With all things considered, there is really not much choice but to accept credit cards online. This makes it much more convenient for not only the customer, but yourself as well. Because of the necessity of accepting credit cards online, it is important that you know the options available to you to accept credit cards. On top of that, you need to know which the better fit for your business is.

There are two methods of accepting credit cards online, using your own merchant account or going through a third party merchant. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, making it all the more important that you know what they have to offer.

In order to set up your own merchant account, you need a bank to approve the opening of the account. When you go through a third party account, it is simply a company that is accepting your credit card payment in exchange for various fees and percentages.

So which is the better method? The initial cost of opening up your own merchant account is going to be higher than going through a third party account. You will often find that many third party accounts have no initial fees whatsoever. The part that evens the two methods out is the transaction fee. The transaction fee that you pay is going to be much higher with a third party than with your own merchant account.

Generally, third party merchant accounts are great for people that are testing out a new business. It allows you to get started accepting credit cards through your business with little to no start up costs, and the merchant takes care of everything for you. This way if your business does not go as planned, at least you will have not blown even more money on your own merchant account.