Why Business Owners Need Merchant Services Accounts

If you've been thinking about starting a small business, it's important that you understand a few things about merchant services. It may seem that a small business should just be able to use a commercial bank, but this is not practical unless your business is a very small, cash only enterprise which makes only a few hundred dollars a year. In short, any business that has employees or wants to accept credit or debit cards needs to have a merchant services account.

The biggest reason to have a merchant services account is the ability to accept credit or debit cards. A merchant services account is integral to accepting credit card payments for several reasons. When a customer uses a credit or debit card to pay you, that transaction is routed through three entities: the credit card processing institution, the bank that issued the credit card, and the institution through which you receive merchant services. To accept credit cards, you must have a merchant services account through a qualifying institution or the credit card processing company will not work with you. Follow the link to get more information on a merchant cash advance.

Merchant services companies facilitate the use of credit cards through readers and online. This includes the device you might install in your storefront, for example, through which your customer's card can be swiped. They can also provide mobile card swipers, which connect to your smart phone and allow you to take orders when away from your store front, such as at a convention or from a booth at a street market. They also provide the access you need to process credit cards online or other the telephone, if you don't intend to physically swipe cards.

Of course, there are other reasons to get a merchant account, as well. If you get a merchant account through a bank, for example, you'll also get a night deposit bag and night deposit drop access. They may also offer payroll solutions, allowing you to streamline your payroll process by having the funds deducted directly from your merchant account and transferred, via check or electronically, to your employees. Merchant services also make it easy to issue gift cards to your customers. Merchant services providers might also offer their customers easy access to credit, in the form of business loans or even cash advances. Using the same institution to handle your business's funds and its loans makes it easy to manage your money. Find out more details about the iphone credit card reader.

Merchant accounts are available from different providers. One way is to open a merchant account at a merchant bank, that is, a bank that only handles merchant business. Retail banks, or commercial banks, also sometimes provide merchant services accounts, often out of the same branch offices as their commercial services. There are also institutions that handle things like credit card processing without the other associated merchant services.