Frequently Asked Questions

Please complete our online application form by click the "Apply Now" link which is located in the menu bar. This information is forwarded to the Total Web Solutions sales department where it is processed and passed onto a bank for processing. The bank in turn will contact you to discuss your application and provide a quotation.

It will be necessary for you to have a bank account for us to pay your credit card payments into. Without an account the funds would not be able to be credited.

Yes, this is possible for currency transactions. You may have a Pound Sterling Bank account yet your customer base wants to pay in Japanese Yen. This is possible by setting up a Sterling to Yen Merchant number with the Bank. Total Web Solutions supports some many currencies with the option for more through agreed testing with the banks. We will always investigate currency requests by our customers.

Your account will be a retail or a customer present merchant account. There are different types of merchant account depending on how you take your payments. In this case you require an Internet Merchant Account (for Internet transactions) or a MOTO Account (for Mail Order/Telephone Order transactions) which will allow you to process cards through a registered and PCI compliant Company like Total Web Solutions.

This depends on which bank you have decided to set-up an Internet merchant account with. Typically this should take two to three weeks however a maximum lead time of six weeks has been quoted by certain banks so please take this into consideration in your project time scales. Typically the quicker you respond to the banks quotation the quicker the account can be mobilized.

Once Total Web Solutions is in receipt of your merchant number (if you receive your merchant number direct from the bank it is wise to forward this to Total Web Solutions as soon as possible) they can setup your EcomMerchant account. A test EcomMerchant account will be setup to enable you to test your account prior to enabling your account on the live system. A test script is provided to each customer and once Total Web Solutions is satisfied that you are processing credit cards correctly it will switch you over to the live system. Documentation is provided to facilitate the testing and integration of the service with your web site. For MOTO accounts no testing is necessary as all transactions are carried out through a virtual terminal in your provided EcomMerchant control panel.

The EcomMerchant account comes with an extensive control panel that allows you to produce End Of Day Reports for all transactions and should allow you to perform other functions also including card refunds. Many features are available through the control panel including Anti-fraud, statistics, Pay Page look and Feel, account security and many many more.

This largely depends on the bank you use and the card that was processed through your Merchant account. Typically it takes three to five days however American Express transactions can take longer. In the unlikely event of any problem, missed transactions get batched in the following days so you will always get your funds deposited to your account. All transactions are reconciled daily for each EcomMerchant account.

We have various mechanisms in place to protect us from such an event. We have an identical backup system in place that can be activate within 15 minutes of a major server failure. Our Card Processing System comprises of multiple servers and network devices and we have at least two of everything running at all times to ensure reliable and available service. During any downtime we also have a function which records all attempted transactions and we can re-process transactions when the service is back online. The customer who is making the purchase will not be aware there has been a problem.

We take security very seriously so much so that we are now externally audited by VISA and MASTERCARD to ensure our security meets their requirements plus some of Total Web Solutions own. We currently have redundantly deployed firewall and intrusion detection in place along with the secure storage of credit card data by storing in an encrypted format. Total Web Solutions is a PCI Level 1 Certified payment service provider and was one of the first accredited Companies in the world for this standard. We have worked with a number of security consultants to ensure our systems are as secure as possible and endeavour to introduce new features where practical to maintain the high levels of security our customers expect.

The EcomMerchant account supports VISA, VISA DELTA/DEBIT, MASTERCARD, EURO CARD, JCB, SOLO and MAESTRO Mastercard Debit by default. We can also support both American Express and Diners Club but these have to be applied for separately.

At Total Web Solutions we specialise in providing services that work and work well for our customers. Part of the service we provide to our customers using the EcomMerchant facility is the provision of an Anti-fraud feature in your control panel. This Anti-fraud allows you to perform up to 15 unique checks against possible fraud with some of those checks configurable by the customer. Features such as which countries to accept card transactions from, what level of security you would like purchasers to experience when making a payment to you. These features are all explained within the control panel to facilitate its use. This feature is also currently provided free of charge to EcomMerchant customers.

Firstly when you use Total Web Solutions we aim to provide a cost effective payment processing solution to our customers. With this in mind we reward our customers by providing discounts to customers who process card transactions through us over certain volumes. Total Web Solutions are confident that we provide the most cost effective payment service with no compromise on service than any leading service provider. With EcomMerchant accounts each transaction is chargeable and Total Web Solutions will bill for these transactions monthly in arrears. As well as this transaction charge the bank will also charge you for processing cards and there transaction charges will be determined by them. It is likely to be around 3% initially depending on your trading history and can drop to as low as 1% after several years trading or a good trading history with the bank. The majority of our customers are charged around 2.5%. Please take both the Total Web Solutions charges and the banks charges in consideration when determining your products/services prices on your web site.

There are no setup charges from Total Web Solutions. The Bank however does typically charge depending on whether your business bank account is held with the same bank as the bank that supplies your merchant account. You should not be charged more than a £300 setup fee and this is a one off payment and you may get this back if you are unsuccessful in obtaining a merchant account. Please consult with your bank about these charges when signing up for a merchant account.

Please see the link to "What Are The Costs" to understand all charges. For low volume customers an EcomMerchant account can cost as little as £10+VAT per month which I am sure you will agree is very reasonable indeed. Total Web Solutions operates a service driven charging scheme so if you do not have a particular service enabled then you do not pay for it. This means you only get charged for what you use.

We have agreements in place with several UK banks to provide payment services to our customers. These services are based on the bank providing us with favourable rates so that we can pass those onto our customers. Customers would not be able to realise those rates if they had gone directly to the bank.

PCI stands for Payment Card Industry and is a standard born out of the card schemes requirement to make payment services more secure. Total Web Solutions is a level 1 PCI accredited company which is the highest level accreditation. We have become accredited so you do not have to and by using our Pay Page mechanism card details are seamlessly taken on our secure system which has been rigorously tested to the highest standards in security. There are scenarios where accreditation is required for a customer but this is usually at a much lower level (Level 4) whereby basic security principles must be upheld. Your bank will usually contact you about this to ensure your compliance in this regards.