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Fundamentals

Merchant Services 101

Merchant services connect your business, customer, payment method and financial institutions so a transaction can be authorised, processed and settled.
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Built to make payment decisions clearer

Independent
Plain-English explanations without a sales pitch.
Practical
Questions, frameworks and cost thinking you can actually use.
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Merchant Atlas

See the payment chain clearly

Understand how the merchant, acquirer, processor, gateway and payment method fit together.

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Key concepts

What to understand

Merchant

The business accepting payment from a customer.

Acquirer / acquiring provider

The organisation providing or supporting the merchant acceptance relationship.

Processor

Technology and services that process transaction messages and related payment activity.

Gateway

The technology layer that securely connects an online checkout or application to payment processing.
Provider conversation

Questions worth asking

  • Which company provides each part of the service?
  • Which charges change with volume, ticket size, card type or customer location?
  • What would cause pricing, reserves or settlement terms to change?
  • How are support, refunds, reporting and disputes handled?

Test the pricing assumptions.

Use the calculator to see how percentage and fixed fees behave at different transaction sizes.
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Merchant services cluster

Go deeper with connected research.

Browse all 100 guides ↗
CanadaCanadian Merchant Account vs Payment ProcessorArchitecture↗USAMerchant Account vs Payment Processor USAArchitecture↗CanadaMerchant Services Canada: Complete GuideMerchant Services↗Europe / EEAMerchant Services Europe: Complete GuideMerchant Services↗UKMerchant Services UK: Complete GuideMerchant Services↗USAMerchant Services USA: Complete GuideMerchant Services↗CanadaPayment Gateway vs Processor CanadaArchitecture↗CanadaPayment Processing Canada: Complete GuideProcessing↗Europe / EEAPayment Processing Europe: Complete GuideProcessing↗USAPayment Processing USA: Complete GuideProcessing↗GlobalPayment Processor vs Payment Gateway vs PSPArchitecture↗UKUK Merchant Account vs Payment GatewayArchitecture↗