What is Payment Gateways?
Introduction:
Are you planning to run an eCommerce site? Then you need to know about Online Payment Gateway once.
A payment gateway is a technology used by merchants to accept online payment purchases from customers. For business organizations, which provide online services to their customer’s online payment gateways will be a better option for the payment process. In other words, the payment gateway works as the middleman between the customers and the merchant, ensuring the transaction is carried out securely and promptly.
How Does It Work?
By deciding that you are going to accept Payment online for your eCommerce shop, you will need a way to connect to the banking network to process transactions. This is possible through the payment gateway.
When customers buy services or products from an online store, they fill all the required details during checkout. Your website will transmit that customer information to the payment gateway to authorize it and process payment. If the customer account information is valid, then the charge is approved, and the payment gateway will process money from your customer’s account into your merchant account.
What Is a Merchant Account?
A merchant account is a type of business bank account which allows a business to accept and process electronic payment card transactions. A merchant account is totally different from a business bank account. Don’t get confused here. You have no control over your merchant account. It is simply a holding place for deposits. Payment gateways, payment service providers (PSP’s), or banks can provide you with a merchant account.
Whole Payment Process
1. Firstly: the customer selects payment gateways for payment and clicks on the Place order button. Then the browser redirects to the merchant’s web server page where customers can enter their payment details.
2. Then the payment processor receives these payment details and sends them to the associated bank that issues the customer account an authorization request and sends a response code back to the payment processor.
3. The response code contains information about the transaction status(approved or failed) and the error code in case if the transaction is failed(insufficient funds, etc).
4. The payment processor sends a response code to payment gateways and redirects it to a page with a relevant message of transaction.
How can you integrate payment gateways?
You can integrate one or more payment gateways for your eCommerce store to facilitate customers for payment. First Of all, you need a merchant account so the payment process is possible and you can see all the transactions at the merchant account. You have to contact the associated payment gateway provider for a merchant account and integration, they will provide all necessary credentials and API documentation for integration and further processes.