The Best Merchant Services
Learn more about the best merchant services with a list of rankings and average customer reviews. Includes frequently asked questions.
Updated on December 21st, 2023
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Merchant services are financial services that are intended for use by businesses. More specifically, merchant services allow businesses to accept payments from their customers via credit or debit cards through a secure payment gateway or terminal.
Read More:
Best Credit Card Processing Companies - Find the best companies for processing debit and credit card payments.
Online Credit Card Processing - Discover the best companies that will help you with accepting payments through your business website.
How to Accept Payments Online - Learn more about accepting payments online.
Our Pick
Square
Credit Card Processor, Merchant Services, and POS System
Sign Up FreeUsed by more than 2 million businesses.
Robust reporting.
Custom invoices.
Why We Chose Square:
Square offers many key features, such as search-based point-of-sale software, inventory management, and sales analytics. Square's payment processing offers a variety of options, including in-person, on a mobile device, via invoice, on your computer, and on your website.
Square assists business owners to quickly and securely accept credit card payments with no hidden fees or long-term contracts. They offer a 2-step verification system to keep your customers' data secure. Square also features a 24/7 support and knowledge center.
Square has clear and consistent rates which are the same for every type of card. They also do not charge start-up, refund, statement, and PCI compliance fees.
Square is a simple platform that is easy to use and is PCI-compliant for data security. Square also offers a free, easy-to-use POS app.
Things to Consider When Evaluating Merchant Services:
- Your chosen merchant service should have a proven track record, so check online reviews, BBB reports, and ask colleagues for recommendations.
- Carefully review the merchant service's rates for hidden fees or sudden increases after a short period of time.
- Think about your company's needs and future outlook and make sure your chosen service offers all the necessary features as well as flexibility for future growth.
Best Merchant Services:
Rank | Name | Offer | Review | Learn More |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | Free and paid options. | Easy to use with simple inventory management. However, it tends to lag when overused and is considered the more costly option. | ||
2. | From $99.00 /mo. | Offers excellent customer support service and is easy to use but lacks hourly billing features. | ||
3. | Contact for quote. | Offers quick mobile payment processing, good rates, and the platform accepts most credit cards. | ||
4. | From 2.9% + 30ยข /transaction. | Offers a flat rate and good reporting capabilities but does not accept PayPal payments. | ||
5. | From $79.00 /mo. | Offers helpful, easy-to-use features and a good support team, but the platform only permits one computer terminal per credit card processing machine. | ||
6. | From 1.93% + $0.8 /transaction. | An easy-to-use system that has a good support team, but it lacks hourly billing tools. | ||
7. | From 1.9% + $0.10 /transaction. | A well-established company with a wide range of services but has higher fees than its competitors. | ||
8. | From 0.4% + $0.10 /transaction + $10.00 /mo. | Integrates well with QuickBooks and has a great virtual terminal but lacks live chat support. | ||
9. | Contact for quote. | Offers free account setup but a complicated fee structure. |
FAQs:
What is the price range for merchant services?
Typically, merchant services charge between 2% and 3% per transaction. Some services also charge a flat monthly fee.
Do I need to buy card processing hardware from my merchant service provider?
Most credit card processing merchant services sell card readers that are compatible with their proprietary payment gateway. Sometimes these card readers are included in your monthly fee, but in some cases, you have to purchase them outright.
What is the main advantage of merchant payment processing?
Without merchant card services, your business will be limited to cash transactions. Most people don't carry cash these days, so if you can't accept card payments you will likely miss many sales opportunities.
What are the best merchant services for small businesses?
Do merchant account services come with customer support?
Yes. Usually, you are assigned a merchant service account representative once your business signs up for merchant card processing. There may also be a general customer support line for you to call if you are experiencing an issue with payments.
What are online merchant services?
Online merchant services are credit card merchant services for businesses that operate online stores. With an online service, your business can accept credit card payments over the internet through a secure gateway.
Who offers the cheapest merchant credit card processing services?
Payline Data has some of the lowest credit card merchant fees on the market. With a Payline Data account, there is a starting monthly fee of just $10.00 and retail transactions are charged 0.4% + $0.10 per transaction.