Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I sign up?

The application and instructions are available here.   

What does iTransact do?

If you have a merchant account through iTransact, your customers can pay you with credit and debit cards – anytime, anywhere. They can pay you via your portal and also in person, via phone, fax, etc. Your customers can pay you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, making secure payments that are transferred directly into your checking account. There are major advantages to upgrading to iTransact from Market America’s “beginner” service; they are outlined in the bullet points at the bottom of this page.    

What does it cost? How and when am I billed?

iTransact is free to set up and comes with low monthly and transaction fees. Details are here.   

What is included in the price?

• A merchant account, i.e., the authority to accept most credit and debit cards – anytime, anywhere, from anyone – and have the money transferred right into your checking account.
• iTransact’s secure payment gateway and Virtual Terminal, i.e., the ability to securely accept payments on (and off) your web portal (and mini-websites) and have the information automatically relayed to the back-end processing network (bank). iTransact also provides emailed receipts to both you and your customer for each order, and an interactive transaction listing for any date range.
• iTransact’s Call-A-Charge service, i.e., the ability to dial into your iTransact account and run sales via any touch-tone phone – which is handy when you’re at a home kickoff, product preview, on the road, etc.
• Full installation of all of these features, including on your portal and mini-websites, saving you from the hassle of managing any of the technical issues.   

How long does setup take? How will I know when it’s done?

iTransact setup typically takes less than two weeks from the time we receive your complete application. When it’s ready, you will be notified by email.   

What payment types can I accept?

iTransact will set you up with an iPayment merchant account, which allows you to accept credit and debit cards displaying any of the following logos:
• Visa
• MasterCard
• Discover
• American Express
• Diners Club
• Korean BC
• Japanese Credit Bureau (JCB)
• China Union Pay (CUP)
Note that Visa and MasterCard acceptance have always been included on all accounts, but prior to 2011, the other card types were not always automatically set up (due to additional fees charged by some of the card types). All of the card types above are now included. If you have an iTransact account and find that you unable to accept one or more of these card types (or are being charged additional fees by American Express or Discover), please contact iTransact.   

How do I know when I receive an order?

Each time a payment is made through your iTransact account – whether you have input the transaction yourself or your customer has placed an order for Market America products through your portal – the transaction will show up in the Transaction Listing of your iTransact Transaction Control Panel. You can click on a transaction for all the details. Be sure to check your Transaction Listing regularly – preferably on a daily basis.
At the time of each transaction, iTransact will also send you a confirmation email with the order details. Remember that emails sometimes get blocked or filtered, however, so please make a habit of checking your Transaction Listing regularly.
Finally, if the order was placed through your portal, it will also show up in the E-Commerce section of your Unfranchise.com website (your Market America “back office”).   

What do I do when someone orders Market America products through my portal?

One advantage to having an iTransact account is that all of your customers’ orders (and payments) go directly to you (not to Market America), like they would if you had accepted cash or a check. With each portal order, you have the advantage of being able to choose: Do you want to fill the order from your existing inventory, or do you want Market America to fill the order for you? To fill the order yourself, simply ship (or hand deliver) the products to your customer. To have Market America fill the order, go to the E-Commerce section of Unfranchise.com (your Market America “back office”). Your portal orders are displayed there. Select the order and click “Send Order to Market America”; Market America will ship the products to your customer and charge you your distributor cost.   

What do I do when someone orders Partner Store products through my portal?

Nothing. Each Partner Store will deal directly with the customer. Since Partner Store sales are made by each Partner Store, not by you, you do not collect payment or deliver product in these cases, and the Partner Store sales are not listed in your iTransact transaction listing.    

How do I process card payments received in person or over the phone?

An included feature of your iTransact account is the Virtual Terminal. When a customer wants to make payment in person or calls you on the phone, you can manually enter their information into your Virtual Terminal and have the payment authorized immediately. To use the Virtual Terminal, log into the Transaction Control Panel and click the Virtual Terminal button. If you have misplaced your Gateway ID and/or password, please call iTransact at 801-951-8250 or use our online support system.
If you do not have an Internet connection handy, you can process the payment by telephone using iTransact’s Call-A-Charge service.   

How and when do I receive my money?

Funds from credit card sales are deposited into your checking account approximately 2-3 business days after your customer’s payment is made. (Business days are Monday-Friday, not including bank holidays.) Funds go directly to you, not to Market America.

Can I use iTransact to sell non-Market America items?

Your merchant account obtained through iTransact is approved for the sale of Market America products (including Nutrametrix and Motives products), but not other items. If you would like a separate account for the sale of other products or services, however, iTransact can help you with that. For more details, see What (and How Much) Can I Sell?   

Can I use iTransact for MA WebCenters sales?

No. Your merchant account is not approved for the sale of websites or to collect service/maintenance fees for websites. (Your MA WebCenter includes a mechanism by which purchasers of websites can pay you.)   

Are there transaction processing limits?

Yes. To ensure rapid, nearly 100% approval of distributors’ merchant account applications, the underwriter/processor (iPayment) sets pre-approved processing limits. Please see What (and How Much) Can I Sell?   

How do BV and IBV work with iTransact orders?

The same way they do with all sales: Your Market America product sales earn BV, and Partner Store sales made through your portal earn IBV. One of the advantages to having an iTransact account is that you can place your BV in any of your business centers on a sale-by-sale basis (rather than having it always go into the same preselected center).   

How does MA Cashback/Rewards work with iTransact orders?

When your customers buy Market America products on your portal, they receive cashback rewards (usually 2-3% of the product price) that can be redeemed on future purchases. If you do not have an iTransact account, the reward amounts are funded via reductions to your sales profits. When you do have iTransact, you receive the full transaction amounts, and then the rewards are funded via a charge on your monthly merchant statement.

The reward amounts are totaled each calendar month and appear as a line item on your statement that says “MA Rewards Program.” Rewards from sales in January are billed on your February statement (which goes out in early March).

When your customer redeems the cashback amount on a future purchase, this amount is deposited to your account on file at Market America.

When Market America lists promotional items with a high cashback percentage (say, 30% instead of 3%), you do not fund the rewards on these items. Instead, these special purchases bypass you and your iTransact account; they are transacted and shipped directly by Market America.   

How does sales tax work with iTransact orders?

Please see this explanation.   

How do I change the checking account linked to my iTransact account?

Your merchant account is linked to a checking account of your choice for deposit of your customers’ payments and withdrawal of your fees. To link your merchant account to a different checking account, please see these instructions.   

How do I change my contact email address that iTransact uses?

Please use the “Account Settings” interface in the Control Panel. To do this, log into the Transaction Control Panel and select “Account Settings.”
If you have misplaced your Gateway ID and/or password, please call iTransact at 801-951-8250 or use our online support system.   

How do I change the business address that iTransact uses and/or that my statements are mailed to?

Please call iTransact at 801-951-8250 or use our online support system.   

What are the “imprinter plate” and the voice-authorization card that were mailed to me?

Imprinter plate:
This is the little metal plate with your merchant name on it. All new merchants receive one of these from the processor, but you are not required to use it. You would only need it if you chose to use a card imprinter (“knuckle buster”) to make imprints of credit cards for your files.
Voice-authorization card:
This is a yellow card with a voice-authorization phone number. Please note that this is not the number you use for iTransact’s Call-A-Charge service. You would only need this card if you submitted a transaction normally and received a “call auth center” message as a response.   

I have a merchant account for another business. Can I use it for Market America?

According to Visa and MasterCard regulations, each business type requires its own merchant account. To get a merchant account approved for the sale of Market America products, please apply here. If you have an existing merchant account for another business, you can continue to use it for that business. iTransact can likely save you money on that merchant account too, however, so be sure to use our Merchant Referral Program; if the business sets up with iTransact, you will earn 100 IBV for the referral.    

What about fraud?

It is unlikely that you will receive a fraudulent order, but as a merchant accepting credit cards, you need to be aware that there are some dishonest people out there. There are some features in place to help you deal with them:

  • If someone attempts to order from you using a card that (a) has been reported lost or stolen, (b) is blocked by the card-issuing bank, and/or (c) does not have enough available credit on it to complete the purchase, the transaction will not succeed and you will not receive the order. The person submitting the order will receive a message that that card cannot be used.
  • All orders are run through an Address Verification System (AVS) to determine whether or not the address the customer provided matches the information on file with his/her card issuer. The AVS response is included in your transaction confirmation email as well as in the transaction listing in your iTransact Control Panel. Please pay attention to the AVS response and use it to help determine whether you want to ship product. If you’d like, iTransact can automatically void all orders for which the address does not match; please contact us to arrange this.
  • You will receive all customers’ information as entered (e.g., address, phone, and email address) and are always welcome to contact them for additional information.
  • If you ever receive an order from someone you are suspicious of (or choose not to do business with), you are not required to ship product. You can return the payment by voiding or crediting it back through the transaction listing in your iTransact Control Panel.   

How do I get answers to additional iTransact questions?

Please call iTransact at 801-951-8250 or use our online support system.   

How do I sign up for or get answers to questions about the web portal, MA WebCenters, NMTSS, etc.?

Please contact Market America directly with questions about these or any Internet service besides iTransact. Market America can be reached at 336-478-4001, option 2.   

Key Information & Links

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