PeopleImages/Getty Images
If you are a business owner, you are probably familiar with the concept of merchant services. This term refers to your way Accepts payments in a variety of formats You can receive payment as a business owner that includes the necessary equipment.
Whether it’s a credit card reader, POS system, or online transaction processing, merchant services are essential to completing your payment. When running a business, knowing how to accept credit card payments can be more complicated than it might think. First, you need to decide how to accept payments and then get the skills you need to handle them. Here’s what you need to know.
What is Merchant Services?
Merchant Services is a broad term used to describe the scope of financial services tailored to a company. These services generally include financial tools such as processing, payment gateways, and even loyalty programs.
Finding a solid merchant service provider that will help you make payments easily is invaluable. These providers can support your business with intuitive software, efficient payment processing hardware, and other ways to remove hassle from payment processing.
What do most merchant services include?
Merchant Service Providers handle a variety of financial services that help businesses accept payments for credit cards and other products and services. This is the most common:
Which companies offer merchant services?
Many companies offer merchant services. And we do so in a variety of price ranges and service plans. Some of the more popular merchant service companies include:
What are the fees related to merchant services?
The next thing a business needs to know is how much it costs. Prices vary depending on the provider and the service you choose.
Merchant Service Providers even have a variety of ways to pricing, such as:
- Monthly fee: Like other subscription services, you pay a flat monthly fee to ensure you have continuous access to your provider’s equipment and support.
- Processing fee: This is the cost of a credit card network or payment processor to process a single transaction. Service providers usually charge processing fees, which are the percentage of the transaction, and use that money to pay the credit card network.
- Layered pricing packages: These package rates will change depending on the required features and equipment type and the amounts scheduled to be processed through the system each year.
- Flat rate: In addition to the processing fee or monthly fee, you may need to pay a flat rate (usually about 10 cents) per transaction.
Many providers even charge a combination of these fees.
For example, when you use Clover, you will notice that it offers a variety of hardware. for Registration and counter servicesdesigned to receive payments using the cash register and counter card reader, so you can either pay a fee of $155 or $180 per month for 36 months, or a combination of $1,899 prepaid fees and a $59.95 or $84.95 per month. The different pricing structures vary depending on the service plan you choose. You will also pay for each transaction.
Stacks Prices for swiped keyed payments vary. The all-in-one software package starts at $99 per month for processing up to $150,000 a year, with a higher cost of greater processing. These plans usually include per transaction fees as well.
on the other hand, Bank of America You will be charged a 10-cent processing fee, in addition to 2.65% of the payments your card has made at the physical station. Online purchases charge 30 cents per transaction, 2.99% per transaction, while keyed transactions charge 3.5% and 15 cents per transaction.
How to Choose the Right Merchant Service Provider
Choosing the right merchant service provider for your business is a key decision. You should consider the following aspects of each provider you study:
Conclusion
Choosing a merchant service provider is not a decision your business will underestimate. Before you sign up, there are many factors that will help you fight your business model and needs.
Beware of ongoing or hidden costs and see how quickly your payments are processed. You also need to know what level of continuous support you can expect to receive if things go wrong.
And to pay for these services? Consider using Business Credit Card This allows you to earn rewards or cashback for these recurring payments and advance fees.
Bank of America content for this post was last updated on March 12, 2025.
