Merchant Services for Canadian Businesses

A merchant services account is what allows a business to accept card payments and receive the money in its bank account. It covers more than the terminal on the counter: the account, the hardware, the online checkout and the ongoing support all have to work together.

• Credit card processing for Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover
• Interac debit acceptance, which most Canadian customers expect alongside credit
• Contactless tap payments and mobile wallets including Apple Pay and Google Pay
• PAX smart terminals at the counter, carried to the table, or used on the road
• Online checkout integration so a website or online store can take payments
• Virtual terminal for phone and email orders that are keyed in manually
• Statements and reporting that show what you processed and what each fee was
• Support in English and in French

Because these pieces come from one provider, there is one statement, one point of contact and one place to go when a terminal needs replacing or a rate needs explaining. That is the practical difference between merchant services and buying a card reader on its own.

Setting up a merchant account starts with your current processing costs, because the only way to know whether a switch is worth it is to compare real numbers on a real statement.

1. 1Send your most recent processing statement. It is reviewed line by line to identify what you are actually paying, including the fees that are usually buried.
2. 2You receive a savings comparison and a rate quoted in writing, so the offer can be checked against your current statement before anything changes.
3. 3The merchant account is opened and approved under your business name.
4. 4Hardware is provisioned, or an online checkout or virtual terminal is configured for the way you take payments.
5. 5A test transaction is run before going live, then your first statement is reviewed the same way.

Nothing is signed before the numbers are clear. If the comparison does not show a saving, there is no reason to move.

Tap2Pay serves small and medium-sized Canadian businesses that want to know what they are paying and to reach a person when something needs fixing. Typical merchants include:

• Restaurants, cafés and food service businesses that need terminals at the counter and at the table
• Retail shops and boutiques with card, tap and mobile wallet payments
• Salons, spas and clinics that take payment at the chair or in the treatment room
• Professional offices such as accountants, lawyers and consultants
• Trades and service businesses that take payment on site
• Online-first businesses that also want a virtual terminal for phone orders

A single-location shop and a multi-site business are set up the same way: an account, the right terminal for each location, and a statement that shows which location processed what.

• Interac debit support, not just credit cards. Debit is a large share of in-person payments in Canada and customers notice when it is missing.
• Settlement in Canadian dollars into a Canadian business bank account.
• Security that meets PCI-DSS requirements, with terminals that are certified for card data protection.
• Bilingual service that can answer a Quebec merchant in French.
• Pricing that can be read. Interchange-plus pricing shows the card network cost and the provider markup separately instead of burying them in one blended rate.

Canadian merchants also carry responsibilities of their own: keeping terminals secure and updated, training staff on card handling, and reconciling deposits against sales. A provider that answers questions quickly makes those tasks easier.

The relationship does not end at go-live. Tap2Pay’s support continues in both languages and covers the situations that interrupt a business day.

• Questions about a statement, a fee or a deposit that does not look right
• Terminal problems, including replacement when a device stops working
• Adding a terminal, a location or an online checkout as the business grows
• Understanding what a chargeback is and what information answers it

For most merchants, the fastest way to get a useful answer is to have the statement or the terminal number on hand when the call or message starts.