BluePay Blog

Cash used to be king, but today’s consumers prefer to pay with credit, debit, or even alternative payment methods, like Apple Pay. Offering your customers more ways to pay can help increase your sales and generate customer loyalty.

Topics: Merchant Accounts, Getting Started with Payments, Payment Technology

There are three essential components you need to bring together to accept credit cards:  A merchant account. This is essentially a bank account that allows you to accept incoming credit card payments.  A payment processor. This term is used interchangeably with merchant account provider. When you apply for an account to accept payments, your provider will set you up with an acquiring bank and the connections to authorize and settle transactions into your bank account of choice. A payment gateway. This is the tool that captures credit card data before sending it to your processor. Think of it as an “online” credit card terminal. 

Topics: Merchant Accounts, Getting Started with Payments, Small Business Tips, Enterprise Business Tips, E-Commerce and Online Payments, Payment Technology

Roughly 80 percent of American shoppers cite plastic as their preferred payment method. The simple act of hanging credit card logos on your store window or embedding them on your website can help attract more traffic. It’s clear that accepting credit cards can be a great way to boost sales. However, credit card acceptance carries a number of merchant fees. Paid entirely by you (the retailer), these charges are designed to cover payment processing costs such as: 

Topics: Merchant Accounts, Getting Started with Payments, Small Business Tips

When you launch a new business, you can usually get away with accepting cash and checks. You might even consider accepting PayPal or Apple Pay if you sell products and services online. 

Topics: Awareness, Merchant Accounts, Getting Started with Payments

Choosing a merchant processor for your business isn't easy. There are so many providers out there that it’s sometimes hard to know exactly where to start.  Many businesses focus on fees, which makes sense. Since each transaction costs money, it's only natural that you’d try to reduce processing fees as much as possible. However, merchant fees don't simply vary across providers. They also change depending on the size and nature of your business. For example, larger companies often qualify for lower fees than do smaller ones.

Topics: Getting Started with Payments, Awareness, Merchant Accounts

Credit Card Interchange Fees Explained The interchange fee is what your Any merchant that begins accepting credit cards can expect to pay a range of processing-related charges. For most businesses, however, the wholesale or “interchange fee” represents the lion’s share of those expenses.

Topics: Merchant Accounts

Nearly every type of business – from big box retailers to Etsy sellers, and from trade show vendors to antique dealers – needs to accept credit card payments to survive. And more and more of those businesses are accepting payment online. If your business already accepts credit cards, you’re likely familiar with merchant accounts. But if you’re new to e-commerce, you’re probably learning about payment gateways.What’s the difference between the two? And what are the advantages and disadvantages of merchant accounts versus payment gateways?

Topics: Awareness, Merchant Accounts, Getting Started with Payments, Small Business Tips, Payment Technology, E-Commerce and Online Payments