Any merchant with revenue over $100,000 per year generally has a dedicated merchant account. Shared merchant accounts are provided by aggregators, also known as 3rd party processors or payment facilitators (payfacs). Each merchant account may have thousands of businesses.
Your business needs a merchant account to accept credit and debit cards in person and online. A payment processor can set up your merchant account. Learn how your small business can get one. When researching credit card processor services, consider fees, hardware support, customer support and contract length.