Merchant accounts are bank accounts specifically designed to accept credit card payments. Such payments can be made by customers at either the store itself through a credit card terminal or online through a shopping cart made in the web page of the company.

To accept a credit card payment, a merchant first requires an Internet merchant account in a bank or financial institution.

Merchants who have a high-risk business such as adult services providers, online gaming business, casinos, find it hard to obtain a merchant account. This is because of the risks of credit card frauds increase with of the high turn-over involved. The result is that banks shy away from providing Internet accounts to these merchants, who can then turn to private acquiring institutions to provide them merchant account services.

After obtaining a merchant account, the merchant would require a payment gateway account. This is basically the processing account, which verifies the authenticity of the credit card and then transfers the funds to the merchant account.

The customer enters his credit card information on the merchant