What is a merchant account ?


A merchant account is a type of bank facility that allows any qualifying business to accept payments, from customers, via their debit or credit cards.

It is a processing facility offered by an acquiring bank, governed by an agreement between the business (or merchant), a merchant bank and payment processor for the settlement of credit card and/or debit card transactions.


Peach payments works with various acquirers to be able to offer online businesses, merchant accounts for card processing, settlement and reconciliation. Ultimately an acquiring bank, will decide which payment gateways they want to work with. We have open projects with the major acquiring banks in the countries we operate in, to offer merchant accounts to enable you accept card payments. Each acquirer also has its requirements, capabilities and processes, that you would need to be aware of, to get set up. We'll always set you up with the best option, based on what is best for your business, once we've understood what you need.

Remember you can receive funds into a business current bank account at whichever bank you decide. A merchant account is only an agreement to accept card payments. You do not need to have a merchant account at the same bank that you have your business account. Eg. you can still have a Standard Bank business account, but process your payments through a Nedbank merchant account.


 


Available merchant account options with Peach


  • ABSA merchant account
  • Nedbank merchant account
  • Peach aggregation account (ABSA acquiring)
  • Multi-currency ABSA merchant account (Planet payments)
  • Mauritius merchant account (Mauritius Commercial Bank - MCB acquiring)


 


Differences between merchant accounts


When choosing a merchant account, the main features to look out for to make sure you have a merchant account solution that works for your business model, are :

  • Frequency of settlement
  • Stage at which your business is (eg. startup, mature business, etc)
  • Lead time to get setup
  • Payment brands that your customers' can pay with (eg. VISA, MASTERCARD, etc)

Here is a comparison of the two main merchant accounts for local ZAR processing.
Remember that you can still accept payments from foreign cards, with your local ZAR merchant account.

This article gives you more information on our foreign currency merchant account