A payment gateway is an essential part of a payment processing system and can help you to create new revenue streams. Whether you do business online or offline, if you accept credit cards, debit cards and other digital methods of payment, you utilize a payment gateway all the time. This article will explain what a payment gateway is and how it helps to ensure that you can easily facilitate a variety of payment alternatives within your store.
What is a payment gateway?
A payment gateway is a merchant service that processes the credit cards and debit cards that your customers use. It securely transfers payment data from the shopper to the acquirer and then transfers the acceptance or decline of payment to the customer. Both brick and mortar stores and online stores use payment gateways each time they process a card transaction. Sometimes brick and mortar stores can bypass payment gateways by using Near Field technology (NFC) instead, when they are accepting phone-based payments.
Payment gateways perform a function that’s similar to that of a physical cash register. They transfer payment data from the shopper to the acquirer. Each payment gateway is a consumer-facing interface, so it has to be designed to make it easy to collect payments. While all payment gateways offer different features, they can all be thought of as portals for checkout
A payment gateway authorizes the transfer of funds between a buyer and a seller. Before you chose a payment gateway, you’ll have to know what type of cards or payments your business is most likely to accept. Some cannot accept payments from specific card issuers or processing portals.
Some large retailers chose to stack payment gateways, in order to eliminate the deficits associated with a particular gateway. For example, if a gateway is very good at accepting international payments but not able to process some of the popular payment options in Europe, they may stack with another that is. A particular gateway may also not be as good as another at handling mobile payments and this problem is eliminated by stacking.
Stacking lets retailers benefit from the strengths of more than one payment gateway. A merchant will use several payment gateways on their ecommerce platform in order to give their customers several options for payment with every purchase. This makes payment easier for customers, since they can have what they want when they want it.
Payment Gateways Available Via Payline Data
Payline Data has access to several payment gateways. These include:
- Cardpointe
- Transax
- Authorize.net
- NMI (Network Merchants Inc)
Cardpointe Features
Cardpointe offers real-time transaction management. You’ll also be able to access a virtual terminal, countertop terminal and other options. Their plug and play countertop terminal allows your customers to pay by swiping, dipping or tapping. All of your transactions will be protected by Point To Point Encryption (PTPE).
Cardpointe makes on the go business easy, with a free app and compatible device. You can manage all of your transactions in real time, pulling detailed reports when necessary. Each hosted payment page can be fully customized to match your needs.
Transax Features
Transax is offered to merchants who need reliable card machines. They also offer more to brick and mortar or online merchants who need to get customer consent to legal agreements. You can use their APIs for integrations that fit your needs and their gateway alsi enables online invoicing and hosted payments. Each Hosted Payment Page can be used to collect donations, sell goods and save payment information for every customer.
You can scale your business with Transax, via multiple processor integrations. Use the custom notes feature to include special instructions or include disclaimers. You can share any message that you want with customers during checkout, including terms and reminders of promotional offers or loyalty bonuses.
Authorze.net Features
Authorize.net helps you to accept a wide range of payment options from your clients, including eChecks, credit cards and contactless payments. You can accept the payment that your legitimate customers prefer, including signature credit cards. Popular digital payment options can be added to checkout at your online store, giving shoppers fast, secure ways to access the products that they enjoy.
Their solution comes with advanced fraud detection, which helps you to identify, detect and prevent suspicious or potentially fraudulent transactions. While you may think that your small business is below the radar, there is always a risk that you could be targeted by fraudsters. You can customize the fraud detection tools that are offered by Authorize.net, to ensure that you use rule-based tools that match the needs of your business.
NMI Features
NMI helps you to create a unified customer experience. Their payment gateway allows you to accept payments via your website, handheld POS, desktop POS, and pop up store. if you want to use an iPhone with an attached reader to collect payments, you can do so with ease and do business wherever you wish. You can also collect vending, parking and other unattended payments.
A single token repository is utilized, allowing you to gain valuable insights on all aspects of payment through your business. You can easily add new payment options whenever these become available, so that your business is always current. This also helps you to maintain control over all aspects of branding, such as pricing.
If you need to, you can choose one of the payment gateways offered by Payline Data in order to make payments easy in your store. You can also stack payment gateways without a problem, if you think that’s necessary. All of your customers will not have a credit card and some may choose another option, such as Apple Pay.
By providing more than one of the payment gateways that Payline Data provides, you can facilitate debit cards, credit cards, digital wallet services and other alternatives in your store. You can sell in a permanent, physical store, online or in a pop up shop, where you can collect via a mobile solution that is offered by one of the payment gateways that Payline Data has available.
How does a payment gateway work?
A payment processor is the front-end technology that is responsible for sending the customer’s information to the acquiring bank. At the acquiring bank, the transaction will be promptly processed.
Their physical structure is always evolving to meet the demands of consumers. For example, in the past, a lot of payment gateways had a magnetic strip which helped them to accept credit cards. Nowadays, a payment processor may be contactless. Some shoppers may even use their phones instead of a plastic credit card.
Online payment gateways tend to be structured differently from those that are used in physical stores. Online gateways usually have an Application Programming Interface (API) which allows the website to communicate with the underlying payment processing network. On the other hand, in-store payment gateways have a POS terminal that is used to electronically connect to the same payment processing network. This is done via a phone link or an Internet connection.
Safe Transfer of Data
All of the information that is exchanged via a payment gateway is kept safe. This is because data is encrypted when it is being transferred between the retailer’s server and the user’s browser. Payment processors must get approval from a credit card company or a financial institution to proceed with each transaction. This is known as an authorization request and the next step cannot take place without it.
A payment gateway also allows other functions to take place securely. For example, it facilitates geo-location and calculating tax costs. A payment gateway also securely screens orders. Secure companies are usually PCI compliant and meet the encryption standards set out by the Payment Card Industry.
In addition, when choosing a provider to accept payments on your website, it’s important to consider factors such as security, fees, customer support, and ease of integration. If you are a big player in the market, then it might make sense to use a white label payment gateway with such useful features as plugins, SDKs, recurring payments, routing, and invoicing.
Fees Charged by Payment Gateways
Payline has well established relationship with all of the gateways previously mentioned. This allows us to receive discounted pricing to help provide a cost effective solution for our clients. Should you have any questions regarding costs, specific capabilities, or anything else, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our experts today. Payline assists of 20,000 merchant across the U.S. so we are confident we have the right solution for you.
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