Fasthosts, a hosting service provider, today announced that it has launched eMerchant, a merchant account service for businesses trading online.

According to the company, the service enables all kinds of customers, regardless of the size of business, to accept online and offline payments from all credit cards giving them instant access to their funds. Backed by the Bank of Ireland, it is the first UK service to offer an online account sign-up. The eMerchant accounts can be set up by businesses with minimal trading history and with no up front charges. Customers need not pay for the service until their first sales come in.

It also offers Application Programming Interface (API) that enables integration of the online shop with back-office systems and protection from chargebacks and counterfeit purchases with fraud monitoring.

"PayPal is a cheap and cheerful service for people occasionally trading on eBay. But even the smallest businesses in the online marketplace need to look at the bigger picture," said Andrew Michael, CEO, Fasthosts. "It is because of their size that they require more financial flexibility and instant access to their revenues – something that most merchant offerings lack."