A merchant account is a special account type which differs from a usual bank account. Its sole purpose is to accept credit card payments. Opening a merchant account requires making a contract with the credit card network providers. Authorized card payments on the store are transferred to the merchant account. Then, as a merchant we can transfer the amount from merchant account to bank account (checking account).

Since opening a merchant account can be a tiresome process for most businesses and individuals, there are various online businesses which can provide this functionality. We will learn about them in the next section.