Merchant Services Terms & Process Explained

Resource #1

Any website that needs accept payments or have a full ecommerce needs ‘Merchant Services.’  We find that most clients in this process like to have a clear explanation of the Merchant Services Terms.  Here is a great list from http://www.qgiv.com (click here to see the whole list of Common Merchant Services terms).

Merchant Account
A merchant account is an arrangement with a merchant processing bank to accept credit card payments. The money transferred to your merchant account as a result of a credit card transaction settles for a period of time before being transferred to your main bank account. This settlement time can range from 24 to 96 hours on average.

Gateway
A gateway is an online donation provider that takes contributions from donors in the organization’s name and using the organization’s own merchant account. Gateways will set up unique Merchant Accounts for each organization. Gateways will usually handle all the paperwork associated with merchant account setups, shielding the organization from complex paperwork and hassle.

See more terms such as Virtual Terminal, Settlement, SSL, and more

Resource #2

Here is an article on how to get up and running with Merchant Services if you are a non-profit from TechSoup.  TechSoup is a great place for non-profits to software at affordable prices.  Read the article now >>

Popularity: 11% [?]