A credit card merchant account is a special type of bank account that enables e-commerce and POS businesses to accept credit card transactions. However, not all banks provide these types of accounts. Merchant acquiring banks work with merchant account providers as well as directly with business owners to establish these accounts. Some acquiring banks offer different merchant credit card processing solutions depending on location and business type.
How an Online Credit Card Merchant Account Works
If you are considering accepting credit cards online for the first time, here’s a refresher on how an online credit card merchant account works. The steps are simple and happen in mere seconds.
- Your customer enters his credit card information into your website to purchase your goods or services.
- When the customer submits the order, your website sends a transaction request from your server to the Instabill payment gateway, an online application accessible from any Web browser with an Internet connection. The payment gateway enables you to accept and process credit card transactions online the same way a POS terminal enables in-store credit card processing.
- Our payment gateway forwards your customer’s transaction request to his credit card issuing bank. The issuing bank returns the results to both you and your customer.
- If approved, the issuing bank notifies you and your customer and transfers the approved funds to your credit card merchant account.
- If declined, the issuing bank will notify you and your customer, provides your customer with an explanation, and you will not receive any funds to your credit card merchant account.
The final steps of the credit card merchant account process are settlement and payout. Once settled, your acquiring bank will send you the approved funds to the bank account of your choice. Alternatively, your acquiring bank may send Instabill the approved funds, which we will then send to you. Regardless of who sends you your payout, you will receive it on time, every time, based on the payout schedule provided by your acquiring bank.
Credit Card Merchant Account Services with Instabill
Instabill provides a wide range of credit card payment services to business owners worldwide. We primarily work with e-commerce merchants but also provide solutions to MOTO merchants through our virtual terminal while our domestic solutions provide retail merchant accounts and mobile merchant accounts to US businesses.
With Instabill’s other merchant services, you can also find SSL certificates for your website, achieve PCI compliance and obtain an offshore company registration for your business.
Contact Us Today to Get Started
Regardless of your business type, location or risk factor, Instabill has credit card payment solutions you need. A credit card merchant account from Instabill is affordable and reliable and allows you to watch your business grow.
If you are ready to apply for a merchant account with Instabill, simply click the button below to get started. We pride ourselves in live customer support: Contact us online or call 1-800-318-2713 to speak with a merchant account manager today.