Merchant Services & Reviews

Merchant Account

A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments by payment cards, typically debit or credit cards. A merchant account is established under an agreement between an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank for the settlement of payment card transactions. There are different types of merchant accounts to choose from for businesses. For instance, some merchant accounts are designed specifically to handle online sales.

A merchant account is an agreement made between the business/seller, the bank where the merchant account is held and the payment processor to settle all transactions made by debit and credit cards. The fees associated with these accounts are usually in the following categories: monthly, discount rate and transaction. The rate that a business is charged for debit and credit card services provided by its merchant account is called a merchant discount rate.

Merchant Services Review

Merchant services enable you to cater to your customers’ preference of paying with credit and debit cards. The best merchant services in our review – Flagship Merchant Services, CreditCardProcessing.com and National Bankcard – offer low pricing and fees, don’t require you to sign a contract, clear the account quickly and give you direct access to an account representative for customer support. To learn more about what merchant accounts can do for your small business, you can find articles about merchant services in our learning center.

As we evaluated merchant services for our awards, rankings and reviews, we compared the pricing and fees, setup terms and contract requirements, ability to accept emerging payment technologies, customer support, and more. We considered the following categories as we examined each merchant account provider:

• Transaction Rates & Additional Expenses
  • Percentage rates for swiped and keyed-in cards:
  • Per-transaction fee
  • Monthly fees
  • Monthly minimum
• Service Terms
• Features
• Accepted Payment Types
• Help & Support

Transaction Rates

Fees & Savings

Additional Expenses

Service Terms

Features

Accepted Payment Types