What You Need In Order To Process Credit Cards In An Ecommerce Business
If you are the owner of an ecommerce website company that is operated entirely on the internet, then you will need to have three things in order to process credit card transactions.
- Shopping Cart. Unless you are selling only one thing, you will need some software that operates in the background of your website, to keep track of the quantity, item name, and cost of each item to be purchased by the customer.
- Credit Card Processing Service ( Gateway ). This service will process your orders, obtain the authorization necessary to debit the customer's card, and transfer the money to your ecommerce merchant account.
- Merchant Bank Account. You must have an account in which to deposit money from the credit card sales of your ecommerce business.
The shopping cart stores the information in a database on your computer, for each item selected by the customer. This information can be reviewed and edited by the customer at any time - there will be a link that says something like "View Cart".
When your customer decides to "Check Out", then he is sent to a page where he enters his credit card information, and the billing and shipping information, if necessary. This webpage must be secure, to prevent unscrupulous people from stealing the credit card info.
At this point, you must make a decision:
- You can have the checkout page on your own website. This means you must have a secure webpage, and this must be arranged with your web host. You will need to purchase an SSL certificate. ( Secure Socket Layer certification allows you to show the little padlock in the status bar, and to use the "https" prefix for your webpage URL - both of which show your customer that his credit card information is secure. )
- Some gateway accounts will provide you with a secure order page, so you don't need to buy your own certificate. In that case, your shopping cart information is passed directly to the gateway, and the checkout page is on the website of your credit card processing service. Most gateway services will allow you to customize this page, so it looks as much like your own website as possible.
If you have looked at some ecommerce merchant accounts, but are finding it difficult to get one, then you can investigate some third party credit card processors. Using a TP processor will also abrogate the need for a gateway. However, this method of accepting credit cards is usually used only by a new or high risk merchant, since the fees charged are higher.
Review all of your options, and check out some actual online services before making your decision. There really is quite a difference in the fees you must pay for each of the alternatives. And you will be stuck with your choice for a long time.
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