A payment gateway is a service that allows you to accept credit card payments online. It provides a secure connection between your customers, your business, and the customer’s bank. Some payment gateways also offer merchant accounts that allow you to process payments through them directly.
Know your needs
· Know your needs. Before you choose a provider, it’s important to understand what type of business you are in and how many transactions need to be processed each month.
· Determine if there will be enough demand for your product or service. If not, then choosing the wrong payment gateway provider could mean that customers will have little incentive to buy from you.
Payment methods
Payment methods are how your customers can pay you. There are many different payment methods available, but it is important to choose the most suitable one for your business.
The most common payment methods are:
· Credit and debit cards
· PayPal
· Skrill
· Braintree
Merchant Account
A merchant account is a bank account that you use to accept credit card payments. It’s like your own personal bank account, but it’s designed specifically for businesses. It allows you to accept credit cards and other types of electronic payments in addition to the traditional methods we discussed above, such as checks or cash.
A merchant account provider provides services like fraud prevention and PCI compliance, which means they can help ensure that your company is compliant with federal regulations around PCI standards (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard).
Fees and transaction costs
The transaction costs can be a percentage of the total transaction value or a flat fee.
· A percentage-based charge is calculated as a percentage of each transaction, while a flat rate depends on your annual volume. If you’re starting small with less than $10K average monthly revenue, then it might not make sense to pay more than $0.50 per sale if you plan to grow quickly in the future.
· On the other hand, if you want to avoid any surprises when processing payments through your gateway provider and don’t mind paying extra for their services (e.g., fraud prevention), then consider using their pricing model that offers discounts if they’re selling expensive products/services such as credit cards or merchant accounts from larger banks themselves (although this isn’t always possible).
Security and fraud prevention
The importance of security and fraud prevention
Security is a big deal when it comes to choosing a payment gateway provider. As you know, the data that your customers hand over to your website can be stolen if there’s a breach in security. It’s also important for credit card companies to ensure that their customers are safe from fraudulent chargebacks and other types of fraud.
Having PCI compliance will ensure that all merchant services providers are compliant with industry standards set by the PCI Security Standards Council (PCI SSC). These include:
· Anti-fraud controls: Automatic detection of credit card numbers that don’t belong to you or any other legitimate transaction
· Data encryption/decryption: Protecting sensitive information such as usernames and passwords from being intercepted during transmission between merchants’ networks and banks’ databases
Customer service
· Customer service is a key factor in choosing a payment gateway. The importance of having a reliable customer service team and one that communicates well with you cannot be overstated.
· A good way to go about finding out whether or not your chosen provider has good customer support is by asking them directly. If they don’t provide any information about their services, then chances are they won’t be able to answer any questions related to the subject matter at hand (i.e., how do I get started using this service?).
A payment gateway provides a secure connection between your customers, your business and the customer’s bank.
A payment gateway provides a secure connection between your customers, your business and the customer’s bank.
It’s important that you choose a payment gateway provider who has experience with online transactions, so you can trust that they will take care of all the details for you. There are many different types of gateways available today; some have more features than others but all provide similar services in terms of security and reliability.
Conclusion
We hope that this list will help you choose the right payment gateway for your needs. If you have any questions about how best to use your payment gateway.
