If your business keeps getting interrupted because you keep hitting your payment processor's transaction limits, you'll need to upgrade to a high-volume merchant account. These accounts allow you to generate more revenue with their increased transaction limits, but they have stricter approval requirements than entry-level merchant accounts. High-volume accounts are riskier for the payment processor since it increases the amount of chargebacks that they may be required to pay credit card companies. To learn about what payment processors look for when deciding whether or not to approve you for a high-volume merchant account, read on.
Clean Chargeback History
When determining whether or not to approve you for a high-volume account, the amount of chargebacks you've had in the past is one of the most important considerations. If a customer files a chargeback against you and you don't have enough money in your account to cover it, the payment processor has the responsibility to pay for the chargeback.
Payment processors make money by charging you a fee for every transaction. These amounts are usually quite small, so even a single chargeback can cause the payment processor to lose money overall by providing you with a merchant account. If you've already had a number of customers file chargebacks against you, it means that you present a considerable risk to the payment processor.
Keeping chargebacks to a minimum is the best way to help your business qualify for a high-volume merchant account. Make sure that you dispute every chargeback that arises and work with the customer's credit card company to try to have it overturned.
Reliable Fulfillment Services and Tracking
Before approving you for a high-volume merchant account, a payment processor will want to know how you fulfill and track orders. Reliable fulfillment services that make sure your products are delivered on time reduce the chance that a customer will file a chargeback against you, and an excellent order tracking system will allow you to better dispute fraudulent chargebacks. If a payment processor doesn't think you'll be able to dispute chargebacks successfully, they're unlikely to approve you for a high-volume account—they'd stand to lose quite a bit of money if a large number of customers filed chargebacks.
Good Financial Health
Finally, payment processors also want to ensure that your business successfully generates revenue and has some cash in reserve. The payment processor is only required to cover your chargebacks if you don't have enough money to cover them yourself, which means that the overall financial health of your business is important. It's also a good sign for payment processors if you've been doing business for a while. If your revenue generation is stable and you keep cash in reserve to cover any chargebacks that may arise, then you'll be more likely to be approved for a high-volume account.
Overall, businesses in good financial standing with a history of infrequent customer chargebacks will have a much easier time upgrading to a high-volume merchant account. However, your business doesn't need to be perfect. If you've had trouble with chargebacks and in the past, the best way to get a high-volume merchant account is to shop around until you find a payment processor willing to work with you. Once you have a merchant account, track your products and make sure that you dispute chargebacks as they arise. If the payment processor sees that you work to resolve customer chargebacks and have a stable revenue flow, they'll work with you on raising your transaction limits.
