Merchant Account and Payment Gateway
A Merchant Account
is a type of account that makes it possible for a third party to verify credit
cards for authenticity, process the transaction, and deposit the results into
your business bank account.
You can get a merchant account
from a bank or a non-bank provider. Banks tend to be considered more reliable
and secure, but they are generally more selective in providing accounts. Non-bank
providers may be reputable and secure, but be careful when choosing as not
all of them are. They tend to be less selective than banks and their rates
are often higher. Non-bank providers go to the banks on your behalf to get
a merchant account for you. They accept the risk of their customers not paying
or being fraudulent. An example of a great non-bank provider is Website Payments
Pro by PayPal.
A Payment Gateway
is like an online credit card processing terminal and is required to process
credit card payments through your website's shopping cart to your merchant
account.
PayPal
PayPal is an email payment system.
All you need is a credit/debit card or bank account and an email address to
set up a PayPal account. You can then accept payments from customers with
PayPal accounts. With a PayPal Business account you can also accept payments
from customers that don't have a PayPal account. PayPal's added security and purchase protection, plus their affiliation
with eBay, put some people more at ease with shopping online.
 To provide
the most payment options for your clients, our shopping cart allows you to
offer payment processing through both a merchant account/payment gateway and
PayPal, without necessarily having to choose one or the other.
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