Today’s digital payment gateway options offer merchants the opportunity to do more business in less time, and with much more security than was available through traditional payment functions. Stores experience an increase in sales volume when they set up online sales – and when coupled with low payment processing costs, they can earn more profit through online activities than through on-premise transactions alone.
The Payment Gateway: A Primer
A payment gateway is a digital application (function) that connects a merchant’s bank to a purchaser’s bank to complete financial transactions. These payment portals have high-level security programming that prevents sensitive financial information from being inadvertently exposed as it travels from one site to the other. Payment gateway companies and technologies are also highly regulated, which assures buyers and sellers that their financial data is secure from inappropriate access throughout the payment process.
Choosing a Payment Portal Provider
There are two main types of gateways, each of which offers benefits to both the merchant and the customer:
Hosted Gateways
A gateway host is a third-party vendor that manages the transaction’s financial details on a proprietary server. Both merchants and customers share their financial information with the host, and links on the seller’s website make the connection between the transaction partners. Customers are taken directly to the gateway site when they click the payment button on the merchant’s website.
Hosted gateways offer retailers ease of use and high security. Customers start the purchasing process by clicking on the host’s button located on the seller’s website; then, they complete the transaction on the host site. The seller is relieved of the responsibility for securing the transaction details and the purchaser’s personal financial information. Neither party – the seller nor the buyer – has access to the other’s sensitive data.
Shared Gateways
With a shared gateway, the payment portal is connected directly to the merchant’s website but is managed and controlled by the payment host. A link embedded in the seller’s site takes customers to the payment page where they complete the financial data form. After initiating the payment on the secure payment portal page, the buyer is directed back to the merchant’s website.
Shared gateways offer the smoothest transaction for the consumer. From the consumer’s perspective, all of their activity occurs on the single merchant site. Some shoppers move forward to become buyers because the shared host eliminates the added step of sharing their data with another company.
Best Practices
For Security
Every payment gateway provider should readily offer information about how it keeps its data safe. Most providers use some form of verification in their payment processing, and they check to see whether the sending or receiving bank’s routing number matches that of the buyer’s or seller’s account. Most also require passwords before access to data is granted.
To Satisfy Customers
Merchants need a flawlessly functioning website to ensure that consumers can access both resource and payment options.
- Use a variety of fonts, colors, visuals and text to attract the widest possible population of shoppers.
- Navigation controls throughout the site should take the user effortlessly to the pages that interest them. Keep navigation buttons clearly marked and easy to find.
- Place the payment button in a conspicuous spot on the web page for every product and service.
PaymentVision provides its clients with a full suite of online and digital payment options to fit any business model.
See the original version of this article on PaymentVision.
