A merchant account monthly minimum fee really isn’t a fee by itself — it’s more like a benchmark.

It’s not really as simple as that, though. In actuality, a variety of entities are working behind the scenes, and it’s the card-issuing bank that ends up taking the largest piece of the pie. The more you know about what affects your business, the better armed you are to improve your position in the market …

Issuing Banks: Where does your money go? Read More »

It seems to include a lot of different things, so what is “merchant services” or “merchant processing?” If you’re starting a business or looking to get better rates on credit card processing at your existing business, it’s a good idea to understand what’s involved in merchant services and how to choose the right provider. Let’s …

What is Merchant Services? Read More »

Whether you’re starting a business from scratch, taking over an existing company, or adding credit card processing to your established business for the first time, you’ll need to know how to accept credit cards securely and at a low cost. There are tons of articles out there on credit card processing fees (we’ve written a …

How to Accept Credit Cards Read More »

However, the rise of alternative payment channels has muddied the waters a bit, leaving some businesses confused as to why their transactions are card-not-present (CNP) when they expected card-present (CP.) Types of Transactions Firstly, let’s define “card-present” and “card-not-present.” More than just the physical presence of the credit card, a transaction is considered “card-present” only …

Card Present vs. Card Not Present Transactions Read More »