Giving your customers an option to pay with a credit card for your products and services, in addition to paying with cash, checks, and money orders, will substantially increase your revenue. This is true whether you sell high, middle, or low-end items.

Today's economy offers you many opportunities to establish a merchant account. Here's a list of where to pursue processing.

• Traditional banks. Start with the bank where you've established a business checking account.
  
  If your bank does not provide this service through an affiliated merchant provider, it may be wise to move your business account to a bank that does.

• PayPal. This service is not a bona fide merchant account. However, it's a practical method many business owners use to collect payments.

• Warehouse memberships. Costco, Sam's Club, and BJ's all offer their members merchant processing plans.
  
  Each Web sites contains details, and you can visit the customer service counter at their locations for more information.

These are the most-common choices. Unfortunately, some merchant account sources outside of the ones mentioned above cost substantially more to operate or have questionable business practices.

Ask colleagues about their experiences and recommendations before apply for an account Then get ready to reap the rewards of merchant account status.

 

The following page contains a three-step process for establishing a bank-based merchant account. This tutorial is based on the steps I took to open a merchant account with my bank. The process will be similar for you, no matter where you live in the United States.