How can you get an online merchant account?

Traditionally, online merchant accounts have been supplied by the banks. These days there are many alternative providers such as PayPal, and in the UK, Nochex. There is usually an application process to complete before a merchant account is set-up and in the case of banks these have been known take more than two months to set-up. The newer payment service providers can usually set-up accounts immediately or within a couple of days.