If you’re a company that accepts credit and debit card transactions online, you need to choose the best payment processor. Online payment processors handle all the heavy lifting, from capturing sales to sending you a statement of your bill and collaborating with banks to ensure you get paid.
Payment gateways or PoS terminals are used when a buyer purchases something from your website or in-store. The gateway secures the information to ensure its security and transmits it to the payment processor who then transmits it to the card network of the customer. The card network checks with the customer’s bank to determine if there’s enough money in the account to pay for the item. If the bank accepts the purchase and the card issuer accepts it, they will transfer funds from their account to the bank of the merchant. The payment processor will transmit this information back to the merchant’s website or PoS terminal that will notify the customer that the transaction was successful.
When selecting a processor, be sure to consider security and ease of use and compatibility with existing systems. Select a processor that provides APIs and plug-ins to seamlessly integrate with your ecommerce platform or POS system. You should also evaluate the checkout experience for your customers, as well as the reporting and transaction management experiences for your team. In the end, make sure you understand the contract terms and how easy it is to change providers in the future.
