Bill Myers

Just a few incorrect settings on your merchant account security page can result in your payment gateway declining more than half of the orders that are presented

If you have an internet merchant account, chances are good that you also have a control panel where you can adjust a number of card approval settings for the account.

If you haven't looked at those settings, it could be costing you a lot of lost orders.

For example, if you use AuthorizeNet (a well known payment gateway), the default card approval settings will turn away almost all international customers.

Other default settings could decline the credit cards of customers who don't provide a full Zip+4 code -- and really, how many of your customers can do that?

Personally, I want the payment gateway to approve as many valid transactions as possible - and I have adjusted the approval settings on my merchant account to do exactly that.

But what about your merchant account approval settings? Have you checked to make sure they match your business needs?

If not, you might be turning away a large number of customers.

To read more about this and see the settings I use, visit http://www.bmyers.com/members/1167.cfm