Get your merchant account approved

To take real card payments, you need your own BillingMart Merchant Account. An owner or an admin applies under Merchant accounts. After BillingMart approves the application, the account is connected to your workspace, and the person who manages payments for the workspace turns it on in Settings, then Payments. Until then, the pay page only practises card payments.

What works before approval

• Every new workspace gets BillingMart's test merchant account. Card payments then run in test mode. No card is charged and no money moves. The pay page shows a "TEST MODE" banner and a test card to try.
• With no test account, the pay page says "Card payment is not set up yet". The customer can still read the invoice.
• You can record cash, check and bank transfer payments at any time. See Record a cash or check payment.
• A sandbox workspace is always in test mode.

If the test account was not added, open Merchant accounts and select Add test merchant account. If its connection test did not pass, set the settings password and run the self-test again under Settings, then Payments.

Apply

The page says the application takes about 15 minutes. Have your business tax ID (EIN), a voided check and each owner's photo ID ready.

1. Open Merchant accounts and select Apply for a merchant account.
2. Work through seven steps: Contact, Business, Processing, Owners, Banking, Documents and Review and sign. Each step is checked before the next.
3. On Owners, list everyone who owns a quarter or more, and at least one person who controls the business.
4. On Documents, upload PDF, PNG, JPEG or WebP files, up to 15 MB each. Every application needs a voided check or bank letter, and a photo ID for the first owner and each owner of a quarter or more. A business that takes cards today adds recent processing statements. A new business adds an EIN letter or bank statements. From phone sends a file from your phone.
5. On Review and sign, check every answer, agree to the three statements, enter the signer's name and title, and draw your signature. Select Submit application.

Select Save and finish later at any step, and continue from Merchant accounts on any computer. Social Security numbers, licence numbers and account numbers are never saved, so you enter them again before you sign. After you submit, the details are not shown again.

On Processing, a box reads "Request to pass the processing fees to my customers". Read the terms beside it before you tick it.

What the statuses mean

Status	Meaning
Received, Processing	We have it and are reviewing it.
Information requested	We need more. We contact you by email or phone.
Approved	Your Producer ID is shown on the page.
Denied, Cancelled	Not approved, or you cancelled it.

You can select Cancel application while it is Received, Processing or Information requested.

After approval

Approval does not turn card payments on by itself. BillingMart connects your live credentials to the workspace, and connecting them never switches them on.

The person who manages payments for the workspace then opens Settings, then Payments. Each step shows as done or not yet.

1. Settings password. Set a second password for payment settings. Every change to gateway credentials asks for it. Five wrong tries in a short time lock that person out for a short while.
2. Credentials. Live credentials are stored encrypted and never shown again.
3. Self-test. Run the test self-test first. It must pass before live can be switched on.
4. Activate live. It is refused until the test self-test has passed, live credentials and a confirmed live host exist, and a fresh live self-test passes. The message names what is missing. If your workspace requires two-step verification for admins, you need it here.

Once live, the pay page drops the test banner and takes real cards.