Summarizing the facts – you have a USD merchant account with a UK acquirer through which you process USA buyers, and getting charged cross border fees on the process.

Most chances are your UK acquirer will be reluctant to remit your USD funds into a USA bank account, yet unfortunately, even if it would, the answer to your question would still be “No”.

You can’t avoid cross border fees by changing your remittance instructions. The only way to avoid cross border fees is to process cards in the region your buyers are coming from. In your case you are using a UK acquirer, operating within the EU region, for processing USA cards issued in the US.

As it sounds like you’re almost there, don’t give up! You already have a US bank account and a US site. Incorporate in the US, get a US merchant account and bypass these cross border fees.

Best of luck!

Gidi.

I have 2 websites- same name different countries. One in The UK (where I live) and the other in the USA. My merchant processing is done by a UK company (HSBC) but I also have a US dollar account so dollar transactions can be processed in dollars. Sadly my customers still get charged foreign transaction fees. While I have a US Merchant account, I have been unable to get approved for card processing in the US and can only use my UK virtual terminal. Are you then saying that the reason my customers get charged is because the funds go into a UK account? Can I counteract this by processing with my UK terminal but having the funds deposited into my USA account? Apologies for being so long winded :~

A US legal presence is indeed required for obtaining a US merchant account.

Regardless if you end up setting a US merchant account or not, If you wish to avoid paying taxes in the US, I strongly suggest you verify that the warehouse you already set, does not create a US “Permanent Establishment” (PE) and exposes your company to US taxation.

Just so you know, due to the US-Canada tax treaty, paying taxes in the US should not generate double taxation, and as you need to pay taxes somewhere, paying some of your taxes in the US – those directly generated by your US activity – might end up being the right thing to do.

One way or another – best of luck with expanding into the US!

Gidi.

I read your article of avoid crossborder fee.

We are a Canadian company in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
We are expanding our business into US, we just set up a warehouse in US but no rep in US.

We want to accept US credit card, take US dollar into our bank account. (We have US dollar account in Canadian bank).

We plan to use Virtual Terminal to charge US credit card, and the location is in Canada.
We are contacting a US credit card processor, Fast Transaction, they said, I may need to open a bank account in US soil, then the crossborder fee can be avoided.

Is that right?

You said “Merchants may open local merchant accounts once establishing a local presence. ”
What does it mean ” local merchant account”? Do we have to register an US business, pay tax to US gov?

Thanks a lot for your time.

John.

Processing with a couple of acquirers complicates the processing flow. Different: terms, settlement dates and rolling reserves make accounting and funds follow up difficult to manage.

Yes, the end result is indeed preferred, yet very few merchants will be able to cross the ocean and get there…

I know this might be a bit off topic but seeing that a bunch of you own websites, where would the best place be to host. Someone recommended I use Blue Host for $6.95 a month which seems like a great deal. Anyone here on http://www.creditcardprocessing-r-us.com using them?