Aside from being able to collect money on credit and debit card purchases, a merchant account includes some other useful tools. Consider that many people today are doing business online. While this does not require a card reader, it does require access to the over arching banking networks. Typically this service is included free of charge with most merchant accounts.

Total Merchant Services also offer solutions for times when someone pays you with stolen funds. Even though every bank account has some type of FDIC protection, managing charge backs can be time consuming and difficult. In some cases, it can take up to two months to resolve a single transaction.

Together with this, merchant services vendors have advanced transaction analysis tools at their disposal. Among other things, these systems can spot some fraudulent transactions before your business is ever affected by them. While you may be disappointed to see a hold on a new deposit, or an outright failure, consider how much worse it would be if you actually shipped or dispensed the product in question.

Finally, when you upgrade your bank account with merchant services, you might receive some kind of reward from the vendor. This can include anything from discounts on the monthly equipment fees, monthly waiver of a limited number of transaction fees, and many other bonuses. If you sign on through your local bank, you may even receive free merchandise, or credit towards novelty items. Even though including merchant services in your business operations may seem like a big step, it is a vital one. You may even find some rewards that you had not thought would be available to you.