A Payment Gateway allows you to accept credit cards online
There are basically two options for accepting payments at your online store. First, you can have your customer’s pay with checks or money orders. This method is inconvenient though and will most certainly limit your sales. Another problem is you have to wait to get paid and checks can bounce. To grow your business you must be able to accept credit and debit cards. That is where a payment gateway comes in. You cannot accept credit cards online without using a payment gateway.
Why do I need a Payment Gateway to process credit cards?
The short answer is SECURITY. A gateway must be used to safely transmit your customer’s credit card information from your store to your bank account. First, a customer enters his credit card number and clicks the purchase button. Next, the information is sent to a payment gateway. This is followed by the gateway securely forwarding the payment to the payment processor. Finally, the payment is approved or denied. There are actually many more steps involved, but you get the picture. (You can read complete detailed steps here.) Even though the procedure takes several steps to complete, the entire process normally takes only a few seconds. Your customer is shown a payment confirmation screen and a receipt to print out for their records. You are also notified that the payment has been made. Now, you can prepare and ship the customer’s merchandise.
A payment gateway is the secure middle man
A payment gateway is the secure middle man that takes payment information online and sends it to be processed. The service is needed to accept, settle, or otherwise manage credit card payments. There are two ways to use a payment gateway. First, you can use it for online transactions on your website. Second, you can manually key in credit card information from your keyboard. Either way, this important piece of infrastructure is necessary to accept credit and debit card payments.
Payment gateways are available from a variety of sources. At the present time, though, Authorize.net is the most widely used and recognized. We partnered with Authorize.net because they have been in business since 1956 and represent over 440,000 merchants. Consequently, they are entrusted with safely handling millions of secure transactions. You have a safer business as a result of Authorize.net’s uncompromising stand on security. Customers are protected and so are you! You are also promoting fraud prevention by using this trusted payment gateway service.
With Authorize.net you can accept all major credit cards, including Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and all debit cards.
Sign up for our all-in-one credit card processing package
We have an all-in-one package that will help you get started. To begin with, Merchant Services Philadelphia will set up your merchant account and provide you with the FREE software you need to accept credit cards online. Moreover, there are no set-up fees, no monthly minimum and we provide 24/7 support.
