Merchant Account A merchant account is a special type of bank account that allows a business to accept and process electronic payment card transactions. When a customer pays, the funds are first sent to this account before being transferred (payout) to the business's regular bank account. Payment service providers like Stripe provide a merchant account [...]

A payment processor is a financial company that handles credit and debit card transactions on behalf of a merchant. It acts as the intermediary between the merchant, the customer's bank (issuing bank), and the merchant's bank (acquiring bank). When a customer makes a purchase, the processor sends the transaction details through the card networks to [...]