Everyone knows about Paypal — even if they’ve never used the payment system themselves, they’ve heard it in the news or read about it business magazines. Paypal is only one of many different online payment processing systems in use today. There are actually a variety of processing options out there for businesses to use on their web sites that allow clients and customers to pay for goods and services.

Getting a merchant account is essential for anyone who plans to do any sort of business on the web. Sure, it’s still possible to have people order online and mail in a check, but that is mail order, not web commerce. People want to be able to pay for the item right away so that they get it that much sooner. This means submitting their credit card information when they place their order and knowing that it will clear their account quickly.

Merchant accounts allow businesses to accept credit card payments through a secure web server. This protects the banking information on both sides of the equation. There is usually a fee paid by the seller to have an account a service charge for each transaction. In contrast, payment services process transactions between one account and another, all within their self-contained system.