A "Retail account" is a merchant account that is approved for use in a physical store where the cardholder and the card are present. Typically the merchant swipes the card through a card reader to get your card numbers so this account is sometimes referred to as a "swipe" account or "cardholder present" account. Retail accounts are the least risky type of account and therefore the merchant account provider charges the merchant must less than the riskier "card not present" type of accounts.

A "Card Not Present" account is also called a Mail Order - Telephone Order (MOTO) account. This is the account used by mail order companies, anyone accepting phone orders or any other system where the merchant can't physically see the card and/or the cardholder. Currently this is the type of account used for Internet Businesses accepting credit cards online. Because there is increased risk for charge backs and fraud with MOTO accounts, merchant account providers always charge the merchant higher rates and fees for this type of account.