So what is traditionally involved?
Traditionally in a high street shop, to be allowed to accept credit cards you must be granted Merchant Status by a major bank and obtain a Merchant ID (also known as a MID) from them.
The merchant account (MID) verifies credit card and customer information. This includes checking to see if the details supplied are correct (address, card number etc.) and if the card has been reported stolen, or has enough funds. There are obviously costs involved - typically the bank will include setup charges, monthly or annual fees, monthly charge for a terminal for you to process card details over the phone. You will also be charged a percentage of each transaction which they process, you may have a minimum monthly volume of business imposed, and in some cases you will have to provide a substantial bond or deposit as extra security.
To accept payments through your website or using a virtual terminal, you must also have a secure payment gateway.
A payment gateway is separate and acts as an intermediary between your website and all the banking systems. This is a seamless process and your customer does not interact with the gateway. The credit card and customer details are submitted via the gateway, which securely sends the information through the relevant financial networks to the merchant account.
APPLY HERE - for your merchant account and gateway