Purchasing or leasing equipment will have a cost to consider, as well as installation if relevant. One option to avoid this cost is to check with your hosting company for an e-commerce solution. This package deal could go along way to keeping initial costs down.
Reserve Costs
If contested charges occur there is typically an amount held in reserve by the bank to cover them. A percentage of anticipated monthly receipts, or even an entire month’s worth, could be held. If a dispute arises and is settled in favor of the card holder, there will likely be chargeback fees to consider.
Go shopping
Before signing up for a merchant account, it would be smart to do some comparison shopping. Be sure to compare apples to apples when looking at the costs of things such as equipment and installation (a bank may charge you, your web hosting company may not) and keep in mind that you need to be profitable first, and accessible to credit card holders second.