# How to accept credit card payments

> To accept credit card payments, sign up with a payment provider that bundles the merchant account and processing, verify your business with your EIN, ID and bank details, then take payments through an online checkout, payment links, invoices or in person. Providers charge a percentage plus a fixed fee per payment.

Source: https://anytime-capital.com/learn/payments/how-to-accept-credit-card-payments · Topic: Accepting payments · Updated: 2026-10-29 · Publisher: Anytime Capital

## Key facts

- **Approval:** Same day — Most complete Anytime Capital applications
- **Authorization:** Seconds — Approved or declined at checkout
- **Online rate:** 2.9% + 30¢ — Stripe's published US rate, Oct 2026
- **In person:** 2.6% + 15¢ — Square Free plan, published Oct 2026
- **Standard payout:** 1–3 days — Business days at most providers, 2026
- **Dispute window:** 120 days — Most Visa and Mastercard reasons
- **PCI questionnaire:** SAQ A — With hosted checkout or payment links
- **Monthly fees:** None — No monthly, setup or PCI fees with us

Taking cards used to mean a bank appointment, a merchant account application, a separate gateway and a rented terminal. Today most small businesses sign up online with one provider and take their first payment the same week. This guide covers what you need, which setup fits, the channels customers pay through, what it really costs, and how the money reaches you.

Learning how to accept credit card payments well comes down to four decisions: who holds the merchant relationship, which channels you turn on, which pricing model you pay under, and how quickly the money has to reach your bank. Each section below takes one of them, with published rates from October 2026 and the setup steps in the order that avoids the usual stalls.

## What do you need before you can accept cards?

Every card provider is required to verify who it is paying out to. This is know-your-business (KYB) verification, the business version of the ID check a bank runs, and it is the step that decides how fast you can start. The documents are the same almost everywhere.

How long the review takes is mostly a question of how the provider staffs it. At Anytime Capital, creating a business account takes a couple of minutes, and most applications with complete documents are approved the same day.

Two details save the most back-and-forth. The legal name, EIN and address on the application should match your formation documents and your IRS letter exactly, and the website or listing you give should show what you sell, your prices and a refund policy. A mismatch between those is a common reason an application is sent back for more information.

- Your legal business name, address and formation documents (sole proprietors can usually use their own name)
- An EIN, or your Social Security number if you are a sole proprietor
- Government ID for each owner of 25% or more, plus a controlling officer
- A short description of what you sell, how, and roughly how much a month
- A bank account in the business's name for payouts

## Should you get a merchant account or an all-in-one provider?

There are two ways to be set up. The traditional route is your own merchant account with an acquiring bank, usually arranged through a processor or sales agent, plus a separate payment gateway for online sales. Underwriting takes longer, pricing is often interchange-plus with monthly fees, and there may be a contract.

The route most small businesses take now is an all-in-one provider. Stripe, Square and PayPal work this way: the provider holds the merchant relationship and you sign up as one of its businesses, with checkout, processing and payouts in one account and a flat published rate. Our guide to payment gateways and processors explains who does what behind the scenes.

**Two ways to start accepting cards**

|   | Your own merchant account | All-in-one provider |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Sign-up | Application and underwriting, often days to weeks | Online, often approved the same day |
| Pricing | Usually interchange-plus, often with monthly or PCI fees | Usually one flat rate per payment |
| Gateway | Bought separately for online sales | Included |
| Contract | Often a term, sometimes an early-termination fee | Usually none |
| Best for | High-volume businesses that can negotiate | Most small and growing businesses |

## Which card setup fits the way you sell?

Start from where the customer is when they pay, not from a feature list. A shop counter, a client's front door, an online store and a finance team paying a $12,000 invoice each want a different channel, and most businesses need two or three of them rather than all six.

The right column matters as much as the middle one. Each way of selling has one cost or risk that catches new businesses out, and it is cheaper to plan for it before the first payment than to fix it after the first dispute.

**Where to start, by how you sell**

| How you sell | Channels to start with | Watch for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| At a counter or shop | In-person payments, with a terminal if the queue is long | Hardware cost, and in-person rates versus online ones |
| On site or on the road (trades, cleaning, repairs) | In-person QR or tap to pay; invoices for larger jobs | Deposits before you buy parts or materials |
| Online store | Hosted or embedded checkout | International-card and currency-conversion fees |
| Appointments and bookings | Payment links for deposits, then a final charge | Cancellation and no-show terms the customer accepts |
| Business-to-business work | Invoices that take card and ACH | Card fees on large invoices; make ACH the easy option |
| Memberships and retainers | Subscriptions with a customer billing page | Expired cards and failed renewals |

## Which ways can customers pay you?

Decide how customers will actually pay before you pick a provider, because providers differ most on the channels, not the card brands. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover are accepted by every mainstream provider.

With Anytime Capital Payments, every checkout, link, invoice and subscription takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diners Club, UnionPay and Maestro, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. Payment links and invoices also take ACH bank debit, and USDC and USDT can be requested to your wallet.

- Online checkout: a hosted page or an embedded form on your own site, for ecommerce and bookings
- Payment links: a link you send by text, email or DM, or print as a QR code, with no website needed
- Invoices: a bill the customer pays online, with reminders, deposits and partial payments
- In person: a card terminal, tap to pay on a phone, or a QR code the customer scans and pays on their own phone
- Subscriptions: recurring charges for memberships, retainers and software
- Keyed-in or phone orders: typed card numbers, which usually carry a higher rate

![Anytime Capital checkout for a $175 fall mini session at Golden Hour Photography](https://anytime-capital.com/payments/industries/photographers/mini-session-checkout.webp)

_Anytime Capital product view, sample data: a payment link's checkout as the customer sees it, under Anytime Capital's secure-checkout line, with the business's own name, the item, the price and who to contact with questions._

## Do you need a card terminal?

Only if you take a steady stream of payments at a counter. A card that is tapped or inserted into a reader is a card-present payment, which carries lower interchange and lower published rates than an online one: Square's Free plan, for example, is 2.6% + 15¢ in person against 3.3% + 30¢ online (October 2026). Hardware is the trade. Square lists its contactless and chip reader at $59 and Square Terminal at $299, or $27 a month for 12 months, and also offers Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android with no reader at all (published US prices, October 2026).

Anytime Capital Payments takes a different route, with nothing to buy or rent. You key in an amount in the dashboard and show a QR code, and the customer scans it and pays with Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card on their own phone. That suits service businesses, markets, deliveries and anywhere a terminal would sit idle most of the day; a busy counter with a queue is still better served by a dedicated terminal from a provider that sells them.

**Ways to take a card in person**

| Option | What you need | Best for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Countertop or smart terminal | A terminal, bought or leased, and often a point-of-sale plan | Busy counters, restaurants and retail |
| Mobile card reader | A small reader paired with a phone or tablet | Markets, pop-ups and mobile services |
| Tap to pay on a phone | A compatible phone and the provider's app | Occasional in-person sales |
| QR code, paid on the customer's phone | Any phone or tablet to show the code | Service businesses and on-site work, with no hardware |

_Hardware prices are Square's published US prices as of October 2026; other providers price their readers and terminals differently._

![Checkout tools in the Anytime Capital dashboard: a Pay button and its HTML for any website, and an in-person QR keypad](https://anytime-capital.com/product-shots/checkout-tools.webp)

_Anytime Capital product view, sample data: Checkout tools, with a Pay button and its HTML for any website on the left and the in-person keypad on the right. Key in the amount, show the code, and the customer pays on their own phone._

## What does it cost to accept credit cards?

Flat-rate providers publish one percentage plus a fixed fee per payment. The fixed fee matters more than it looks: 30 cents is 3% of a $10 sale on its own. In person rates are lower than online ones because a card that is physically present is less likely to be fraud.

The headline rate is not the whole bill. Look for monthly plans that unlock a lower rate, extra charges for international cards and currency conversion, dispute fees, and fees to be paid out instantly. Anytime Capital Payments has no monthly, setup or PCI fees; our per-payment rate is on the pricing page, and the fee calculators work out any sale at each provider.

Put the extras on a real month before you compare. A business taking $20,000 a month online in 250 sales of $80 pays $655 at 2.9% + 30¢: $580 in percentage fees and $75 in fixed fees, an effective 3.28%. If a tenth of that volume is on cards issued abroad, Stripe's published 1.5% international-card fee adds $30, and two lost disputes at $15 each add another $30 on top of the $160 of sales they reverse (October 2026 pricing).

- Is there a monthly plan, and what rate do you pay without it?
- What do international cards, currency conversion and keyed-in payments cost?
- Is there a dispute fee, and is it refunded if you win?
- Are standard payouts free, and what does a faster payout cost?
- Are there setup, PCI, statement or early-termination fees?

**Published US online card rates, October 2026**

| Provider | Published online rate | Fee on a $100 sale |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stripe | 2.9% + 30¢ | $3.20 |
| Square (Free plan) | 3.3% + 30¢ | $3.60 |
| PayPal Checkout | 3.49% + 49¢ | $3.98 |
| Shopify Payments (Basic plan) | 2.9% + 30¢, plus a Shopify plan | $3.20 |
| Braintree | 2.89% + 29¢ | $3.18 |

_Each provider's published standard US online card rate as of October 2026. Excludes international, currency-conversion, dispute and payout fees and any monthly plan. In person, Square's Free plan is 2.6% + 15¢._

## How and when do you get paid?

A card payment is approved in seconds, but the money reaches you on the provider's payout schedule. Many providers pay out to your bank account one or two business days later, and a new account may wait longer for its first payout. Paying out sooner usually costs extra: Stripe's Instant Payouts are 1.5% of the amount and Square's instant transfers 1.95% (published US fees, October 2026).

Anytime Capital Payments starts from the other end. Your payments balance and your Anytime Capital business account sit on the same platform, so settled sales sweep into the account instantly, nights and weekends included. From there money goes out by RTP or FedNow in seconds, same-day wire, ACH, local rails in 71+ countries or same-day USDC and USDT transfers.

Whichever provider you choose, expect the first payout to take longest. Stripe, for example, holds a new US account's first payout for 7 days before moving it to its standard 2-day schedule (published terms, October 2026), and most providers review the first weeks of a new account more closely. At Anytime Capital, processing is subject to compliance review, and our processing times page shows how each payment method behaves; our guide to card settlement times breaks down every step between the sale and your bank.

## How do you protect the business from fraud and chargebacks?

Accepting cards means accepting that some payments will be disputed. Basic protections are built into every mainstream provider: address and security-code checks, fraud screening, and 3D Secure, which asks the customer to confirm a payment with their bank and usually moves liability for fraud disputes to the card issuer.

On Anytime Capital Payments every card payment gets a 0–100 risk score before it is charged, you can block by score, amount and card country, require 3D Secure above an amount you choose, and refund pre-dispute alerts automatically. Our chargeback guide covers the rest.

Most disputes a new business sees are not stolen cards. They are customers who did not recognise the charge, could not reach anyone, or forgot what they agreed to, and four habits prevent most of them from the first day:

- Use a statement descriptor customers will recognise, with your business name and a website or phone number
- Send a receipt for every payment, with what was bought and how to contact you
- State your refund and cancellation terms at checkout, and keep the record that the customer accepted them
- Refund a clear problem quickly, before the customer goes to their bank instead

## Why are card applications declined or delayed?

A provider that pays out card sales takes on the risk that those sales are reversed later, so it declines or pauses applications it cannot yet price. Most delays have an ordinary cause that a document or a correction fixes.

A decline is rarely the end of it. Ask what is missing, correct the mismatch or add the document, and apply again; a business that takes payment long before it delivers may be approved with a reserve rather than refused. Our merchant account guide explains reserves, holds and underwriting in depth.

- The legal name, EIN or address does not match across the application and the documents
- There is no website or listing showing what you sell, your prices and a refund policy
- What you sell is on the provider's restricted list, such as some regulated or high-dispute industries
- Customers pay months before delivery, as with events, travel or pre-orders, with no refund plan
- An owner's identity cannot be verified, or a previous account was closed for excessive disputes

## Step by step: your first card payment

Once you have chosen a provider, getting to a first payment is short. The order below avoids the two common stalls: waiting on verification with nothing else ready, and building a website checkout before you have taken a single payment.

- Create the business account and submit verification documents in one sitting
- Connect the business bank account, or open one with the provider, for payouts
- Add your logo and colour so checkout, invoices and receipts look like your business
- Send a payment link or an invoice for your first sale, which needs no website
- Switch on fraud rules and decide the amount above which 3D Secure applies
- Add a checkout to your website, in-person payments or the API when you need them

**Figure: From sign-up to first payout**

1. **Sign up**: Create the business account with owners, EIN and payout details. (Minutes)
2. **Get verified**: Business and owner identity checks, the legally required KYB step. (Usually same day)
3. **Brand it**: Your logo and colour on checkout, invoices and receipts. (Minutes)
4. **Get paid**: Send a link or invoice, or show a QR code in person. (Seconds to approve)
5. **Payout**: Settled sales sweep into your Anytime Capital business account, or go to your bank. (Instant sweep)

_Verification is the only step that usually takes longer than minutes, and most complete Anytime Capital applications are approved the same day. Payout timing then depends on card settlement and the payout method you choose._

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I accept credit card payments without a merchant account?

Yes. All-in-one providers such as Stripe, Square, PayPal and Anytime Capital Payments hold the merchant relationship for you, so you sign up online and take cards without applying to an acquiring bank yourself. A dedicated merchant account mainly makes sense at high volumes, where negotiated pricing pays for the extra paperwork.

### How much does it cost a small business to accept credit cards?

Flat-rate providers publish one rate per payment: Stripe's standard US online rate is 2.9% + 30¢, Square's Free plan is 3.3% + 30¢ online and 2.6% + 15¢ in person, and PayPal Checkout is 3.49% + 49¢ (October 2026). Add monthly plans, international-card and dispute fees, and instant-payout fees where they apply.

### Can I accept credit cards without a website?

Yes. Payment links, invoices and QR codes all work without a website: you send a link by text or email, or show a code, and the customer pays on a page the provider hosts. You can add a checkout to your own site later without changing provider.

### Can I accept credit cards on my phone?

Yes, in two ways. Some providers turn your phone into a contactless reader (tap to pay). Others, including Anytime Capital Payments, let you key in an amount on any phone or tablet and show a QR code, and the customer scans it and taps to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay or a card on their own phone, with no terminal to buy.

### How long does it take to start accepting cards?

Signing up takes minutes. Verification is the variable: some providers approve straightforward businesses the same day, others take several business days or ask for more documents. Most complete applications at Anytime Capital are approved the same day.

### Can I charge customers a fee for paying by card?

Sometimes. Card network rules allow a disclosed surcharge on credit cards up to a cap, never on debit cards, and some states restrict or ban surcharges. Offering a discount for cash is generally allowed. Our guide to lowering processing fees covers the rules; it is general information, not legal advice.

### Do I need a business bank account to accept credit cards?

Most providers pay out to a bank account in the business's name, and sole proprietors can often use a personal one. Keeping card sales in a separate business account makes bookkeeping and taxes much simpler. On Anytime Capital, card processing and the business account sit on one platform, so one sign-up covers both.

### Can I accept credit cards issued in other countries?

Yes. Every mainstream provider takes cards issued abroad, but most charge extra for them: Stripe adds 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed (published US pricing, October 2026). On Anytime Capital Payments any international-card or conversion fee is shown in your dashboard before you accept the payment, and customers abroad can also pay you in USDC or USDT.

## Related

- [Payment gateway vs payment processor](https://anytime-capital.com/learn/payments/payment-gateway-vs-payment-processor)
- [What is interchange?](https://anytime-capital.com/learn/payments/what-is-interchange)
- [How to switch payment processors](https://anytime-capital.com/learn/payments/how-to-switch-payment-processors)
- [Credit card processing fee calculator](https://anytime-capital.com/tools/credit-card-processing-fee-calculator)

**Start taking card payments this week.** Open an Anytime Capital business account and take cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay through links, invoices, checkout or in person, with instant payouts to your business account and no monthly, setup or PCI fees. https://anytime-capital.com/business/get-started?offer=launch-90

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- Third-party fees and product details cited on this page are each company's published US pricing, or industry-typical ranges, as of the date shown and may have changed. Check current pricing with the provider before you decide.
- Information on this page is general and educational — it is not financial, legal, or tax advice.
- Anytime Capital is a fintech company, not a bank. Payment processing, banking and payout services are provided by Anytime Capital's licensed partners. Rates shown are for US card payments; international cards, currency conversion and disputes may carry additional fees shown in your dashboard before you accept a payment.