Merchant Debit Card Services, Choice of Business

By: EconomyWatch Content Team   Date: 1 February 2010

About The Author

EconomyWatch Content Team

The Economy Watch Content Team manages our thousands of reference pages on economic, industry,

EconomyWatch, Content Team

 

  • Dot Div
  •      

Studies conducted year after year show that a business can vastly multiply their sales if they have the ability to accept credit and debit cards. This is because not many consumers want to carry around cash or their checkbook anymore.

It is a rare day that a customer does not prefer to use their debit card or credit card as their form of payment. It is even rarer that a business not offer the option of paying with a debit card. Or suppose that you have a website for your business, it would be very beneficial if your customers could use their debit card and place orders online as well as in the store. This is where having a merchant debit card services account is key.

Merchant debit card services is a system that allows businesses to accept credit and debit card payments either in their store or online. This service has each merchant buy or lease a processing terminal so that they can accept these payments. This terminal can hook up to a phone line or an Internet connection. Also included with the terminal is the software that encrypts a customer’s card information and PIN number so that the information remains secure.

When a customer swipes their card the information is encrypted and sent to be verified and approved. The terminal will then print off copies of the receipt, one for the customer to sign and return to the merchant and one for the customer to keep.  After a given period of time that ranges from a few hours to a few days, the merchant will close a bath of sales and send the information to the bank, and a day or two after that the funds will be transferred to the merchant’s bank account. In addition most of these contracts allow merchant the software to accept card payments through the bank’s website as well as their own.

There are fees associated with having a merchant debit card services account. If the merchant has decided to lease their terminals then they will have to pay monthly or yearly charges for that lease. In addition to that the merchants are charged monthly fees based on the number and amount of sales that they make.

Part of the fees will be for each individual transaction and then the rest of the fee compromises a portion of the amount of the transaction. Now these fees do vary from package to package, so it can be difficult for a business owner to find the correct one. But it’s important to look very carefully for the right merchant debit card account since if you find a better one later the fee for breaking an existing contract can be very steep. 


  • Dot Div
  •      

Most Popular in Debit Cards

Related Links
blog comments powered by Disqus