Different Kinds Of Credit Card Merchant Account

In order to accept credit card payment it becomes necessary for a business merchant to avail merchant services. Merchant services enable you to open a credit card merchant account in order to handle the processing work of the credit card payments. Merchant services are indispensable for the proper processing of all credit card payments. Both the retails as well as the online business merchant have to make use of the merchant services in order to accept the credit card payments. The customers prefer the credit card payment to cash payments due to the convenience and safety aspect.


Based on the type of business and the volume of business every business merchant will be categorized for availing the merchant services. This classification forms the basis for opening the credit card merchant account. The merchant services can be classified into Keyed and Swiped. This classification is based on the credit card processing methods.
Swiped refers to those kind of transaction wherein the customer is physically present in the shop and he swipes the card at the billing counter.


Under the swiped category of merchant services there are other sub categories based on the type of merchant account used. Retail merchant accounts are one wherein the customer will himself swipe the credit card. Their signature is then matched with that in the terminal. Another type is wireless technology wherein the customers might be in front of you but the billing is done outside the shop. For this a wireless merchant service is used and the classic example of this type is pizza home delivery.


Restaurants merchant also come under the category of the swiped wherein the transaction take place physically in the presence of the customer but they may have to add the tips later on to the higher amount of the bill. Similar is the case with that of the lodging transaction wherein the amount might have to be adjusted based on the time and duration of the stay.


The other category of merchant services is the Keyed category. Under this category the customer is located at a distance and the information has to be entered into the terminal through a phone or mobile or internet. The most popular type under this category of merchant service is the e-commerce. E-commerce allows the customer to browse through their products and select the items of their choice into a shopping cart. Then by making use of the payment gateway they could make the payment online. The online payment is possible through the merchant service which will collect all the necessary details of the credit card and process the payment without the physical presence of the customer.


Mail order or Telephone Order is another type coming under the category of Keyed merchant services. Here all the information is collected from the customer through phone and then they have to be keyed in the terminal to process the payment.


Based on the usage the merchant accounts are classified as above. The business merchant must select the one that will be apt for his nature of business.




The author is specialised in providing online credit card payments and credit card merchant services. To know more about online credit card payments and credit card merchant visit unibulmerchantservices.com