Why an eCommerce Payment Gateway is essential for a small business.
The internet is the latest example of how technology has changed our relationship with the High Street. It’s a story that goes back to the invention of the telephone. With the mass adoption of the phone (by 1905, over 600,000 American homes had telephones), the mail order industry received a huge boost – and a new, convenient way of shopping appeared. Fast forward to the 1990s, and the Internet revolutionised how we shop. In fact, it’s lead us full circle: once again we’re using phones to buy goods and services as Smartphones have overtaken PCs for internet access. E-commerce isn’t just booming, thanks to the shop in our pockets, it’s everywhere.
How a Payment Gateway opens you up to more business
A Payment Gateway lets you take advantage of this. It’s like a digital version of a card machine enabling you to take payment through your website, by email and over the phone. It’s easy to integrate, fast to use and offers security advantages to help protect your income and reassure your customers.
- More ways to pay. Online card payments are set to keep growing, so a Payment Gateway is essential for e-commerce. Phone-based payments are also set to grow – not Apple or Android Pay, but those made with an actual call. A Payment Gateway also offers customers discreet, secure payment via email (Pay-by-Link).
- Fast, efficient transactions: process payments from multiple sources with minimal effort.
- Easy set-up: we support over 40 of the most popular online shopping carts: our Payment Gateway simply plugs-in to your site and connects to your Cart for fast, easy integration. Don’t worry if your preferred Cart isn’t included: we can create bespoke code for you.
- Safe and secure: a Payment Gateway offers further security measures that your customers can trust, and which build up confidence in your brand.
How does a Payment Gateway work?
A Payment Gateway is a secure environment that allows a customer to connect their bank account to your Merchant Account so they can transfer funds. To learn more read our post on how a Payment Gateway works.
- Payment Gateways are highly sophisticated, but as much of their operation is in the background all you’ll experience are simple, secure transactions between your business and your customers.
- Every transaction is automatically encrypted, then sent to Paymentsense for security checks. This also confirms that your customer has enough funds to go ahead with their transaction.
- All Gateway transactions are processed by our secure servers, which never store customers’ card details. Plus, our Merchant Management System (MMS) lets you keep track of all transactions, including those that were denied. This helps save time should a customer query a payment.
- Furthermore, our Payment Gateway is one of the industry’s most reliable, with a record of 100% uptime.
Security. And then some.
Speed and security sit at the heart of our Payment Gateway. An extra layer of protection comes from 3D-Secure, an industry standard fraud prevention measure. It’s backed by all major card issuers and protects against data theft during online purchases.
When a customer buys from a site that uses 3D Secure they’ll be asked for additional authentication to
confirm it’s really them using their card.
Once authorised, liability for the purchase is transferred from you, the retailer, to the card
provider. So if the customer claims they didn’t authorise the transaction, the card provider is
responsible for refunding their money.
This protects you from unauthorised transaction chargebacks, and issues around fraudulent payments. It distances you from potential disputes with customers – saving time and money.
Open your business to a Payment Gateway
If you’re interested in expanding the ways your business can take payment, then talk to us about a Payment Gateway.
Our Payment Gateway package includes 3D Secure for Visa and Mastercard as standard. It’s also tier 1
PCI DSS compliant, with CSC, CV2 and AVS security checks and direct API or hosted integration
options.
We can have you ready to accept payments online and over the phone in as little as 24 hours. Click here for a free online quote to find out how we can help you grow your business by expanding your payment options.