Payment Gateway

By Author: Angelo everton
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With a continued increase in shopping online, many businesses and merchants are looking for ways to accept credit card payments while continually reducing their costs (typically linked to traditional merchant accounts)The payment gateway allows merchants to adopt a virtual terminal for telephone payments and incorporate those into their overall payments strategy.

Each e-commerce business must choose a payment gateway that understands their security needs in order to process credit cards safely online.
The service should also be affordable, easy to use and compatible with your website's shopping cart.
The Payment Gateway links online merchants to their acquiring banks, to allow them to process transactions and payments.

A Payment Gateway can serve multiple functions for the merchant:

• It provides an independent platform to companies looking to trade online by linking them to a range of financial institutions, in their domestic market and internationally.
• The Payment Gateway can accept credit card payments and multiple transaction types and payment methods, to cover the customers' requirements. These include credit cards, debit cards, recurring transactions, and direct debits amongst others.
• It removes the obligation on the merchant to integrate their website to a range of platforms.

Important things to check when choosing your Payment Gateway
• Shopping-cart compatibility. It is crucial that your payment gateway is able to work and integrate with your shopping cart. You should contact your web developer, technical design team or the Realex Payments support team if you have any questions on compatibility.
• Technical support. You should check to see if your provider have someone available to work out any problems around the clock. See if they have online live help or if they have a 24-hour toll-free number you can call.
• Reliability. The assurance that your payment gateway is safe and secure gives customers the additional piece of mind that they need when starting to sell online. Having your website live is key to you not losing customers.
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• Value. Do not simply find the cheapest rate, check the features you get for your money, the overall service and watch out for hidden fees. Make sure you're getting everything you need for your money.
• Find out if the payment gateway you consider is fully PCI compliant. This means that your customer's privileged information, including credit card information, is stored and held safely and securely, in line with industry standards.

Disclaimer:

While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this article it is recommended that you seek up-to-date professional advice. For specific advice in relation to payment gateway services and related payment topics, please contact Realex Payments directly at online payments .

Realex Payments is a leading payment gateway provider , supplying services to companies that take payments either over the telephone or by online payment over the internet. For more information please visit their website at www.realexpayments.co.uk.