What is best for your Business? Merchant Account vs Payment Gateway

The phenomenon that is gone by the name of Business has evolved immensely over time, but from barter system to the crypto currency, one thing has remained constant; there is a price for everything. The question is how can you get that price?

Life has been shifted into the fast lane over the years and everyone wants to save time, the introduction of payment gateway in form of plastic currency has helped greatly in this regard. If you want to survive in these highly competitive times as a seller/provider then you must turn to e-commerce and accept plastic money from your customers.

Merchant Account vs Payment Gateway

We have explained below the two methods for businesses to accept plastic money so you may choose which method suits you best. Also read these tips for expanding your business.

Merchant Accounts:

First of all, you need to know what a merchant account is; the simplest definition of a merchant account is that; it is a type of bank account that allows a business to accept payments in multiple ways. A merchant account is an arrangement between a retailer and a credit card processing company. If you’re doing business from a brick and mortar shop this method is perfect for you.

The multiple ways that merchant account allows you to receive payments are credit cards, debit cards and ACH payments. Some companies offer wider merchant account solutions and give the option to receive payments through discount cards, gift cards and loyalty cards. You may also use a clover station point of sale for the up to date impression. You can check for clover station price here.

Payment Gateway:

If you have ever purchased something online, you may be familiar with payment gateways. Payment gateway or credit card payment gateway is an e-commerce application administered by merchant service providers to authorize and process credit card and direct payments for your business.

Now, to put it in simple words; a credit card payment gateway functions like an ordinary credit card machine; the customer enters his payment details via the web and the encrypted payment goes through the payment gateway to the payment processor and through the credit card network to the customer’s credit card issuer for authorization.

This is an essential for e-shops and mobile retailers as the customers can securely make payments with ease by the means of a cell phone or a laptop. If you own an e-commerce or a mobile business you should definitely check these ideas for virtual meetings.

What should you choose?

As we have mentioned above, merchant accounts are perfect for brick and mortar store businesses. While the brick and click businesses and mobile businesses need Payment gateways to facilitate their customers in the hustle and bustle of their daily lives and to provide for them a safe and sound method for the payments.

If you own a business, no matter small or large, and are handling too much paper then you need to learn about the enterprise content management or ECM to take control of the critical information in your business.