• Business Planning
  • September 18, 2020

Choose the Best Merchant Solution in the UAE

A business needs to accept different payment types to make it easy for customers. Thankfully, there are a range of options or 'merchant services' available for SMEs in the UAE that are affordable, simple and easy to get started.


The term "merchant services" is broad term for services provided by banks that enable a business to accept electronic payments using a debit or credit card via countertop (terminal) to be used in a store, over the phone, app, website, ecommerce store, social media or at the customer's home or at a venue.


You may wonder why a merchant solution - why not just cash? The security issues related to cash handling are avoided. Studies have shown that customers tend to make higher purchases or engage in impulsive buying while using the card than cash, thus more sales and higher profits. It also increases customer loyalty to the merchant and makes it easy to run promotions, give discounts or marketing campaigns. 


Many merchant solutions are increasing offering instalments, payment on delivery, giving your customers more incentives. Whether you trade-in retail, run a hotel or restaurant, accept phone order payments, have a kiosk, vending machine, deal with travelers, overseas customers, or manage an e-commerce store or do home/office delivery of goods or services, organize events, sell tickets or do onsite work - helping your customers pay anytime, anywhere from any device in their currency can only help your business.


To offer this service, the SME must first have a merchant account - a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments by debit or credit cards from Visa, MasterCard, and American to name a few, issued by a bank. It's like an agreement between a retailer, merchant bank and the payment processor.


It includes payment gateway access, countertop or mobile device and ancillary services to capture the transaction, process funds and settlement with all parties. Besides, such merchant accounts enable companies to track their transactions in real time and makes reconciliation easier by providing regular statements. 


As online payments become popular, many are offering easy ways to accept payments online such as gateways, shopping carts and integrations with their e-commerce store, blog, electronic invoices, social media channels, apps or mobile.


RAKBANK offers RAKBANKpay Cards Merchant Payments Solutions, which is UAE's the fastest growing merchant service provider. 


Built for SMEs, it offers flexibility and range of options so your customers can quickly pay online or at the point of sale (POS) using Visa, Mastercard and Maestro or mobile wallets, NFC, Apple Pay and Samsung Pay from their smartphone.


No matter the type of business, opening a merchant account will imply submitting various documents with the bank providing the services. Thankfully, this is a one-time and takes only a few working days with RAKBANK. 


Companies also have the option of linking their merchant accounts to their corporate or SME bank account and simplify the reconciliation process.


Before selecting the merchant service, you need to factor and budget the below. Some are one-time, rest are fixed operating costs and variable, i.e. based on the volume of transactions. Shop and compare when looking for a merchant account. 
 

1. Application & one-time setup fees
2. Monthly fees
3. Per transaction fees (varies between 2 to 3% based on the volume)
4. Cross-border or currency conversion fees
5. Rental prices for a credit card terminal or devices 
6. Your fixed and operating costs with 5% VAT. 



To avail, RAKBANK's Merchant Payments Solutions contact your Relationship Manager today or write to [email protected]


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