E-COMMERCE
| WHAT IS A MERCHANT BANK ACCOUNT
| MANUAL VS REAL TIME CREDIT CARD
PAYMENTS | WHAT IS A PAYMENT GATEWAY
| (SSL) SECURE SERVER & SECURE CERTIFICATE
Ecommerce
If
you are selling products or services via your website then you will require a
way to accept payments from customers for goods/services.
The
most convenient way on the internet today for both the merchant and the customer
is to accept credit card payments. There are other payment methods which are also
acceptable, such as cheque, post office cheque, Internet banking, direct bank
deposit.
The
payment methods you choose to use on your website will probably be determined
by your budget and volume of sales.
Low
budget and/or low volume sales
Recommended
payment methods:
- Cheque,
Internet banking, & direct bank deposit.
- Credit
card payments using:
- PayPal or equivalent system such as Pay Mate; OR
- Manual credit card processing.
Higher
budget and/or high volume sales
Recommended
payment methods:
- Cheque,
Internet banking, & direct bank deposit.
- Manual
credit card payments; OR
- Real
Time credit card payments (including PayPal)
NOTE:
To process
credit cards you will require a Merchant Bank Account OR if you're on a tight
budget you may want to consider an alternative credit card system such as PayPal
or PayMate.
What
is a Merchant Account?
A
merchant account is a special bank account that enables your business to accept
payments by credit card either manually or in real time.
Manual
vs Real Time Credit Card Payments
- Manual
Credit Card Payments (suitable for low volume sales)
Allows you to accept credit card payments "Manually", ie.
when a customer on your website makes an order with their credit card, the order
would be sent to you via email and your customers credit card information will
be stored securely on the hosting server. You would log in with a user name and
password to retrieve the credit card details, then you would process the payment
yourself by contacting your bank.
- Real
Time Credit Card Payments (recommended for high volume sales)
Allows you to accept credit card payments in "Real Time", ie.
When a customer on your website makes an order with their credit card, the order
would be sent via a "Payment Gateway" to your merchant bank account,
hence the payment is processed automatically live in real time.
if
you choose to use Real Time Credit Card Processing, you may also require a Payment
Gateway Solution. Some banks offer this as part of their solution.
What
is a Payment Gateway?
A
payment gateway is a software program that integrates to a merchant's website
and allows real time credit card processing (authorising and settlement)
of payments securely on the Internet to the merchant's bank account.
