How is merchant account different from payment gateways? The Difference every merchant account agent should know

Merchants and agents alike are capable of calling in and speaking to a live person. No long hold times or voicemails.
We represent over 10 different banks and processors worldwide. Ensuring that agents are able to place the majority of the accounts they sell. Don’t miss placing a high risk merchant because your current solution only uses one bank.
Our attrition rate is under 3% annually without contract termination fees! The industry average is over 20%. Merchants stay with us because of our pricing and support.
We process hundreds of millions of transactions annually.
Best of all, our agreement is non-exclusive! Work with as many different processors/banks as you would like. We guarantee we will earn the majority if not all of your business.
Call today and let us show you how we can help increasing your residuals while also exceeding your expectations.

For accepting and processing debit as well as credit card payments from the customers, every merchant needs to have a merchant account opened for his or her business as a validation. So, basically a merchant account is simply an account that a merchant opens in a retailer bank. Payment gateway is not a bank account as many mistake it to be. A payment gateway is merely a terminal that acts for authorization and verification of various credit/debit card transactions that are carried out.

Many still believe payment gateway and merchant account to be one and the same thing because both ultimately deal with credit card and other financial transactions. But, as a matter of fact, both, merchant account as well as payment gateway are two completely different entities. Though both are required by merchants to carry out their online businesses and deal with credit card payment services, they are in no way related. Only that the two are interdependent, almost symbiotic in nature.

A merchant account validates your authenticity to carry out credit card transactions and is essentially a bank account that manages these financial transactions in any business. And a merchant account plays a pivotal role in any business making it easier for the customers to carry out their purchases and make payments using credit/debit/ATM cards making it extremely convenient for them. Thereby, this acts as a portal which invites a wider range of customers and improves your business by leaps and bounds. Especially today, in this business world of cutting edge competition, not having a merchant account is as good as your business going into the slumps. A merchant can get a merchant account created by a merchant account provider who will obviously charge a fee for the services offered.

Now first and foremost, a payment gateway is not a banking account. It is a mode of verification and authorization that is performed on behalf of the merchant. It takes care of the vital measures of deciding whether a credit card transaction carried out is authorized and verifies it did actually take place. Payment gateways are vital to any online business that undertakes credit/debit card payments. Without it, the very credit card payment system is as good as obsolete. So, for having a successful and a smooth credit card payment system, a merchant has to implement a payment gateway in his business.

After a credit card transaction is made, all the financial as well as the personal details of the customer will be transmitted to a payment gateway. Then the gateway will verify the details of this transaction and transfer the information about the transaction to the concerned consumer’s bank. Then the payment gateway will receive a response from the bank telling whether the transaction is approved or not. And this piece of information is then transmitted back to the merchant account agent’s merchant account server relaying whether the order put forward was completed or not.