What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is the central bank account that consolidates your payments from credit cards, debit cards, electronic checks and other payment processing services. Opening a merchant account lets you accept virtually any type of payments from your customers, and offers you the widest possible means of handling these payments. Merchant service companies provide businesses with the ability to process credit card transactions online. This is done by setting up your business with an “internet merchant account”… which is nothing more than an actual bank account which enables the credit card networks to route funds to you. Merchant accounts and accepting credit cards online can be the most important step you need to take to enter the world of internet commerce. If you need a merchant account and want to increase your bottom line by processing credit cards online just get your own merchant account with a reputable Merchant services company and start accepting credit cards.
A merchant account is an industry term when a business owner / merchant and a bank have contracted to accept credit card payments. Establishing an account with a bank, Independent Service Organization (ISO), or Merchant Service Provider (MSP) allows you to process credit card transactions or electronic payments received from your customers. The bank, ISO, or MSP will deposit the sale proceeds into your business checking account, less a small commission.
Using a merchant account, a business owner has the ability to accept credit cards in virtually any retail environment, including the Internet. By opening a merchant account, a merchant is establishing an account with a payment processor for the settlement of their business credit card transactions. Any merchant who wishes to accept credit card payments from their customers must have a merchant account. With a 1st National Processing merchant account, you will be able to accept all major credit cards including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express, as well as debit, check and ACH.
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A merchant account is an agreement between a merchant, an acquiring bank, Visa, MasterCard, and possibly American Express, Discover, Diners Club, JCB, etc. eProcessingNetwork processes transactions for merchants using each merchants own merchant account. In the same manner that a clerk in a retail store swipes a customer’s card through a box that processes that merchant’s transactions using that merchant’s own merchant account, eProcessingNetwork processes merchant’s Internet transactions using each Internet merchant’s own merchant account. eProcessingNetwork is essentially the Internet equivalent of the swipe hardware found in retail stores, with quite a bit of enhanced functionality specific to Internet processing. eProcessingNetwork does not offer merchant accounts, does not profit from merchant accounts, and is not a party to merchant account agreements. Only merchants may be a party to these agreements, therefore banks will not discuss with eProcessingNetwork the state of a mercha
