There are a seemingly infinite number of choices and solutions to enabling a Web site for ecommerce (i.e. taking credit card and other online payments). Choices range from totally "do it yourself" ecommerce options to turnkey packages.
Ecommerce Web sites can be designed to accept payments in one of two ways:
Solution 1: Take online payments via your own Internet merchant account.
Solution 2: Accept credit cards online through a third party payment processor.
Articles on the site explain in more detail.
Category: Articles (Merchant Accounts)
Internet Merchant Account: Online Payment System For Credit Card Processing
An Internet Merchant Account is an account through an acquiring bank (or acquirer) that lets you accept payments online. The article explains merchant accounts in detail.
Introduction
Typically, Internet merchant accounts are provided through an acquiring bank (or acquirer) that lets you accept credit cards, and sometimes other types of payments, online. As is the case with any business decision, there are advantages and disadvantages to online payment systems and other types of credit card processors.
In general, advantages tend to revolve around having direct control of the payment processing system. Disadvantages tend to revolve around mechanics, security, and logistics of being responsible for the entire payment process.
Category: Articles (Merchant Accounts)
In accountancy, an account is a label used for recording and reporting a quantity of almost anything. Most often it is a record of an amount of money owned or owed by or to a particular person or entity, or allocated to a particular purpose. It may represent amounts of money that have actually changed hands, or it may represent an estimate of the values of assets, or it may be a combination of these.
Types of accounts
Asset accounts: represent the different types of economic resources owned by a business, common examples of Asset accounts are cash, cash in bank, building, inventory, prepaid rent, goodwill, accounts receivable.
Liability accounts: represent the different types of economic obligations by a business, such as accounts payable, bank loan, bonds payable, accrued interest.
Equity accounts: represent the residual equity of a business (after deducting from Assets all the liabilities) including Retained Earnings and Appropriations.
Revenue or income accounts: represent the company's gross earnings and common examples include Sales, Service revenue and Interest Income.
Expense accounts: represent the company's expenditures to enable itself to operate. Common examples are electricity and water, rentals, depreciation, doubtful accounts, interest, insurance.
Contra-accounts: from the term contra, meaning to deduct, the value of which are opposite the 5 above mentioned types of accounts. For instance, a contra-asset account is Accumulated depreciation. This label represent deductions to a relatively permanent asset like Building.
Account represents financial and non-financial transactions of a firm, to know the total outcome of the investment made by investors.
