Merchant account
The acquiring account through which a seller accepts card payments before the proceeds are paid out to its regular bank account.
See it
What it is
Card sales do not land directly in your ordinary bank account. They pass through a merchant account tied to your identity, risk profile, pricing, and card acceptance activity before the proceeds are paid out.
You need this relationship to accept cards, but you may not need a standalone account. Payment service providers often aggregate smaller sellers under their acquiring setup and expose a simpler connected or sub-merchant account instead.
Gotcha: it is not a normal checking account and an approved card payment is not instantly withdrawable cash. Settlement timing, rolling reserves, refunds, disputes, fees, and provider holds can all change the amount and date of the final payout.
Ask AI for it
Model Stripe Connect Accounts separately from external payout bank accounts. Store the Stripe account id, legal entity, supported currencies and capabilities, fee schedule, reserve terms, and payout destination. Use the Stripe Balance, Balance Transactions, and Payouts APIs to reconcile gross card settlements, fees, refunds, disputes, reserves, and net payouts without treating the pending balance as immediately available cash.