So, what is a payment gateway? A payment gateway connects your ecommerce Website to your merchant account. The payment gateway that receives the transaction information forwards it to the merchant’s acquiring bank, then is sent for authorization, the issuing bank responses with the answer back to the customer – the whole process taking about 3 seconds. Your basic gateway does not provide ecommerce features like a shopping carts, though many larger gateway providers do, though they will charge for an additional fee for these services.
With the dawn of technology a major concern is security. A number of factors go into the decision, and you can't afford to make the wrong choice. So, when purchasing an online payment gateway, be aware that your information is kept on file; in addition the customer’s information passes through the gateway as well. Hackers are on the look out for this information, so you need to be confident that security is your provider’s main priority.
There are many features available that can help make your ecommerce site more profitable. One of the most useful additions is a Virtual Terminal, with this machine a customer can call with questions, if they are interested in the product you have ability to complete their order and accept their credit card payment on the spot, by allowing you, the merchant, enter the credit card information manually.
The most important is some form of fraud prevention, though is often under used by merchants. Of the basic fraud prevention tools, some include Address Verification, which will compare the customer’s delivery address with the address on file with the bank. A popular prevention tool is used by all four of the major credit card companies, using either a three or four digit security number.
There are fees associated with using a gateway; these fees are separate from the ones billed by the merchant account provider. These fees include set-up fees when you first establish the gateway, monthly fees the gateway providers charge for their service, transaction fees for each transaction processed and fees for any other features desired.
One of the most important needs is reliability. A delay of even one second, online can seem like an eternity, so you need the assurance that your gateway will be running 24-7.
On the Web, it seems that one second equals an eternity, your gateway must be up and running 24-7.