Online Payment

We will now talk about accepting payments online. Online payment is all about processing the credit cards, you getting the information of the credit card and then getting the payment deposited in your bank account. Let us first talk about accepting a credit card on the website. We have already talked about SSL protected website and now we will talk about the payment methods. Accepting credit card payments is very important for your business. In fact, it's almost a necessity in today's marketplace. Mail-order sales, phone orders, craft shows and of course, selling crafts online, all benefit from "taking plastic". While it's true that people will still buy your products if you do not accept credit card payments, you will greatly increase your chances of a sale by giving the customer the option of charging purchases. Even though most people will agree that it's a good idea to accept credit card payments, many crafters are hesitant to begin this process because the steps involved can be confusing at first. Added costs such as transaction fees and set-up fees can also be a deterrent, but the benefits far outweigh the time it takes and the charges involved in accepting credit cards.
Now we will talk about two main payment methods, which are processor or gateway. There is also a possibility of taking credit card information and then processing it offline, which is quite a complicated method. Next is merchant account, it is not necessary that one needs to have a merchant account to carry out online transactions but then it certainly has its benefits. Next we will also talk about business accounts, which usually is your bank account that you usually operate for accepting cheques etc.

Lets now talk about the payment method in details. Payment method is all about verifying the customer’s credit card information that whether the card is good, there is money in the account etc. The two primary ones are gateway or real time in which the entire process takes place while the transaction is taking place and the other one is processor or delayed response. It takes a while to get the response immediately. We will get it to details of these later.

Next is the merchant account. The merchant account can be your current business account but then it’s not necessary that it has to be one. Basically a business account is supposed to be a go-between the gateway and the business account, but in small towns banks e-commerce is not that popular and are not capable of doing a good work. So it is better to go with a merchant account.

Now let us actually see how the entire process works. Now the customer clicks the buy button on your website and this request is then transferred to the payment processor or gateway whichever the case is and then it contacts the bank in which the customer is holding an account to check whether he/she is the right person and if there is enough money in the account, if everything is good then the transaction continues and the money is moved into the merchant account and from there into your bank account. Incase the card is declined the entire process is moved back to the website where a message of declination of the card is mentioned.