[Thesa]

All small businesses require some form of payment processing, so to select a right one is important. Following are some guidelines for the same:

a) Merchant services enable you to process credit card payments from your customers. They are provided companies called merchant service providers or independent sales organizations that offer payment processing. Another source for setting up merchant accounts is the financial institutions.

b) There is no best method of choosing one for your business. It all depends on what and how you feel comfortable dealing with, i.e. with a local bank or with a credit card processor that offers low rates.

c) Merchant account is not required to accept credit cards. An option is to contract option is with companies providing payment processing on your behalf. Their charges are high as they take a larger percentage of the payment received. All credit card providers charge a percentage of each credit card payment received. If you wish to do online selling business, a merchant account is a best option.

If you allow a third party company to process your payments, you will need to put your order form on their site. Moreover, you shall receive payments a few times a month. While with own merchant account, you can receive the same in a few days.