Introduction to Payment Gateway

A payment gateway is without any doubt the most important part of an online merchant. The purpose of an online payment gateway is to link a commercial website and a financial organization generally a bank. Once a customer is done selecting the products from a merchant’s website, (s)he can make a payment using his/her online banking details. An online payment would definitely be the most risk involving part of an online purchase.

A payment gateway makes it possible to have a smooth and secure transaction of money for both the merchant as well as the buyer.The payment gateway is basically a service which provides a bridge for a monetary transaction to occur. This means when a customer transfers a certain amount of money from his/her account to that of the merchant, the payment channel acts as a link between the buyer’s account and the merchant’s account.

There are several advantages of a payment gateway which makes it a significant part of the ecommerce websites. The security guaranteed by the payment channel transfer is much superior compared to the other methods of fund transfer. The online payment channels generate script for every transaction and make a record for a further use. It includes all the details of a transaction, the customer’s data and the merchant’s data, which is stored and processed securely. Whether it is a successful payment or a payment failure, the summary is sent to both sides. In case of payment failure, the payment channel explores the reason for the failure and if isn’t possible to transfer the funds after retrying, the amount is refunded back to the customer’s account. Also if a merchant finds himself unable to fulfill the order, a refund can be initiated with the help of the payment gateway to return back the amount which was debited from the customer’s account.

In this way, making a payment through a gateway is beneficial for both the merchant and the buyer. The other advantage of using the payment channel is the inter-currency money transfer feature. Since different currencies operate in different countries, and if your business offer products to the customers from overseas it is important that your payment gateway makes it possible for you to accept the foreign currency.

There are several options for payment channels which you can integrate into your shopping cart. However it is important to ensure the compatibility with your shopping cart. It won’t please a customer if (s)he faces problem regarding the payment. Make sure that your payment gateway is compatible with most of the browsers and systems for the end users.