A Guide to Payment Gateway Selection for Online Stores

Determining the best payment gateway Integration for your eCommerce store is as important as choosing which platforms to sell your products. It can make the difference between lacklustre sales and an enormously successful business. Here we’ll talk about how to choose a payment gateway.

A payment gateway connects your online store to the credit card companies, banks, and other institutions that process transactions.

To choose a payment gateway, you will want to consider some factors. First, consider what features are important to you and which are offered in the services being considered. The costs of different types of transaction

fees may also be relevant depending on your needs.
 

What is a Payment Gateway?

A Payment Gateway (or Payment Service Provider) is an online service that receives, processes, and forwards credit card payments to your business’s bank account.

An online merchant uses a payment gateway to receive credit card information. The payment gateway accepts the information and forwards it to the credit card processing banks/institutions, which then authorize or reject the cards. The payment gateway also detects fraud for both the customer and the store owner.
 

The main work of Payment Gateway:

The main work of a payment gateway is to securely process sensitive financial data (cardholder data & personal information). This means that it must be PCI compliant and use SSL encryption technology.

In addition, a payment gateway is responsible for securely collecting, processing, and storing sensitive customer information (cardholder data & personal information) and applying fraud detection rules. Finally, a payment gateway may also be required to provide a service that populates your shopping cart, sends out customer invoices (and collects payments), and submits recurring billing information to your bank or credit card processor.

There are many online payment gateways available in today’s eCommerce industry. Most of these gateways allow you to create an account for free or for a very small monthly fee, which allows you to process transactions using their services. To use the gateway, you must integrate it into your website using a Shopping Cart or E-commerce Application technology. You can find out which payment gateways are compatible with Shopping Cart software by visiting their websites and seeking information.
 

Important factors to consider while choosing a payment gateway

There are many factors to consider when choosing a payment gateway, such as security, support, etc. One of the main things to consider is the pricing model for your selected gateway. You want to be sure that there are no hidden charges or fees for you to worry about later. Most gateways offer free trials, so you can test them before you sign up for their service. Take advantage of this opportunity and check it thoroughly before making your decision.

An important factor to consider while choosing a payment gateway is the level of security and privacy they provide. The following list outlines some of the key features of some of the most popular payment gateways.
Credit card support: Some (but not all) payment gateways serve credit cards, which means that you can accept credit card payments on your website. Credit cards help protect your business from fraudulent transactions and may even give your business greater trustworthiness in a market where fraud is rampant.

PCI compliance: Payment gateways must meet standard criteria for PCI compliance to process credit cards for businesses without exposing personal or sensitive information. These standards can be publicly accessed to help determine a payment gateway’s level of security and privacy.

Fraud Prevention Tools: Many payment gateways include tools that allow you to scan your website for fraudulent transactions. For example, some tools will scan your shopping cart and look for purchases from suspicious IP addresses or for purchases simultaneously occurring from multiple geographical locations.

Anonymous Payment Processing: Some payment gateways provide anonymous payment processing, which means the person making a purchase does not need to enter any information about their credit card. This is helpful for people who prefer not to reveal their credit card numbers on the internet (for example, when purchasing items that may be considered embarrassing, controversial, or illegal).
Real-time Invoicing and Automated Shipping: Many payment gateways provide online tools that help you create invoices for your customers and even automate the process of shipping goods.

Ability to Create Subscriptions: Some payment gateways allow you to create subscriptions, which means the customer is automatically charged regularly. For example, if you have a website for an online magazine, you may want to offer subscribers the ability to purchase access for one month or one year at a time.

Linked with Payment Processing Platforms: Some payment gateways are linked with major international payment processors such as Visa and MasterCard. This allows you to accept credit card payments directly from your website using the same payment platform that is used to process credit cards for millions of businesses.

Integration with Virtual Terminal Systems: Some payment gateways allow you to integrate their online tools with Virtual Terminal Systems such as Authorize.net and Paylift. This means that you can accept credit cards directly from your website, but on the back end are integrated with our virtual terminal system. This saves you time and money because you don’t need to install or maintain a separate payment gateway for your virtual terminal vendor.
 

Conclusion

There are hundreds of different online stores on the internet. It’s always important that a website has a good connection to its customers, not just for selling it but for providing the best customer support experience.

Suppose you own or manage an online store. In that case, it’s highly recommended that you use one or more of these great payment gateway services so your customers can easily and safely purchase from your website without worrying about any potential problems in processing their credit card payments.

Get in touch with us for the best payment gateway solutions.