Setting up secure payment processing is paramount to accepting online payments. Secure payment processing protects you as a business and your customers. To accept online payments from customers you need a payment gateway as well as a merchant account. If you don’t already have a merchant account you need to set one up with a bank, most UK high street banks offer merchant bank accounts. A merchant account is a contract between you the business and the bank, and provides you with the facility to accept credit and debit card payments. The merchant number is required for internet payment transactions. If you already have a merchant account number then the next step is setting up a payment gateway. Some banks offer payment gateway services as an optional extra when opening a merchant account. Make sure you check the rates carefully as typically banks charge up to 2% more than independent payment gateway providers. Using an independent gateway provider such as Secure Hosting is not only more cost-effective, but they will offer you guidance throughout the process and can assist you when setting up a merchant account if you need one.
In order to accept online payments you must have a secure payment gateway, to act as an intermediary between you the customer and the bank. A payment gateway safeguards payment processing by providing a secure sever to host online payment forms and forward the payment data to your merchant bank for authorisation. Once the bank has authorised the transaction, the gateway will send confirmation to the customer and a confirmation of the order to you. A payment gateway assists payment processing, and ensures data is transmitted securely between your website and bank. A payment gateway doesn’t have access to the funds only the merchant bank has access to the funds.