Payment Gateways
What is a Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the merchant.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via the shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. Plugins are used to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.
The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print. Here are some of the major points to consider when selecting a payment gateway service.- Statement - the charge each month for issuing you statements on all transactions
- Application fee - some institutions will charge you for the privilege of applying for an account, regardless of whether your application is successful or not.
- Setup fee - once your application has been approved, there may be other fees associated with establishing the account.
- Discount Rate - a percentage deducted for each product sold. Also known as the Discount qualified rate
- Mid-qualified and Non-Qualified rate. A higher rate for transactions that don't qualify for the discount rate. Usually applied in circumstances where AVS is not checked or the card is keyed in by the merchant.
- Transaction fee - added to the discount rate, a flat rate on each transaction
- Monthly Minimum - what you will be charge regardless of the level of sales each month
- Reserve - some providers require you to maintain a certain level in the account to cover chargeback fees.
- Chargeback - the killer fee which may cost you up to £30 per fraudulent transaction (which includes any client disputing a transaction successfully).
Gateway compatibility
Ensure that the payment gateway service is compatible.
Topshopper has built-in support for WorldPay, PayPal, Nochex, PayPoint and
SagePay.
TopShopper has a Plugin for Total Web Solutions and Google Checkout
see TopShopper II Support
