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Sell Product Online > Merchant Account Provider

Merchant Account Provider

Why do I need a merchant account provider?

A merchant account provider will provide you with a merchant account to accept payments online. If you are going to accept credit cards, you need a merchant account. Although there are services available which will allow you to accept payments without a merchant account like Paypal, if you want to grow and expand your business you will need to accept credit cards using a merchant account.

A merchant account is a special bank account where credit card payments are deposited after the credit card has gone through the payment process. More and more people are choosing to pay for items with a credit or debit card. A merchant account will allow you to accept this form of payment, and the more ways your customers can pay, the more sales you are going to make.

Merchant accounts can be a complicated matter with a lot of terminology you may have never heard of before. See our section on features for an explanation of some of these terms.

Retail Merchant Account

Do I need a retail merchant account?

A retail merchant account is needed for brick and mortar stores. This type of merchant account is commonly referred to as a card-present account because the credit card payments will be made by swiping the physical card in a terminal. Due to the security of this type of transaction, retail merchant accounts receive lower rates than other types. As long as you swipe at least 80% of your credit card transactions then a retail merchant account is what you need.

Retail merchant account - how to choose

Ecommerce Merchant Account

Do I need an ecommerce merchant account?

An ecommerce merchant account is needed for online sales. These merchant accounts are referred to as card not present accounts. This is because the credit card is not physically present and the numbers are just keyed in and not typed. Ecommerce merchant accounts are charged higher rates than retail due to the higher possibility of fraud and other security issues.

Along with a merchant account you will need a payment gateway to sell online. Most merchant account providers will have a payment gateway fee added into the merchant account and will set you up with one. If you prefer you can also find your own payment gateway, but make sure your merchant account provider can connect to this gateway.

Ecommerce merchant account - how to choose
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