In simple terms a payment gateway is a standard or customized software package that enables the setting up of electronic credit card processing online. When setting up an ecommerce website, there are four salient factors to consider when selecting the payment mechanism for your ecommerce website. These include acceptability, ease of integration, customer base, ease of use and ease of access.
- Acceptability. The payment system selected must be widely accepted by merchants to ensure that payments are processed without delays.
- Ease of integration. The software package and its website interface that is used by users to input their payment details need to be integrated effectively to the ecommerce website.
- Customer base. The chosen payment systems must cater for a sufficient amount of users to justify the expense of implementing a payment gateway.
- Ease of use and ease of access. The payment system selected should be user-friendly and easy to use to cater of all levels of users.
Shopping Cart Software and Online Payment Processing Equipment
The easiest way to automate online payments and setting up a payment gateway for elecronic credit card processing is to use a standard shopping cart software package which automates the online products catalogue and implements the functionality of a shopping cart to your ecommerce website. Users can browse the products catalogue and select the items they wish to purchase. These items are transferred to the shopping cart which subsequently directs the users to the online transaction form. At this point payment details are inserted and the online payment software automates the transaction.
Alternatively custom payment software can be built to specifically meet your organization’s requirements. Custom payment processing equipment can also include enhancements such as a stock control module which allows the customer to know whether the item required is in stock.
Ecommerce Merchant Account Services and Payment Processing Companies
Ecommerce merchant account services act as an interface between the ecommerce website and the seller’s bank. Merchant services enable the seller to set up merchant credit card agreements and also provide secure software and hosting services.
Alternatively one can opt to engage the services of payment processing companies which provide third-party merchant services. Such payment processing companies take credit card payments on behalf of other sellers for a commission from each transaction.
Online Payments and Secure Credit Card Processing
When conducting business transactions online some further considerations need to be accounted for. An ecommerce website needs to ensure that its electronic credit card processing remains confidential. Furthermore, it requires the means to authenticate the user who is making the transaction as well as ensuring that the data remains intact and that it cannot be repudiated.
Countermeasures include ensuring that protocols that provide for encryption and authentication are properly installed, investing in digital certificates, ensuring that your web servers are resilient to intentional security attacks and that they are also capable of handling increased traffic.
Nevertheless, it is important to note that countermeasures address the threats and mitigate the risks however contingency plans in case of system failures are required to ensure business continuity.
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Maureen Cutajar - Maureen is a professional IT project manager, web writer, and eBook formatter with educational background in English literature and ...
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