What Are Web Site Merchant Accounts And How Do They Work?

Merchant accounts are bank accounts designed for commerce and available from a wide range of financial institutions including most of the major banks. The merchant account provider facilitates the transfer of funds from the customer to your bank account. Normally, monies are held by the merchant account company and once a day the aggregated total is deposited into the bank account specified.

However, to link up the web site order with the customer's credit card and your merchant account, a payment gateway channels the credit card transaction details. The payment gateway acts as a secure conduit to transmit this sensitive data safely between the web site and the credit card company, and from the credit card company to your merchant account.

The first leg of the credit card transaction journey is obtaining payment authorisation from the credit card company in the form of an accept or decline message.

Next, the payment gateway relays the outcome of the payment query to the customer by sending the information back to the web site. The final part of the transaction then takes place, with the payment gateway communicating the credit card payment details to your merchant account.