🧭
Merchant Services 101
Merchant account, acquirer, processor, gateway, issuer, card network and settlement — what each part does.
Learn the payment flow →International merchant-services guide
Merchant payments, explained.
Understand payment processing, merchant accounts, gateways, fees, fraud, settlement, payment methods and providers across the UK, Europe/EEA, USA and Canada.
Start with your market. Payment rules, payment methods, pricing and provider availability can differ by country, plan, transaction type and business model.
Start with what you need
Find the answer, tool or market guide
Built around the questions merchants ask before launching, changing providers or expanding internationally.
Popular research
Questions merchants search for
Direct answers, then deeper guides and tools when you need them.
Payment gateway
What is a payment gateway?
Understand gateways, processors and the payment stack.
PricingHow much does payment processing cost?
Look beyond the headline percentage and model total cost.
FundamentalsMerchant account vs processor
See how the two roles differ and why it matters.
FeesWhat is interchange?
Understand one of the components of card economics.
RiskHow do chargebacks work?
Learn the dispute process and merchant evidence basics.
InternationalCan a UK business accept US payments?
Map the payment, currency and operational questions.
Choose your market
Use the market selector to tailor the information shown throughout the page.
Selected market
United Kingdom
GBP market with cards, wallets, Bacs, Faster Payments and Direct Debit.
What to investigate
Merchant-services learning centre
Start with the fundamentals, then move into costs, operations and international considerations.
💰
Fees & pricing
Understand interchange, network fees, processor markups, fixed fees, FX, refunds and the effective rate.
Explore costs →🛡️
Fraud & chargebacks
Learn about authorization, 3-D Secure, disputes, monitoring and the operational cost of payment risk.
Explore risk →🌍
Cross-border payments
Compare local acceptance, currencies, FX, settlement and payment methods when selling internationally.
Explore cross-border →🏦
Payment methods
Cards, ACH, Bacs, SEPA, Interac, Direct Debit, wallets, BNPL and local payment methods.
Explore methods →📚
Merchant glossary
A–Z explanations of the terminology used by processors, acquirers, banks and payment platforms.
Open glossary →How a card payment works
Click the stages to understand the role each participant plays.
Customer
→
Checkout / POS
→
Gateway / Processor
→
Acquirer
Issuer bank
←
Card network
←
Authorization
→
Settlement
Merchant tools
Use indicative calculations to understand the mechanics. They are not quotes or offers.
True cost calculator
Estimate effective processing cost from a blended percentage plus fixed fee.
£750
Estimated monthly processing cost
Merchant journey
Answer four questions and get a tailored checklist.
Your checklist
- Choose payment methods for your market.
- Compare gateway, processor and acquiring options.
- Estimate total cost, including fixed and cross-border fees.
Payment methods explorer
Different markets have different payment habits and infrastructure. Select a market above to see the relevant methods.
Cards
Credit & debit cards
Card-not-present and card-present transactions, authorization, settlement, disputes and network costs.
Bank
Bank payments
ACH in the USA, Bacs/Faster Payments in the UK, SEPA in Europe and PAD/Interac in Canada.
Wallets
Digital wallets
Wallets can reduce checkout friction and introduce different authentication and dispute considerations.
Recurring
Direct Debit & subscriptions
Useful for recurring collections where mandate management, failed payments and retries matter.
Alternative
BNPL & local methods
Market-specific methods can improve local acceptance but introduce separate commercial and risk considerations.
International
Multi-currency
Accepting and settling in multiple currencies can improve customer experience while creating FX considerations.
Understanding payment costs
The advertised transaction rate is only one part of the total payment cost.
Interchange
A component of card economics associated with the issuer and transaction. Structure differs by market and card type.
Network / scheme fees
Fees associated with the card network and related services. They may vary by market, transaction and programme.
Processor markup
The processor or PSP may add percentage and/or fixed fees on top of underlying payment costs.
Fixed transaction fee
A small fixed amount can materially affect businesses with low average transaction values.
FX & cross-border
International cards, currency conversion and cross-border settlement can change the effective cost.
Operational costs
Refunds, chargebacks, reserves, reconciliation, failed payments and integration work can also matter.
Cross-border payments
International acceptance is a system, not simply a switch that says “global”.
Questions to ask
- Can customers pay using locally familiar methods?
- Which currencies can customers see and pay in?
- Which currencies can the business settle in?
- What FX markup or conversion fees apply?
- How are refunds and chargebacks handled?
- Where is the merchant entity eligible to onboard?
International launch checklist
- Confirm market and merchant-entity eligibility.
- Map local payment methods.
- Model processing, FX and payout costs.
- Review fraud and authentication requirements.
- Test settlement and reconciliation.
- Monitor acceptance and decline rates by market.
Provider research
Profiles are based on the site's provider dataset. Published rates are market-specific and should be rechecked before use.
Provider Finder
Filter by market and business needs. This is an information tool, not a recommendation or ranking.
Providers matching the selected information
Business-type explorer
Payment requirements change with the way you sell.
🛒 Ecommerce
Checkout, wallets, fraud, authorization, refunds, international cards and conversion.
💻 SaaS
Subscriptions, retries, account updates, invoicing, tax workflows and global expansion.
🏪 Retail
POS, terminals, contactless, tipping, refunds, offline resilience and reconciliation.
🔄 Subscription
Mandates, recurring billing, failed-payment recovery and customer lifecycle management.
🏢 B2B
Invoices, bank payments, larger transactions, reconciliation and approval workflows.
🌍 International
Local methods, multi-currency acceptance, FX, settlement and market-specific compliance.
🧩 Marketplace
Split payments, onboarding, seller verification, payouts and platform risk.
📈 High-growth
Scalability, routing, authorization optimization, redundancy and commercial negotiation.
Fraud, authentication & chargebacks
Payment acceptance is a balance between approving genuine customers and managing risk.
Authentication
Authentication tools can add assurance to higher-risk transactions and may affect checkout friction.
3-D Secure
3DS can shift authentication into the checkout flow and is relevant to certain card transactions and regulatory frameworks.
Chargebacks
A cardholder dispute can create a financial and operational cost. Track reason codes, evidence and response times.
Fraud scoring
Risk engines can combine transaction, device, behavioural and historical signals to support decisions.
Declines
A decline is not necessarily fraud. Monitor issuer, authentication, technical and configuration causes separately.
Monitoring
Measure approval rate, false declines, dispute rate, fraud rate and recovery performance by market.
Merchant glossary
Common terminology in plain English.
Acquirer
A financial institution or acquiring entity that enables a merchant to accept card payments.
Gateway
Technology that securely transmits payment information between a merchant checkout and payment infrastructure.
Processor
A payment-processing provider that handles transaction messages and related payment services.
PSP
Payment service provider: a broader service model that can combine payment acceptance, processing and related tools.
Settlement
The process by which funds are reconciled and paid out to the merchant, subject to the provider's terms.
Reserve
Funds a provider may hold under certain commercial arrangements to manage exposure to disputes, refunds or other liabilities.
MCC
Merchant Category Code, used to classify a merchant's business activity for payment and reporting purposes.
Authorization
The process of asking the card issuer whether a transaction can be approved.
Effective rate
Total payment cost divided by processed volume, giving a broader view than a headline percentage alone.
Frequently asked questions
Is a payment gateway the same as a payment processor?
No. They can be supplied together, but they describe different functions. A gateway generally handles the secure transmission of payment data, while processing covers transaction handling and related infrastructure.
Why can't I use one payment rate for every country?
Payment economics depend on market, card type, payment method, transaction channel, currency, cross-border status, plan and commercial agreement. Published rates should therefore be displayed with their market and context.
Should I choose a PSP, processor or acquiring bank?
That depends on your business model, geography, volumes, technical requirements, payment methods, risk profile and desired commercial model. Compare the complete payment stack rather than one headline rate.
Is this website giving financial or legal advice?
No. It is an educational resource. Regulatory, tax, legal and commercial requirements should be confirmed with qualified advisers and the relevant providers or authorities.
Editorial note: Provider profiles and published examples are drawn from the site's supplied verification dataset dated 15 September 2026. Where a provider uses country-specific, plan-specific or quote-based pricing, the site avoids inventing a universal rate.