You’re not alone if you thought a merchant services provider and a credit card processor were the same thing.
Key Takeaways:
- Merchant services allow businesses to accept and process payments electronically.
- Payment processing is a series of steps required to authenticate and approve a transaction. It involves moving funds from a cardholder’s account to your account via a complex, safeguarded internal process.
- If your business accepts modern electronic payment options, you will eventually need a merchant services provider and a payment processor.
Many people outside the payments industry assume that the same company provides these services. While this can be true, it is not always true. At their core, the respective concepts of merchant services and credit card processing, while related, are fundamentally different.
This article will help you understand the key differences between merchant services and payment processing and help you choose the right partner for your needs. Read on to learn more!
What are Merchant Services?
A broad definition of merchant services includes the services a business utilizes to accept and process payments electronically.
In today’s market, there are numerous ways for business owners to do this, which renders the term “merchant services” somewhat broad. In this context, merchant services could refer to anything from full-scale point of sale solutions to online payment gateways, mobile payment acceptance tools, and more.
A merchant services provider is the company that provides the hardware and software involved with accepting and processing payments. In a practical sense, they help get your company up and running. This provider works directly with your business to supply the payment acceptance tools you need and support for those systems.
What is Payment Processing?
Payment processing involves the steps required to authenticate and approve a transaction, followed by the steps that move funds from a cardholder’s account to yours.
Did you know…
Any transaction that does not involve payment in cash or a check needs to be processed. If you want to give your customers the option to pay with a credit or debit card, electronic check, or mobile wallet, you must ultimately partner with a payment processor.
Your payment processor (also commonly called a credit card processor) will manage the transaction process by transmitting information from your customer’s credit card to their bank and then to yours.
If your customer has sufficient funds in their account, the transaction will be approved, and your processor will send you the payment. Your processor also monitors and handles credit card fund limits, security, and validity issues.
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Should I Partner with a Merchant Services Provider or Payment Processor?
To securely accept modern electronic payment options, you need to partner with a merchant services provider and payment processor. You can also keep things simple by partnering with one company that provides both services.
Kurv is a trailblazing provider of both payment processing and merchant services. We live for serving and supporting all types of businesses with reliable payment acceptance solutions.
Our customers love working with us because of our commitment to data security, innovation, and high-quality, around-the-clock customer support. When you partner with a company like Kurv, you get the best of both financial worlds. Your partner will work to help you accept payments and grow your business.
Here are five advantages of partnering with a merchant services/payment processing provider like Kurv:
1. Better Rates & Clear Pricing Structure
- When you trust one company for all your payment acceptance needs, that company should work hard to keep your business.
- At Kurv, we offer the lowest rates and fees possible to help your brand maintain profitability, even when business is slow.
- At Kurv, we also don’t believe in unwelcome surprises. Complete financial transparency is the cornerstone of our ethos. You can trust that we will always provide you with an accurate and easy-to-understand monthly statement. At Kurv, we build together.
2. Industry Expertise
- A company that provides merchant services and payment processing must have a comprehensive and informed knowledge of the payments industry.
- The Kurv team knows how confusing payments can be. That’s why we monitor growing payment trends closely and seek solutions to better assist our merchants.
- For example, when contactless payment options like mobile wallets (Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.) started building momentum, we provided terminals equipped with NFC technology.
3. PCI Compliance Assistance
- Data security should always be a top priority when using electronic payment acceptance methods.
- There is an entire entity for payment security standards, the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC).
- As a business accepting credit card payments, you must always maintain compliance with the PCI SSC. The right merchant services/payment processing provider will assist you with this process.
- Should you breach PCI compliance, you risk facing liabilities such as:
- Diminished sales
- Fines and penalties
- Fraud losses
- Legal costs, settlements, and judgments
- Loss of customer confidence/trust
- Merchant account termination
4. Security & Suspicious Transaction Monitoring
- “Security” is a big word in the payments industry. You’ll want someone to keep an eye on your account and flag any potentially fraudulent or suspicious activity.
- In this scenario, you get more than a service provider: you’re choosing one company to handle your merchant services and payment processing.
5. Support When You Need It
- Your merchant services and/or payment processing provider should offer reliable, attentive customer service. Learn how to handle a chargeback, or how to best deal with the ins and outs of ACHs.
- You’ll need high-quality customer support and quick, responsive assistance for your business’s front and back end. Be prepared!
Should you partner with a merchant services provider or payment processor?
Ultimately, the answer is up to you. You should choose whichever combination best suits your business and your customers.
At Kurv, we believe partnering with a company that provides merchant services and payment processing has incredible profit-boosting and business growth advantages. Kurv offers payment method solutions and ample support, creating a simple and seamless payment experience for your valued customers. We empower companies with mobile processing, web commerce, and POS Solutions.
Why wait? Get started and stay ahead of the Kurv today.
