As a business owner, you have probably worked with merchant accounts before. If you want to charge customers for their purchases, you must be able to accept credit and debit cards. While some people pay with cash, many consumers use just credit and debit cards. To accept their payments, you must have a connection to a merchant services provider. Once you set up an account, you can start charging your customers through their payment cards.
What Is a Merchant Account?
A merchant account is basically a business bank account that you can use to process credit cards and debit cards. Your account allows you to partner with a bank. Then, the bank handles all of the communications for processing your electronic payments.
When you run a brick-and-mortar shop, merchant accounts are incredibly important. If you run an online business, you will not be able to accept any payments if you do not set up a merchant account. Online purchases can only be processed through a merchant account, so you have to get one if you want your business to be successful.
How to Open the Right Merchant Account
When it comes to getting a merchant account, the hard part is figuring out which provider you should use. Some providers like to initially quote one fee for their merchant services. Then, they raise the fee once you have signed up. The worst providers will try to hide their fees. With these providers, you may spend weeks waiting to hear about your account while the merchant makes their decision.
Some providers have notoriously bad reputations. There are entire Reddit threads devoted to how horrible PayPal is as a merchant services provider. To make sure that you have the best experience possible, you should ask your provider a few questions before you open a new merchant account.
- What is your ranking on Google?
- Do you require a contract?
- What are all of the fees that I will have to pay?
- Can you increase my rates after a certain period of time?
- Will you help me connect my merchant account to my website?
Carefully listen to the company’s answers. You are not required to start an account with anyone. If something seems off, you should move on to a different provider.
Work With Us for a Hassle-Free Experience
If you need to process credit cards and debit cards, there is only one place you should go. National Processing offers an entirely different experience. At National Processing, you can get support from a full team of onboarding specialists, underwriters and tech professionals. Because of our unique approach to merchant accounts, National Processing won an award in 2020 for having the best customer support in the industry. For the last four years, they have also been ranked by Google as the top merchant service company. Unlike other companies, National Processing is completely transparent about fees and pricing structure.
