How to set up Credit Card Processing foryour Business

Your Topic Set up a Gateway AccountThis is your doorway to digital commerce. There are a number to choose from, but look for the following features: PCI DSS Compliant. This ensures that the gateway meets the

requirements for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to ensure that transactions are protected. Any reputable gateway service will have this feature.

Has full eCommerce integration, including shopping carts, email receipts and support for recurring payments.

Report generation, which allows you to track sales and trends. Rapid customer support, whether it is by pone or online chat.

You want to be able to resolve problems fast!

Popular Gateway Service Providers

Flagship Merchant Services

Intuit Merchant Service

Authorize.net

Set Up Merchant Account

Some of the Gateway Service Providers include merchant services, but you can shop

around and find the best fit for you. Here are Key Features to

look for:

Digital application and set up time. Most applications take one to two days to process.

Monthly fees and transaction fees. The percentage differences may be small, but if you expect to do a significant number of transactions, those little differences can really add up!

Credit Card Swiper. This is necessary for P.O.S. transactions. (In some cases, this is now possible with smartphones.)

Virtual terminal, this is necessary for online transactions. Shopping cards, in order to sell products on an e-commerce

site some credit card processing companies require you to have their shopping cart on your website.

Payment Gateway, do that have a gateway service of their own or have a partnership?

Fraud Protection.

Understand the System

Credit Card processing provides for the secure transfer

of funds from a cardholder’s bank account to a merchant

account in payment for goods and services rendered.

To make this happen efficiently, the transactions are channeled through a payment gateway. A payment gateway is a service that verifies and authorizes all payments to merchant accounts. This includes traditional brick-and-mortar operations as well as online sales transactions. Here are the steps involved: The customer pays with a credit card. Authorization is checked. (The payment gateway services

sends the transactional data to the merchant bank’s processor, who in turn, routes the transaction data to the cardholders bank.)

The transaction is verified. The cardholders bank will either approve or decline the transaction.

Goods are delivered, given a card has been accepted. Transaction is complete.

Balance Cost with ReliabilityWhen shopping for credit card processing, you’ll quickly realize that

rates and fees can vary greatly from company to company. It is always a good idea to get a half a dozen quotes before choosing a provider.

That said, while looking for competitive rates, it is always best to make sure the credit card processor you intend to choose can support your

business needs. Test out the credit card processors customer and technical support

lines before agreeing to use them permanently. Call them several times at various times of day through the week. See how long you wait on hold before someone answers your call, or

see if you are forwarded to an answering machine. It doesn’t matter if your services are the least expensive around - if your solution goes down, you have a lineup of customers wanting to pay and you cannot get a hold of technical support to assist you.