A merchant account is a type of bank account which allows organisations to simply accept payments in many different ways, for the most part debit or credit cards. A merchant account is developed under an statement from an acceptor and a merchant acquiring bank towards the settlement of payment card transactions. In a certain amount of cases a payment processor, independent sales organization (ISO), or member service provider (MSP) is also a party to the merchant accord. Whether a merchant enters into a merchant statement directly with an acquiring bank or through an aggregator, the contract contractually binds the merchant to comply with the operating rules established by the card organisations.
Methods of handling credit cards
Today a majority of credit card financial transactions are delivered electronically to merchant processing banks for authorisation, record and also downpayment. Several systems exist for presenting a credit card sale to the setup. In all occasions either the entire magnetized strip is read by a swipe through a credit card terminal/reader, a computer chip is check out, or the credit card data is manually entered into a credit card terminal, a device or web site. The earliest strategies, submitting credit card slips to a merchant processing bank by mailing, or by accessing an Automated Response Unit (ARU) by telephone, are still in use today but have long been overshadowed by electronic devices. These early techniques used two-part forms and a hand-operated hardware for mechanically imprinting the embossed card number info onto the forms.
Credit card terminal
A credit card terminal is a stand alone piece of electronic equipment that permits a merchant to swipe or key-enter a credit card's info and additionally extra info necessary to process a credit card transaction. They may be connected to Point of Sale systems and ordinarily have a keypad and network connection and may have a built-in printer.
Automated Response Unit (ARU)
An ARU (aka a vocal authorisation, capture and deposit) enables the manual keyed entry and also subsequent permission of a credit card over a cell or land line telephone. With this system, a merchant regularly imprints their customer's card with an imprinter to make a customer receipt and supplier copy, then process the transaction immediately on the phone.
Payment gateway
A payment gateway is an electronic commerce operation that authorizes payments for e-businesses and on the internet retailers. It is the comparable of a physical POS (point-of-sale) terminal installed in most retail outlets. A merchant account provider is usually a separate organization from the payment gateway. Some merchant account providers have their own charge gateways but the absolute majority of corporations use 3rd party payment gateways. The gateway ordinarily has 2 components: a) the digital terminal that makes it possible for for a merchant to securely login and key in credit card information or b) have the site's shopping-cart join to the gateway via an API to permit real time operating from the merchant's website.
Level 2 or Level 3 Processing - Purchasing Cards
Visa and MasterCard have developed a particular type of credit card used principally by government agencies and enterprises. Progressively, companies and government agencies are counting on this form of payment to remunerate their vendors and suppliers. Organizations and businesses benefit by obtaining their funds quickly and by winning competitory bids and federal government contracts where purchasing cards are the required form of payment.
