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Some of the best merchant account providers for your prospering business

• Posted on May 10, 2021
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By Nikhil Batra

• Merchant accounts have become necessary as more and more people are switching to contactless payment methods
• Merchant accounts vary in terms of offers and costs depending on your needs

Every business that accepts credit or debit card payments definitely requires a merchant account provider. It helps customized merchant account to fulfill your requirements by providing transaction access to major banks and credit card companies.

Merchant account providers vary greatly in what to offer and how much they cost. Depending on your needs, you might be offered hardware to collect transactions, and software that tracks your sales and other things.

All the merchant account providers offer a reliable processing service and ensure your transactions through various credit card networks such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, etc.

There are two types of companies that are often collectively referred to as merchant account providers, the traditional merchant accounts and payment service providers (PSP).

Many small businesses use PSP. However, businesses that are brick and mortar, which have to process a lot of payments, like a grocery store will prefer using a traditional merchant account.

This article presents both types of merchant account providers, combining the best options for most businesses.

They are evaluated on various bases like pricing and fees, usability, additional features, and various factors.

Here are the five best merchant account providers for your business:

Providers	Suitability
Square	Best for every business type.
PayPal	Best for every business type.
Dharma Merchant	Best for brick and mortar business
Stripe	Best for an online-only business
Fiserv	Best for flat-rate pricing

 

Square

Square is one of the best solutions for most businesses because of its low processing fee. It charges a fee for its basic credit card processing service and has a flat rate for each transaction. It offers a free card reader to small businesses and able to process payments regardless of the business structure. It even offers your business a point of sale system (POS) software and some beginner-level sales tracking to help maintain a record.

There are no monthly, gateway, setup, annual, or early termination fees. It doesn’t even have a charge-back fee. The absence of these various fees makes Square an affordable option for small businesses that don’t process enough transactions in a month to justify paying account maintenance fees. Square also offers one of the best mobile payment processing apps and it’s free to use. However, you need to pay for processing.

Pricing of Square:

• In-store payment processing fee: 2.65% + $0.10
• Mobile payment processing fee: 2.6% + $0.10
• Online payment fee: 2.9% + $0.30
• Mobile reader cost: Free for new accounts, $10 for additional readers

Additional features:

• Mobile app: Square offers a free app that can easily process payments and provide limited sales details.
• Customer management: Software can collect customer feedback and also offers loyalty rewards.

Limitations:

• Square has no option to receive automated clearing house (ACH) payments
• Customer support is very limited  

 

PayPal

It is one of the best options for e-commerce payment services. PayPal is very similar to Square in product offerings. However, it is slightly expensive. People also prefer to use Square because of its ease of access.  PayPal is not the best option for traditional, in-person payments.

PayPal allows businesses and individuals to accept payments so it is a popular choice for freelancers, consultants, and small businesses. PayPal is usually known for accepting payments directly from a customer’s PayPal wallet and this is a huge benefit.

Their overall offering is very similar to Square and it offers flat rate transaction fees along with no contract. So you only pay for the processing services you use and can close your accounts any time without penalty. Businesses can benefit from this rate for credit card payments by utilizing any of PayPal’s swipe, chip, or card readers.

Pricing of PayPal:

• In-store payment processing fee: 2.7% + $0.30
• Mobile payment processing fee: 2.7% + $0.30
• Online payment fee: 2.9% + $0.30
• Mobile reader cost: $24.99 (first one free)

Additional features:

• Mobile app: PayPal offers a free and easy-to-use mobile app that makes it very efficient to send money and process payments.
• Client management: Customers can use their PayPal accounts to pay and it also provides a finance option for customers for purchases greater than $99. It also offers quick response (QR) code methods for touch-less payments.

Limitations:

• Customer management tools are very basic.
• Costly compared to Square.

 

Dharma Merchant

Dharma is a traditional provider which is best for brick and mortar stores, as it offers special pricing for shop operations. It is one of the best service merchants for small businesses and the more you process, the more affordable rates you will receive. This perk is beneficial to restaurants and retail stores.

Dharma has a transparent pricing feature and the businesses that use Dharma to process card-present or mail order/telephone order (MOTO) transactions will receive a deposit immediately.

It has a transparent pricing feature that business opting for Dharma will have a competitive funding schedule. Businesses that use Dharma to process card-present or MOTO transactions will get a deposit immediately. Dharma has an option called Merchant Express or MX that accepts mobile payments.

It serves the customers by knowing their needs. The experienced support team and knowledgeable representatives offer solutions to their customers.

Pricing of Dharma:

• In-store payment processing fee: $20 per month and 0.15% + $0.07 per transaction. However, if you process over $100,000 a month, your fees will be decreased to 0.1% + $0.05 per transaction.
• Online payment fee: $20 per month and 0.2% + $0.10 per transaction.

Additional features:

• Mobile app: Dharma offers a free app that gives you access to transaction and sales reports.
• Client management: Dharma offers loyalty rewards to frequent in-store shoppers.

Limitations of Dharma merchant services:

• It is costly for small business owners.
• You need to set up different accounts for online and direct sales.

 

Stripe

Stripe offers custom checkout for your customers through its advanced application programming interface (APIs) and software offering. This is the major reason why it is one of the best options for online-only businesses. It integrates with hundreds of e-commerce platforms, shopping carts, and various business softwares. However, if you are looking to process payments in-person then this is not the option, as most of its works are focused on online payments.

Stripe also offers pre-built checkout forms that can be easily implanted into any website. You can also create custom checkout forms or payment flows for your website and mobile app through Stripe’s API and developer tools.

Pricing of Stripe:

• Online payment fee: 2.9% + $0.30
• In-person payment processing fee: 2.7% + $0.05 

Additional features:

• Mobile app: The mobile app allows you to manage all your transactions and payments.
• Client management: It offers installments and pay later options for customers via Klarna.

Limitations of Stripe:

• Stripe is only available for businesses in the 39 largest countries, mostly in Europe, Asia, and America. Although Stripe accepts payments from around the world, it remains an issue for the business owners from the countries which are not on the list. 
• If you decide to integrate Stripe payments and add some features or customize the existing ones, you will require developer resources or techniques to customize.

 

Fiserv

Fiserv is a solid processing option but it doesn’t publish rates to non-customers. Fiserv helps you save money if you process a lot of payments. Usually, small and medium-sized businesses in the retail sector process a high volume of transactions every month. Fiserv helps you save money when you transact a lot.

Fiserv directly works with Clover for all its processing equipment and they are offering one of the largest payment networks in the world.

Pricing of Fiserv:

• All payment processing fees: Unknown
• Mobile reader cost: Not available

Additional Fiserv features:

• Mobile app: Offers mobile solutions, including app, through Mobiliti.
• Client management: Loyalty rewards, work with ATMs

Limitations of Fiserv:

• You can’t find Fiserv’s interchange-plus pricing online and it is very inconvenient. If you want to see its price range, you need to call the company for a pricing quote that is specific to your business.