One of the main reasons why small business owners use merchant account services to process online transactions is convenience and security. Furthermore, merchant processing services provides business owners the ability to avoid certain paperwork issues. Online sales continue to increase as the retail industry is experiencing big changes in how consumers buy products and services. Did you know almost 1.25 billion dollars spent on Cyber Monday in 2011 accounted for 12 percent of all sales during the month of November? As you can see, the retail industry is undergoing changes, and the internet is making a huge impact on how retailers generate income. Therefore, services for credit card processing online are increasing in demand.

If you are looking for the right services for credit card processing online, you need to do your homework. There are different types of merchant accounts and online payment systems available for online business owners. Payment processing companies offer certain levels of security, such as level three processing. If you are going to deal with government credit card processing online, you need level 3 processing services for security. Any government or corporate issued cards must undergo level three processing to secure the information transmitted from one company to another.

While looking for your options for credit card processing online, you will most likely come across software as a service (SaaS). Software as a service is usually a part of online payment processing. There are two forms of transactions that take place online. First, there are business to business transactions, which require a specific type of service for credit card processing online. Second, there are business to consumer transactions that also require certain services for processing payments online. Ecommerce is a term usually used to refer to business to business transactions. Online shopping mainly involves business to consumer transactions.