Payment gateway processors make banks look good. Beware of processors and carefully watch their billing to your account, and to your credit card too.
For each payment method (except online payment by credit card) the customer is prompted to send in payment. You validate this payment according to your own business rules. You ensure the customer has actually made payment. For example, if payment by check is made, then you verify the check has cleared and that funds have been transferred into your bank account.
For online credit card validation (which you may turn on or off) the customer payment is verified by your credit card processor. Separate documents detail how this is done. Each processor will have different ways of achieving the same goal - of making sure the credit card payment is valid.
A Payment Gateway can be integrated for you by DreamRiver for a flat rate of $99 for any major gateway integration. If you are examining what gateway is best, look at either:
Worldpay is a reputable firm. It is capable of giving you everything you need in an online processing environment - and even can offer you a slice of the action if you decide to buy into their partner program. Worldpay is also the ONLY firm capable of giving you true multi-currency capability. You can also purchase additional chargeback guarantee protection.
Paypal offers a much lower price to get started. Their system tends to be easy to use. If you just need a single function processor then perhaps paypal might work for you. If you have more than one product or service to sell then you may be better off with Worldpay who can give you a complete system with all the bells and whistles. Paypal is a good first payment processor because the total cash outlay you need to get started is low. And Paypal spares you the volumes of application documents that other processors insist on having.
http://www.paypal.comThere may be NO other processors worthy of consideration. (We have even received complaints about Paypal and Worldpay.) If you think there are, please let us know. If you have any questions feel free to ask!
The agony of autocratic gateway decisions, performance loss, poor support, chargebacks, bad or non-existent documentation, bugs in the gateway code, slow servers, wrongful or missed billing, internal administration errors, inadequate administration tools and other typical gateway problems may be endless. In terms of financial cost this is what to expect:
Payment gateway processors make banks look good. Beware of processors and carefully watch their billing to your account, and to your credit card too.