Changes Coming to Credit Card Processing on IndieCommerce Websites

Here, the IndieCommerce team shares an update about changes coming to credit card processing.

If your IndieCommerce (not IndieLite) website does not have its own credit card merchant account and uses the American Booksellers Association’s shared credit card merchant account for processing online credit card orders, please take note of the following:

In recent months, the high volume of online sales has made it apparent that the ABA account for credit card processing does not scale well. We’ve seen bank delays in issuing funds to our members, difficulties in managing refund requests, and the fee structure that we require for covering fraudulent online transactions is onerous for struggling stores.

To address these issues and lower credit card processing costs for stores using IndieCommerce and IndieLite, we’ve decided to transition stores off of the ABA merchant account and onto their own credit card merchant account. This transition will start with IndieCommerce websites. 

If your bookstore is currently on IndieCommerce (not IndieLite) and you use the ABA’s shared account for processing online credit card orders, we would like to help you set up your own credit card merchant account for your website as soon as possible. You have two options to consider:

1. Use Your Current Merchant Account: If your bookstore currently has a credit card merchant account that you use for processing in store credit card purchases, you may be able to use that account on your IndieCommerce website as well. Check with your credit card merchant account provider and ask them if they work with the Authorize.net gateway and if the merchant account will process Visa/MasterCard/American Express/Discover cards for online orders.
2. Sign Up for a New Credit Card Merchant Account: This can be any credit card merchant account provider that works with Authorize.net. Although you now have many options, we’ve tried to make this transition as easy as possible by vetting a recommended credit card processor, pre-negotiating the rate, and supporting a transition that will be almost seamless for members.

ABA CFO PK Sindwani has negotiated discounted credit card processing rates for ABA members with Gravitypayments.com. The rate for Visa/MasterCard/American Express/Discover is 2.4 percent plus a transfer fee of $0.23. There is no monthly Authorize.net payment gateway fee with this offer from Gravity. The chargeback fee is $25 if it is not settled in your favor.

We’ll be following this email up with a link to set up your e-commerce merchant account with Gravity Payments. To set up your new account, you will need the following information:

• Legal Business Information (Name, Address, EIN)
• Ownership Information (Name, DOB, SSN)
• A copy of a voided check for the business account

If you have any questions once we send out the automated signup link, please reach out to Nicole ([email protected]) or Jason ([email protected]) with Gravity Payments.

Once you have decided which credit card merchant account provider you want for your IndieCommerce website, please contact customer support at [email protected] for next steps. If you have an IndieLite website, we’ll be forwarding your instructions in the near future.

Booksellers are encouraged to send their thoughts, questions, or suggestions via email to IndieCommerce staff at any time.

Past editions of IndieCommunication are available on the IndieCommerce Updates page on BookWeb.org.