Web Developers FAQ's                    

You do awesome work. You deserve quality support in the areas that compliment what you do. We take care of the payment processing details and support. Your client gets the experience worthy of your work and you can relax, knowing the headaches are taken care of. We can partner on a job or work on an affiliate basis.

At SGP Services we pride ourselves in doing business with Integrity and Innovation. We get your client fair, competitive rates for credit card processing. We specialize in finding solutions that benefit them and make their lives easier.

SGP Services has been in business since 2004 and represents numerous processors and gateway service providers. The advantage to you is that we can match your client’s business needs to the credit card processor and the gateway service. There are valuable features with each provider that are different and may be the time or cost-saving benefit you are looking for. We also support you and your client after they are set up.

For some businesses, their bank is a perfectly acceptable source of credit card processing.

Most banks typically do not take internet businesses, mobile service businesses or non “brick and mortar” retail businesses. They usually provide a credit card terminal and a tiered pricing method that is more expensive overall and has no internet gateway service option.

If your client is not running a lot of transactions, a service like PayPal or Google Checkout may be a good solution. Sometimes this may be the best way to get started and move to a merchant service account when the merchant has enough business to make credit card processing cost effective.

Do you want to get a call from your client “I can’t get a response from Paypal, what do I do now?” Technical support is one of the key advantages to a merchant service account for credit card processing.

PayPal and Google Checkout may be a good option for some businesses. The basic PayPal service for example, is quick and easy to set up, there is no set up charge and there is no termination fee. The rate is higher at 2.90%, but that is why there are no other fees.

There is no free lunch. Companies such as PayPal have to make money to stay in business.

Small businesses that are starting up with a monthly volume lower than $2000 would save slightly with PayPal over a merchant service account. However, as soon as you start adding features like the Virtual Terminal or better PayPal service packages, the savings disappear.

Typically the approval process is very quick and averages two business days.

Absolutely. Credit card processors are always looking for new businesses to work with to increase their market share.

Yes. Credit score is only one of the many things the underwriters look at to approve an account. Processors want to find ways to do business with you.

Yes, retail transactions can be run through the same merchant service account as your internet store. Many gateway services have a method of running card-swiped transactions through a card reader, wireless terminal or over a cell phone.

Recurring Transactions are set up to happen automatically at the time interval you choose. The customer must approve recurring transactions set up to pay for the product or service they are receiving. This can be a valuable time saving service for payments that happen regularly, like rent payments, hosting or subscriptions.

Yes, checks can be accepted in many different ways at the point of sale, over the phone and on the internet. Check transactions can be run without a paper check through the banking Automated Clearing House (ACH) system.

Typically there is 24/7 support through your credit card processor for technical issues as well as business hours support for administrative issues.

The short answer is that shopping carts display products on the website and gateway services run transactions on the internet.

There are hundreds of shopping carts some of which are free, with various features. As the Developer, you select the shopping cart and install it to fit the client’s needs. We make sure that the gateway service is compatible with your chosen shopping cart.

A gateway service takes the information the customer enters on the payment page and transmits it in the background to the credit card processor. It also returns the approved/declined message to the shopping cart.

Gateway services offer various additional features like virtual terminals, electronic invoices, Quickbooks integration, mobile transaction access, point of sale access and even a complimentary shopping cart software.

A Virtual Terminal is an online secure webpage that is accessed through a password protected login. Most gateway services provide a Virtual Terminal at no extra charge. From the Virtual Terminal you can enter credit card or check transactions as one-time or recurring items.

Yes, there are service providers can integrate data into Quickbooks. This allows you to easily import your transaction data without being forced to use the credit card processing provided by Innovative Merchant Solutions through Quickbooks. This allows you the flexibility of using other processors with lower rates and more methods of accepting transactions.

Authorize.Net is the most popular, well known gateway service. They have been around the longest and are compatible with more shopping carts than any other gateway. They are the standard of the industry.

Why not use Authorize.Net all the time? We all know that any company that becomes the leader in their industry learns they can charge a premium for their services, and Authorize.Net is no different.

Their rates are higher than some of the newer gateway services and they charge separately for services that other providers include at no extra charge. There are some gateway services that have some very creative features that are a huge benefit to the merchant’s business.