Compare Credit Card Merchant Accounts - Fundamentals of Merchant Accounts

Compare Credit Card Merchant Accounts - A merchant account is basically an electronic system that runs your customers' electronic checks, debit cards, and credit cards through the Internet for a fee.

Merchants sign contracts with account providers to offer these services for a set monthly fee as well as percentage-based transaction and swipe fees. These expenses are usually automatically deducted from credit card sales every month.

Merchant accounts are highly versatile, allowing businesses to process cards in a matter of seconds in their brick-and-mortar outlets as well as on their Websites. To accept credit cards in their stores, merchants process the card through a POS terminal.

Most of the hardware and software you will need to process cards will be included in the cost of your merchant account. Terminals, online processing programs, and sales-tracking software are a few examples of merchant account support tools.