Accepting Payments without a Merchant Account

There is an increasing popularity in the concept to accept electronic payments without a merchant account. However, there are two distinct sides to this issue. There is always improvement in the technology that runs the electronic payment industry, but there is strict adherence to the requirements of merchants who would like to take payments electronically.

“Know your customer” is the basis from which all service providers must operate. Why is this important? This is because when you get a merchant account it comes with a variety of risk categories, such as customer fraud, chargebacks, merchant fraud, etc. The service provider, who offers the service of taking payments electronically as a merchant or other similar entity, takes on the financial liability of your business. For this reason, there is no way to get around background verifications.

Say you have an account with PayPal, you can receive payment inside the PayPal network. However, you also want to accept credit card payments. You now have to go for a higher-level account. The process requires you to have a background verification done that is similar to a merchant.

SumUp and myPOS are great services where you can accept credit cards online smoothly and seamlessly. The funding is virtually instantaneous. Advanced technologies like NFC are supported on their terminals. Vigorous background verification is still required before you can use their services.
Say you are in the US for example; you might have to give your tax ID, SSN along with some type of solvency guarantee. Are you located in a high-risk geographical location? Is your industry considered high-risk? An answer of yes to either of these questions will make it difficult to get a merchant account or other similar kind of account.

You will notice the irony in the situation. People who don’t want a regular merchant account are equally reluctant to have the required background verification done. However, if there are no problems with your background, the process is quick and smooth. This is great if you are looking to open a regular merchant account, a premium account with PayPal or if you want to register with SumUp or myPOS.

We wish you all the best with any projects you are pursuing!