Your essential first step to taking card payments – and we'll help you get set up free of charge.
A merchant account is an account held with an acquiring bank or merchant acquirer (that's us) that you need in order to take card payments from your customers. It’s not the same as a business bank account, as no money is kept there – it's just an account you hold specifically to take card payments. If you’re new to this, don’t worry, we’ll set up everything you need at no extra cost.
A lot of things happen in the few seconds it takes for your customer to tap or swipe their card and for your card machine to confirm their payment. Here’s what goes on behind the scenes.
Your card machine reads their card details and sends it to your merchant account together with the payment details.
Your merchant account checks with your customer’s bank to make sure there’s enough money to cover the payment.
Once the payment has cleared, the merchant account transfers it to your bank account – which takes 3 to 5 days.
Our friendly team can explain what you need then set things up for free.
Depends what you’re doing really. If you’re taking card payments with a card machine, you’ll need one for each location you’re taking payments – but you can have multiple card machines at each site.
For online payments it’s a bit different. You’ll need an merchant account for online payments (even if you already have one for a physical shop) and you’ll need a different one if you want to accept payments by email or phone, or both.
But don’t get hung up on the numbers. We’ll look at your whole business, figure out the
best and most efficient solution for you, explain it, agree it with you, and set it all
up for nothing. We’re nice like that.
1. One shop and one card machine = one account
2. One shop and five card machines = one account
3. Three shops and three card machines = three accounts
4. Online shop = one account (even if you also have one for a physical shop)
5. Phone or email payments = one account
Card machines to help customers pay:
Plus heaps of extras at no extra cost
Learn about card machines
Give your customers more ways to pay:
Plus heaps of extras at no extra cost
Learn about remote paymentsCard transactions seem simple, but are actually pretty complex. That’s where a merchant account comes in. It’s different to a business bank account or personal bank account (if you're a sole trader) and if you want to accept card payments, you have to have both. The merchant account acts a bit like a middleman between you and your customers. When they make a payment, it checks there’s enough funds in their account, takes the money, holds it while the process completes, then drops it into your bank account 3-5 business days later. Get in.
Here’s why more than 70,000 small business owners like you use Paymentsense.
With no set up costs, low monthly rental and transaction rates based on how much you take in card payments, we could save you money.
From easy online sign up to 3 day set up, even our chip and PIN machines are quick. When you receive your kit just plug it in and you’re off.
Our award-winning tech support team is available 24/7. They’re a friendly bunch whose mission is to make things easy for you.
Integrated payments lets your card machine and till talk to each other for faster cashing up. And we include it in the price.