If you’re going to be selling a product or service online, it’s critical that you have the ability to accept credit cards from your ecommerce clients.

When establishing an internet merchant account, most merchants generally need two things:

1. Internet Merchant Account - an account provided by a credit card processing company, approved specifically for processing internet or “keyed” transactions.

2. Online Payment Gateway - allows your website’s shopping cart to communicate with a credit card processor to obtain authorizations on customers’ credit and debit card orders, in a real-time and secure environment.

Most online payment gateways also have a virtual terminal feature that allows you for telephone and in person orders.

You should try to work with a company that can set up both the online merchant account and the online payment gateway, so if there are any issues they can be resolved more easily. In order to get approved for an internet merchant account, you’ll need to send in: support documents that prove you have a legitimate business, such as a business license or registration; articles of incorporation, if your business is incorporated; plus a voided check from a business checking account – a sole proprietorship can use a personal checking account as long as it’s in their name.

An owner or officer in the company will need to sign the ecommerce merchant account paperwork and have their credit checked. Most processors use a score of 600 as the minimum score for approval without a co-signer. However there are some internet merchant account options out there for ecommerce merchants with a poor credit history.