Merchant Accounts and a Payment Gateway

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The online e-commerce business community is growing at a rapid rate. Everyday more businesses are setting up online retail stores. There are a number of different methods businesses can use to accept online payments. Understanding the ways of accepting online payments can often seem overwhelming, but a little background information can make it much easier. Two important methods of accepting payments are the Merchant Account and a Payment Gateway.

To help you understand the technology, the following explains the differences between a Merchant Account and a Payment Gateway:

Merchant Account

Also referred to as online credit card payment accounts, online credit card processing accounts, credit card transaction accounts Best way to sell merchant services, permit businesses to accept credit cards, debit cards, gift cards and other forms of card payments. A business acquires a merchant account from a merchant bank or a merchant service provider. Without a contract, a business cannot directly accept payments by any of the major credit card companies. An e-Commerce account is a service that e-Commerce merchants implement in order to use online credit card processing services. The process of acquiring this specific account type depends on the provider and the type of e-Commerce account. Fees and rates will vary among providers.