Merchant Account Set-up Guide
The payment process and your merchant account There are two major components necessary to accept card from your customers. The first is a merchant bank account and the second is a payment gateway service (for ecommerce or mail order transactions) or a Chip and Pin terminal (for face to face transactions). Your merchant account is where card details are securely sent for authorisation. The merchant account will validate the customer s card and ensure that funds are available to complete the transaction. ecommerce & MOTO 3D Secure Merchant: e-commerce / MOTO Sage Pay Payment Gateway Sage Pay merchant account Funds credited to bank account Fraud Screening Cardholder Present (face to face Chip & Pin transactions) Merchant: Cardholder Present Sage Pay Chip & Pin Terminal Sage Pay merchant account Funds credited to bank account How it works 1. Your customer selects the goods they wish to purchase from either your website, over the phone or via mail order or in a face to face environment. 2. Your customer s card details are captured securely by either the Sage Pay payment gateway (for ecommerce and Mail / Telephone Order) or through a Sage Pay chip and pin terminal. 3. For ecommerce, your customer may be prompted to enter their Verified by Visa or MasterCard SecureCode password on their card issuer s page (optional e-commerce only). For face to face transactions, the cardholder enters their PIN. 4. The merchant bank sends the card details to your customer s card issuer who authorises or declines the transaction. 5. The merchant bank then sends the transaction results back to Sage Pay. 6. Sage Pay sends the authorisation results to you and your customer to confirm the results of the transaction. 7. Funds from all processed transactions are sent via your merchant account for settlement to your chosen business bank account. Page 2
Applying for a Sage Pay merchant account Your merchant account will be provided by Sage Pay and Elavon, a leading global provider of merchant acquiring services. There are several steps involved in setting up a merchant account, including a validation process required by the bank. To make it easy, we ve detailed each stage and highlighted what you need to do next. 1 Complete Step 1 Complete Completing the online form Once you have completed Sage Pay s online application form, you need to print and sign it. The bank requires a wet signature as authorisation from you, in order to proceed with your application for a merchant account. Before you print, please check that all of the details are correct. If you do need to make changes you can go back into the relevant section of the online application and regenerate the final document to print or call our new business team and they will be happy to help. Contacting Sage Pay We re on hand 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so if you have any questions about your merchant account or any of our services, we re always available to help. Tel: 0845 111 44 66 Email: merchantservices@sagepay.com Visit: www.sagepay.com/help Page 3
Signatures Principal 1 will need to sign the following sections of the form: a) Application form Section 12 Signatures section b) Bottom of the Schedule of Fees (see page 5) If you re applying for Multiple accounts (eg: ecommerce, Mail / Telephone order and Cardholder present), then Principal 1 will also need to sign at: c) Bottom of the Add Location form(s). There will be one of these for each additional service selected (see page 6) Make sure you sign the application form as shown. If you don t, we won t be able to process your application. a) Page 4
Bottom of the Schedule of fees: b) main principal to sign here Page 5
Bottom of Add Location form*: c) main principal to sign here *Only if you re applying for multiple facilities (eg: ecommerce & cardholder present & moto.) Page 6
Cardholder Present Applications Cardholder Present Chip & Pin terminals are now available for LTD companies and LLP businesses. Through our online application process, you would have been able to select the type of terminal you require, and the quantity. A Merchant Account application would have been generated for you to print. If you are applying for a Sage Pay Chip and Pin Terminal, then we will also require you to sign a Terminal Hire agreement. We will send this to you shortly by email, and ask you to tell us about where you would like your terminal(s) to be delivered. The hire agreement we will send you will contain information on our pricing, and our full terms and conditions. Your terminal rental fees, and the configuration and delivery fee will be charged by Sage Pay, whilst your merchant account fees will be charged by Elavon. Countertop Device Mobile GPRS Device One off configuration and delivery fee for each device 49 + VAT 99 + VAT Monthly rental fee 19.95 + VAT 29.95 + VAT Page 7
Step 2 Validating Your merchant account is a banking facility, and for this reason, the bank has to validate the nature of, along with the identity of the business and all company directors in order to grant you with a merchant account. Why does the bank need this? This is to protect from potential fraudsters setting up an account under trading name. It is also to protect cardholders from fake businesses being set up to take funds from their credit or debit cards. To understand the nature of, as they may be liable for financial loss should suffer insolvency, bankruptcy, or liquidation. To prevent money laundering. The banks have stringent anti money-laundering requirements and these must be satisfied before your merchant account can be set-up. Supporting The you need to supply will depend on the nature of and will need to be submitted along with the signed application form. Page 8
Every business will need to send back the following, along with their signed application form: Supporting An original business bank account statement (less than 3 months old) or an opening letter from your bank which confirms your account details, trading name and address. Required? Yes Certified Identification for the main (or only) principal. (See Step 3 - Validating on page 13) Yes You ll also need to provide some additional information depending on the type of company that you operate: Type of company New Limited Companies, Sole Traders or Partnerships Additional supporting required Business plan with an opening balance sheet Established Limited Companies, Sole Traders or Partnerships Your latest full accounts The listed above are the minimum standard requirements for submission with a merchant account application. Further information/documentation may be requested by Elavon during the assessment process. If you have any questions about required, our new business team are ready to help just call 0845 111 44 66. Page 9
Step 3 Validating Because your Sage Pay merchant account is a banking facility, it is important that we validate via a Know Your Customer (KYC) check. What is a Know Your Customer (KYC) check? A KYC check is required to satisfy the bank s anti money-laundering requirements and is used to validate the identity of the main company principal. Principal 1 (the main principal) must provide: A clear and legible copy of one photo ID document from the list opposite. Accepted identity Certified copy of your passport Certified copy of your drivers licence Certified copy of your government ID card The document must be certified according to the guidelines otherwise it won t be valid. Guidelines for certified 1. Take with you a clear and legible copy of the document, along with the original, to any of the following professionals: Accountant Barrister/Advocate Embassy, Consulate or High Commission of the country of issue Independent Financial Advisor Notaries Official of a bank or other financial sector firm regulated by FSA (for example, a high street bank or building society) Solicitor Doctor Police Officer 2. The nominated professional must write this exact phrase on the copy of your document: I certify that this is a true copy of the passport/id Card/driving license of [Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms or other title followed by full name] 3. They must then sign the copy of your document, and clearly provide the following information on the same page: Full name Date Profession Business address Business contact number Page 10
Here is an example of what a certified document should look like: I certify that this is a true copy of the passport of Mr Paul Michael Jennings. Signed by: B Smith Name: Mr Brian Smith (M.D. Ph.D.) Profession: General Practitioner Business Address: The Surgery, High Street, London, N1 2AB Business contact number: 0207 123 4567 Page 11
E-commerce website requirements If you re applying for an e-commerce merchant number, the bank will need to check your website and simulate placing an order before they can approve your merchant account application. Why does the bank carry out these checks? To understand the nature of and the types of products/services that you offer. To confirm that the products/services offered on your website match the nature of as per your merchant account application. To protect cardholders from online fraud. To confirm that your website complies with card scheme regulations (Visa/Mastercard). What if my website is still under development? You ll need to provide log-in details to access the development website along with your application. The checkout process As part of their checks, the bank will follow your website checkout process as far as possible, ideally up to the point at which Sage Pay takes over. Please note: You do not require functioning payment pages at this stage. In order to simulate placing an order, your website should have the following: A full product range or a small sample of products to add to the shopping cart/basket. An order summary showing the total cost of the order, displayed in the correct currency. The ability to enter customer information such as billing/delivery address details. Page 12
Terms and conditions A full set of terms and conditions should be available on your website and must include the following: Delivery policy Cancellation, Returns & Refunds policies Privacy policy Customers must be able to click to accept your terms and conditions before proceeding to your website s payment pages. Contact information Full contact details should be available on your website and must include: Email address or contact form Telephone number Legal/trading address (PO Box addresses will not be sufficient) The full legal name of must be listed somewhere on the site Card scheme logos You should display the logos of the card schemes on your website e.g. VISA, Mastercard, Verified by Visa. These logos are available to download from: www.sagepay.com/help/downloads Page 13
Step 4 Send your supporting Make sure you enclose all of the relevant supporting with all pages of your signed application form. Please note: Not submitting all of these will slow down your application. Checklist of what to send: Application form printed and signed (see pages 4-6) Business validation (see pages 9-10) One form of certified photo ID for Principal 1 (see pages 11) E-commerce website details* (see pages 12+13) *E-commerce merchant number applicants only Send to Sage Pay: Sage Pay Merchant Services Sage Pay Europe Ltd North Park Newcastle upon Tyne NE13 9AA Page 14
Step 5 Start What is PCI DSS? Every merchant storing, transmitting or processing card data is required to meet certain security standards. As a means of ensuring that they do, the Payment Card Industry has put in place a Data Security Standard with which merchants need to comply (PCI DSS). This is to ensure that your business and your customers are protected from theft, fraud, and other security risks resulting from the compromise of card data. Sage Pay is level 1 (the highest level) PCI DSS compliant and as a merchant you can benefit from our certification if you choose our Form or Server integration option. However, you will still need your own PCI DSS certificate. Achieving PCI compliance With Sage Pay and Elavon, achieving PCI DSS compliance isn t a difficult process. Elavon has partnered with qualified security assessor Trustwave, and in order to retain your merchant account, your PCI DSS certificate will need to be issued by them. If you are already PCI compliant and have a compliance certificate from Trustwave or another qualified security assesor, then you will only have to pay a 20 administration fee, and can upload your certificate by visiting the Elavon website: http://www.elavon.com/pci The fee for non compliance is 17 per month. Going live As soon as the bank is satisfied with your application, Sage Pay will issue you with a merchant account number (merchant ID) and will set-up your Sage Pay account so that you can start accepting card from your customers as quickly as possible. If you have any questions we re always available to help. Tel: 0845 111 44 66 Email: merchantservices@sagepay.com Visit: www.sagepay.com/help Trustwave s Trustkeeper programme will help you understand PCI DSS requirements and complete the steps to assess your compliance. There is an annual fee of 120 for this service, which is mandatory and a condition of your merchant account with Elavon. Page 15
Keeping track of your transactions Once you re up and running, Sage Pay and Elavon both provide tools to help you keep track of your transactions. imerchantconnect My Sage Pay imerchantconnect is Elavon s online reporting and statement tool that allows you to securely monitor your merchant account from any web browser at any time of the day. This is a free service provided by Elavon, and is a flexible, secure and reliable source of information about your merchant account. To view of demonstration of this service, please visit: http://www.elavon.com/flash/imerchantconnect_ demo/index.html My Sage Pay is your online account management and reporting tool. It is also free and enables you to: Manage your payment gateway account View transactions processed through Sage Pay Perform refunds, repeat and cancel Generate transaction reports Monitor fraud screening results Process mail order/telephone order (MOTO) via the Virtual Terminal facility www.sagepay.com/help/demos Page 16