Merchant account it is a special trade account that allows you to accept money from client’s VISA, MasterCard, American Express plastic cards using the Internet. Such account could be opened in the acquiring banks.
If you want to accept payments from customers not only through credit cards, but also through the electronic payment systems such as PayPal, WebMoney, Qiwi and other, merchant account could be opened with Payment Service Provider (PSP).
The main difference between the bank account and the merchant account is that a merchant account is connected to the website, where the customer should enter the data of his credit or debit card to pay for the selected product or service.
Advantages of Using Merchant Account:
- Accepting payments from the client 24/7;
- Expanding the market by using the Internet – the customer can pay for goods or services from anywhere in the world;
- Optimization of taxation, if the merchant account is opened in the offshore bank or low tax jurisdiction;
- The opportunity of choice for customers of the convenient payment method – electronic money or bank card (if the account is opened with PSP);
- The confidentiality of the transaction;
- The ability to process up to one thousand transactions per minute, etc.
Among the companies that actively use the merchant account are:
- Internet shops;
- Network marketing;
- Companies operating in the high risk industry:
- – Travel agencies;
- – Forex brokers, Binary options brokers;
- – Online casino;
- – Software companies and related proposals and services on web design;
- – Pharmaceutical companies;
- – Lottery games;
- – Dating & Adult;
- – File Sharing services and cloud servers for data storage;
- and many other.