For any new online merchant, it is a herculean task to understand E-commerce. They face problems when it comes to understanding basics of E-commerce and hence face multiple problems when they are setting up their online businesses. So, via this article I’ve tried to explain the key features of E-commerce.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway acts as a doorway for money to move from your client’s account to yours. It is with the help of Payment gateway that you are able to charge your customer’s credit/debit card for the purchase they make online through your website.
Just like a retail store accepts cash for the products, the Payment Gateway grants you the access to take payments via your customer’s card. The payment gateway is a mediator for the transactions between your client and the payment processor. This is done because of the security reasons, as your client’s sensitive card information can be misused if transaction are carried out directly from your website to a payment processor. Most merchant accounts are accompanied by a payment gateway.
Payment Processors
Payment processors are financial institutions that provide payment processing services to an online merchant. These enterprises work in partnership with other companies that deals with consumers or merchants directly.
Internet merchants are provided with services by payment processors in agreement with Payment Gateways. The majority of payment processors focus on processing payments though some payment processors provide direct merchant services also. Payment Processors works in background and don’t market their service. Their main job is to process payments for ISO and MSP.
Merchant Accounts
Merchant accounts are bank account of internet vendors that allows them to accept payments through credit or debit cards. Money transferred through your client’s account via payment gateway is accumulated in them for the purchase they make on your website.
These accounts are opened with banks that provide the service of merchant accounts, in some cases internet merchants prefer accounts by their payment processors and payment gateways. Mostly, ISO or MSP provide internet merchants with these accounts as they have an agreement with payment processors.
An Internet merchant account is a necessity if you want to grow and expand your business online. It allows your customers to pay you directly by entering their card information on your website. This enables you to receive payments for the product or service your client buys through his credit card.
When you start accepting credit card for orders through your Internet merchant account, payment gateway of the payment processor approves the payment made by your client through his credit card in real time. By the time, your customer checks out after making their payment at your website, the transaction gets processed.
It’s also important to take into consideration that it is not compulsory to use payment gateway with your Internet merchant account. Instead, credit card terminal or Credit card processing software can also be used.But the drawback is the transaction is not processed in real time. Transactions through the use of credit card terminals or Credit card processing software happen when you manually key in the transaction.
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