Elementary Electronic Methods to Accept Credit Card Payment Processing

Fundamentally, there are just two electronic methods to accept credit card payment processing transactions. The first is a merchant account, and the second is a payment gateway.

A merchant account is how most small- to medium-sized businesses accept credit and debit cards online. They request a merchant account from a bank that also typically provides features like an online shopping cart, order processing, sales monitoring, and electronic receipts.

Merchant accounts can be expensive for new businesses, however, which is why payment gateways might be a viable alternative. A payment gateway will process any credit card, debit card, or electronic check the same as a merchant account, but no recurring fees are involved.

The only charges are based on each transaction. Payment gateways are not as integrated into Websites as merchant accounts, so the customer usually has to navigate away to a site like PayPal to complete the transaction.