An Internet payment gateway is a means of accepting payments for products and services via the Web. When starting an ecommerce business, thinking about how to get the money, and in a timely and safe fashion, is high on the list of things to do. Customers will be more inclined to purchase over the Internet if the website owner has thought about the safest and easiest ways for payment to be processed. Let’s face it; people like easy, and they love safe–especially in today’s world of scams, fraud and identity theft.
So, what do you need to know about Internet payment gateways?
Basically, you need to know how they work and how to make it safe. Here is a little guide to get you better accustomed with the system.
How Internet Payment Gateways Work
For most people selling products and services online, a shopping cart system, like the Digital Pacific Shopping Cart, is generally used in order to manage the shop. These programs are designed in a manner that it makes listing, categorising, selling and shipping products as simple as possible. They also are set up to integrate with various payment gateways so you can speed up the process of receiving payments to virtually immediate so business can function at speedy levels.
The Digital Pacific Shopping Cart, for example, is integrative with several payment gateway options, so you need to first check and see which methods are acceptable with the specific system you are using. When the preferred gateways are activated, shoppers will be able to choose a payment option when checking out online, supply their information and complete an order. The payment gateway takes the information from the user and processes the transaction, usually by relaying whether or not credit card details are valid.
Some popular payment gateways that work with the Digital Pacific Shopping Cart are:
E-Way – E-Way is an international payment gateway. eWAY is the link between your website and your bank account. All transactions are processed directly into your bank account in real-time. The service charges a yearly fee plus a cost per transaction.
SecurePay – SecurePay is also an Australian based payment gateway that helps to process credit card transactions from your website, but it also works as a point of sale terminal as well. What this means is you are able to process transactions you receive over the phone, or in person, in addition to the website orders. These features require a per annum fee plus a per transaction rate to take advantage of.
BPay – BPay is payment gateway in Australia that allows customers to pay directly from their bank account by using the Internet or phone banking. The payment is then transferred to the Bpay account and cleared overnight. Bpay is a simple way to make an online payment for those that wish to steer clear of using credit cards. There is still a fee for billers that use this service.
Direct Bank Deposit – By giving the option for direct bank deposit, a customer is able to transfer money from their own bank account to the account of the business owner. To do this, the customer will need to be provided with the BSB and account number. Please note that this is not an immediate method of receiving payment, and it should be noted that transferring from one bank to another can take a few days.
These are but a few of the options for accepting and processing payments online. It should be noted that most of these immediate payment systems do cost money depending on the type and amount of business that you will be doing. In this way, it is important to choose payment gateways that meet your budget goals while also choosing methods that make it easy for customers to make payments. Another big point is to make it all secure.
How to Make Your Payment Gateway Safe
Some payment gateways, such as E-Way and SecurePay, when integrated seamlessly into a shopping cart will still require an SSL certificate in order to make the transaction completely secure. An SSL certificate will encrypt the information that is transferred between the web user and server in order to keep sensitive information, like credit card details, safe.
The Digital Pacific Shopping Cart packages include an SSL certificate. To learn more about SSL certificates and what they do, please read a recent post: SSL Certificates Explained.
Do you have any questions about Internet payment gateways? Please leave a comment below!
