What is a merchant account?

Every payment made with a credit card involves the transfer of funds to a merchant account, which a merchant (that is you) holds directly with a bank. The merchant has full responsibility for the transactions that occur with their account, and each bank has its own terms of service to which account‐holders must adhere. If you want to accept credit card payments through your Shopify store, you will need either a merchant account of your own or the services of a third‐party payment processor like PayPal.