What is a merchant account, and why is it needed?

You will need to establish a merchant account to act as your bank account for all ticket and cashless payments. By establishing your own merchant account you directly receive the funds from each transaction.

You do not need to do this right away, however, you must have a merchant account set up in your Organization and attached to your event before you can put tickets on sale. 

You can learn more about merchant accounts here, and find out which merchant accounts are available to be used with CrowdBlink.

What is a merchant account

A merchant account acts as your bank account so that you are able to accept credit and debit payments in multiple ways. 

When a customer submits an order or purchases an item using cashless payments, the payment details are sent through payment gateways and/or channels to the customer’s issuing bank to confirm that the payment is approved. If approved the funds are issued right to your merchant account, and the approval message is sent back to CrowdBlink to let the users know the transaction was successful.

If not approved, no funds are collected and the message is sent back to CrowdBlink that it was not successful.

What merchant accounts can I use?

CrowdBlink is currently integrated with Heartland, Stripe, and Authorize.net. Which country your event is located in and which CrowdBlink services you plan to use will determine which merchant account you should get.

United States

	Heartland	Authorize.net	Stripe
Online ticket sales		✅	✅
Ticket outlet sales	✅*
Mobile box office	✅*
Cashless payments			✅**

*Indicates a PAX A920 device will need to be ordered from the merchant to fully utilize this CrowdBlink product.

**Indicates a Wise Pad device will need to be ordered from the merchant to fully utilize this CrowdBlink product.

Canada

	Heartland	Authorize.net	Stripe
Online ticket sales		✅	✅
Ticket outlet sales
Mobile box office			✅^
Cashless payments			✅^

^Indicates a Wise POS will need to be ordered from the merchant to fully utilize this CrowdBlink product.

If you have any questions about which merchant account you should use, please contact CrowdBlink Support.

To create an account with Stripe please visit their website.

To create an account with Heartland, please contact CrowdBlink Support for assistance.

To create an account with Authorize.net please visit their website.

This process typically takes between a few days to two weeks, depending on the service provider's application process and your financial records.

Once you are done creating your merchant account or if you already have a merchant account with Heartland, Stripe, or Authorize.net, you can begin connecting your merchant account to CrowdBlink.