The merchant account is usually with a bank. It's how the gateway moves money from the CC transactions to you. Some gateways also offer merchant accounts so you do all your business with one company.
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The merchant account is usually with a bank. It's how the gateway moves money from the CC transactions to you. Some gateways also offer merchant accounts so you do all your business with one company.
We use our regular merchant account for customers who want to pay with their credit cards. We use PayPal as another option for customers who want o make use of funds that are stagnant at PayPal.
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Hi all... I am new here but I have alot of experience in the processing world.
The easisest way to tell a gateway from a merchant account is to look at the gateway as the credit card terminal, without it, you as a merchant will not run any transactions, or recieve any $$.
As for the merchant account, that is the entity in control of authorizations for the various card types. That is also the vehicle in which you are charged for your processing volume.
Unless you are low volume, it is always better(more secure and cheaper) to use a merchant account and a gateway for accepting transactions via the web.
Business has been so slow on my personal site that I am going to eliminate the merchant account and stick with Google Checkout and Paypal - at least for now.
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Lorrie,
Just to satisfy my curiosity, what are you charged every month to have your merchant account on your website? Statement, minimum, PCI compliance etc......?
A payment gateway is what connects the merchant's website to the processor where that particular merchant account resides. An easy way to think about it is a bank account/ATM. Merchant accounts are issued by payment processors. Think of it somewhat like a bank account. The payment gateway is the way you access your merchant account for transactions, voids, refunds, etc.. the payment gateway does not actually do the refunds it is just routing the transaction requests to the processor. The payment gateway would act somewhat like an ATM. You walk up to the payment gateway/ATM to access your bank account/merchant account.
Well, there is. PayPal, whom most know as those people you use to buy stuff on eBay has a significant amount of merchant services. PayPal will act as both your merchant and your gateway all for one inclusive price of $30 a month. This is not PayPal in the traditional sense either. PayPal has an API which allows you to process credit cards on your website without customers knowing that PayPal is acting like the merchant. Customers never leave your website.
Is in attendance a schoolwork compare the renovation rates between PayPal and ordinary merchant account? I would presuppose PayPal users would prefer using PayPal, but I don't know on the subject of the non-PayPal user.
The largest face for the ecommerce hoard is to communicate authority and trust. Legitimate retailers don't just admit PayPal. They accept Visa, MasterCard. You can certainly sell online with just PayPal, but you'll be restraining your good thing.
We purpose paypal as some other option for customers who want to make spend of funds that are stagnant at paypal.
Why are your customers requesting the merchant account? Maybe you could educate them in the modern age :P
I guess one good reason why I consider PayPal is that it accept credit cards without a merchant account. It accept all major credit cards as well as payments from bank accounts.
We use our regular merchant account for customers who want to pay with their credit cards. We use paypal as another option for customers who want o make employ of funds that are stagnant at paypal.
I'm certainly glad I found this thread. This is a lot of valuable explanation about the pros and cons of both.
Thanks, everybody. You've certainly given me a lot to think about, but it'll help me make my own decision.