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Will a merchant account provider permit a company to use a third party to process credit cards?
We are going to be launching an online gift site. We will be outsourcing customer service to a call center. The question has arisen as to whether the call center would be permitted to accept a phone order, which would entail taking credit card info, should a customer wish to do so. The merchant account providers to whom we've been speaking indicate that allowing that is impermissible, even though the call centers do not retain any credit card info, and are PCI compliant. As far as I can tell, companies use call centers to process orders all the time. Is the position of the merchant account providers standard, or am I talking to the wrong companies?
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1 Answer
Joseph,
You should speak with another merchant service provider. Some providers have specific policies with regard to third party transactions and do not allow them. This is a practice that is very common and not a violation of Visa/Master Card guidelines.
One thing to keep in mind is the liability for fraud or other violations of the merchant account contract are the responsibility of the applicant on the account. So, if the third party call center violates the terms of the account the applicant could end up on the TMF (Terminated Merchant File) which will be a huge problem for the business and applicant.
My advice, select a merchant service provider that has experience with call center applications and make sure to draft specific policies and procedures for payment transaction.
Best,
Alex Neir
www.maxxmerchantservices.com
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