merchant fees definition
Definition: A merchant account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments by debit or credit cards. So a merchant account is an agreement between a retailer, a merchant bank and payment processor for the settlement of credit card and/or debit card transactions.f you already have a merchant account, you'll probably notice that another difference between the two is the fees; typically, the Internet merchant account fees are higher because of the assumed higher risks of online payment (as opposed to a face-to-face credit card or debit card transaction).