And since third party account providers normally charge a transaction fee, Walton emphasizes that merchants consider the volume of their business before relying on an account provider.
In addition to BlackPages.com, which has a database of roughly 50,000 African American businesses nationwide, the 43 year-old Walton works with a consortium of companies to publish a printed version of The Black Pages, an African American yellow pages. Walton also says that once a business owner understands the three basic methods of paying for products online (i.e. credit card, debit card, electronic checks), the next step should be setting up a flexible virtual terminal-or online cash register that works on your behalf. “If someone is surfing the Web at 2 a.m. and purchases your product,” he says, “that terminal can be there to receive your payment.”