Frequently Asked Questions
Most frequent questions and answers about our merchant services
What is a Card Issuer?
A card issuer is a bank or financial institution that provides payment cards to consumers.
What is a merchant acquirer?
An acquirer is a financial institution that maintains a merchant’s account in order to accept credit cards. An acquirer is the merchant bank e.g AIB, Global Payments
What is an ISO?
An ISO is an Independent Sales Organisation, a company which sells merchant acquiring services to merchants on behalf of a merchant acquirer.
What is a merchant?
A merchant is a business owner who has, or is applying for, a facility to process card payments.
What is a Merchant Account?
A merchant account is a type of bank account which allows businesses to accept debit and credit card payments. Held with an acquiring bank, a merchant account holds customer payments while they’re approved by the customer’s bank, before sending them to the merchant.
How do I open a Merchant Account?
You can open a merchant account with Yorkshire Payments. We will discuss your options, business, requirements and process before you make any decisions. Once your application has been approved by the bank, your merchant account can be up and running within 48 hours.
Is card processing secure?
Yorkshire Payments are PCI compliant. PCI compliance is required by credit card companies to make online transactions secure and protect them against identity theft. Any merchant who wants to process, store, or transmit credit card data is required to be PCI compliant, according to the PCI Compliance Security Standard Council.
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is the mechanism that reads and transfers payment information from a customer to a merchant’s bank account. Its job is to capture the data, ensure funds are available and get a merchant paid. Online, a payment gateway is cloud-based software that connects a customer to the merchant.
Do you provide customer support?
We have a dedicated customer care team as well as an on-call tech team. We are on hand to help you with your queries or technical concerns.
Can I use YorkshirePay on my website?
Yes. Our YorkshirePay® Ecommerce service will allow you take payments through your website or online store. Read more about our E-commerce products here.
What are the benefits of accepting debit and card payments?
Society is moving further away from using cash as their payment method of choice. To keep up with consumer demands and the change in spending habits, businesses need to be able to offer the ability to accept debit or credit card payments or they run the risk of losing customers.
Are all card machines contactless?
Most new credit card machines sold in the UK include the ability to accept contactless payments. However, not all contactless card payment readers are created equal.
How does an EPOS machine help my business?
Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) is a combination of hardware and software designed to help you run your business more effectively. Where traditional till systems record sales, EPOS systems not only record this transactional information but can then generate detailed reports in response to the input data.
Can I connect an EPOS machine to my card machines?
Yes. We can help you integrate your card machines with your EPOS.
What is PCI compliance and how do I complete my PCI?
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of security standards designed to ensure that ALL companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. To complete PCI, merchants need to contact their acquiring bank’s PCI team to complete.
How do I access my acquirer statements?
Depending on the acquiring bank, they will have an online portal where merchants can access their statements or order paper statements for a fee.
How do I access my merchant portal?
You will have been sent a link to your merchant portal either from your acquiring bank or Yorkshire Payments. Please contact Yorkshire Payments if you require access to your account.
How do I access my acquirer statements?
Depending on the acquiring bank, they will have an online portal where merchants can access their statements or order paper statements for a fee.
