Credit Card Merchant Account: What is it and How Does It Work?

What is a credit card merchant account?

A credit card merchant account is a special type of bank account that enables e-commerce and POS businesses to accept credit card payments. However, not all banks provide these types of accounts. Acquiring banks work with merchant account providers as well as directly with business owners to establish these accounts. Some acquiring banks offer different merchant credit card processing solutions depending on location and business type.

How an Online Credit Card Merchant Account Works

Accepting credit cards online is a necessity for a business. Here’s a refresher on how an online credit card merchant account works. The steps are simple and happen in mere seconds.

1. Your customer enters his credit card information into your secure website to purchase an item or service.
2. When the customer submits the order, your website sends a transaction request from your server to your acquiring bank’s payment gateway, an online application accessible from any Web browser with an Internet connection. The payment gateway enables you to accept and process credit card transactions online the same way a POS terminal enables in-store credit card processing.
3. The payment gateway forwards your customer’s transaction request to his credit card issuing bank. The issuing bank returns the results to both you and your customer.

• If approved, the issuing bank notifies you and your customer and transfers the approved funds to your credit card merchant account.
• If declined, the issuing bank will notify you and your customer, provides your customer with an explanation, and you will not receive any funds to your credit card merchant account.

The final steps of the process are settlement and payout. Once settled, your acquiring bank will send you the approved funds to the bank account of your choice. Alternatively, your acquiring bank may send Instabill the approved funds, which we will then send to you.

Regardless of who sends you your payout, you will receive it on time, every time, based on the payout schedule provided by your acquiring bank.

Not Every Bank Offers Credit Card Merchant Accounts

Since 2001, Instabill has filled a niche for the merchants of high risk businesses. We simply believe each and every business deserves to accept credit card payments, since it is the most common form of payment in North America.

There are banks that prefer not to offer merchant accounts, let alone a merchant account to a high risk businesses, for numerous reasons. It could be any of the following:

• Dealing with businesses with high chargeback rates
• Preference to avoid working with online or card not present businesses, which pose a higher risk for instances of fraud.
• Reputational concerns in working with industries such as online gambling, online dating or adult content.

Credit Card Merchant Account Services with Instabill

Instabill provides a wide range of credit card payment services to business owners worldwide. We primarily work with e-commerce merchants but also provide solutions to MOTO merchants through a virtual terminal while our domestic solutions provide retail merchant accounts and mobile merchant accounts to US businesses.

With Instabill’s other merchant services, you can also find SSL certificates for your website, achieve PCI compliance and obtain an offshore company registration for your business.

Contact Us Today to Get Started

Regardless of your business type, location or risk factor, Instabill has credit card payment solutions you need. Credit card merchant accounts from Instabill are affordable, reliable and allow you to watch your business grow and thrive.

We pride ourselves in live customer support:Simply click the button to get started or call 1-800-318-2713 to speak with a merchant account manager today.