Sage Pay, the UK’s leading independent payment processor has today announced an overhaul of its merchant services package for new customers signing up to their payment gateway.

High set-up costs and lengthy approval processes can make acquiring a merchant account one of the most painful parts of setting up an online business. According to Sage Pay’s 2011 e-business benchmark report the average time for a merchant account set up through external providers is seven weeks with one-in-ten Internet business owners saying they pay over GBP500 in initial set-up costs.

The new and improved offering from Sage Pay and leading merchant account supplier Elavon, aims to provide merchant accounts in an average of four weeks, with no set-up costs, no monthly fees and no long-term contracts.

To help business owners through the process of setting up and managing their merchant account, Sage Pay also provides each new customer with a dedicated merchant services team and 24/7 support.

Simon Black, Managing Director at Sage Pay, commented: “Getting a merchant account set up can be one of the hardest tasks for business owners looking to start trading online, so we’re committed to making the process as simple and painless as possible for our customers.”

“We think the pay-as-you go model will be particularly attractive to start-ups and small business owners who need to keep a very close eye on cash-flow and overheads during the crucial first few months of trading.”

As part of its new merchant services offering, Sage Pay is providing 3 months free online payment processing to all new customers. Sign up here [https://support.sagepay.com/apply ] and enter the promotional code ‘MS3M3’ to take advantage of this offer.

For further information on the service, please visit: http://www.sagepay.com/merchant-services

Read how The Fashion Bible benefitted from Sage Pay’s Merchant Service offering, here http://www.sagepay.com/case_study/fashion-bible