Product Sourcing News   

What is a Business Bank Account?

Why do I need one?

By: Tisha Rogers
Director of Operations
WorldwideBrands.com

As you should know by now, that in order to REALLY succeed selling products online, you must be a legal business. That means getting a business name, obtaining your tax ID & etc. You cannot work with most genuine wholesale suppliers & drop shippers if you don’t!

Because you have to setup your business information with your state that also means that you must collect any payments from customers under your business name. Why? If you are using a merchant processor for your business, they will not deal with you on an individual level & they typically will not deposit funds into a non-business bank account. Not only that, you want your customers to see your business name on their credit card statements, not your personal name.

So, what exactly is a business bank account? Well it is how your money flows back and forth between your business and the rest of the world. The money coming into the account will be your customers payments to you and the money going out will be you paying the bills for the business as well as for purchasing wholesale products from your distributors. It’s just like a regular checking account, only it is in your business name.

In order to get your Business Bank Account, you will need to show your bank that your business IS legal. Show them your tax ID and business registration and anything else your state requires you to have to show that you are a legal business. The bank will also want some personal identification. So bring along your driver’s license and social security card. You may want to phone ahead to the bank and ask them what they may require from you to set up your business bank account. Most also require a deposit of some kind, so make sure to ask what that amount would be.

All business bank accounts are different. You should shop around to see which bank can offer you the better deal. Sometimes a bank will offer business bank accounts & merchant accounts that you can use for online transactions. If you can pair the two together, it will just simplify your life a little more. Of course you don’t have to use their merchant account services either! Like I said, shop around to find the best deals you possibly can. Merchant account included, because all Merchant Accounts are different too.

Once upon a time, a business bank account was difficult to obtain. Banks would make you jump though all kinds of hoops. But not anymore! Because of the boom of eCommerce, so many people are starting Home Based Businesses and so banks are just making the process easier and easier. But there are still some banks that want to make it tough, so if your chosen bank does, you might want to just consider going somewhere else. If it starts as a headache, it will probably just remain that way.