Are you a seller who is ready to go online? For many new online merchants it is a very cumbersome and difficult process to understand ecommerce. They often fail to understand the basics of ecommerce and consequently face problems in setting up their online businesses.
In this article, I discuss one of the most important aspect of ecommerce, the difference between a Payment gateway, Payment processor and a Merchant account.
In this article, I discuss one of the most important aspect of ecommerce, the difference between a Payment gateway, Payment processor and a Merchant account.
Payment Gateway
A payment gateway is your doorway to making sales online. A Payment gateway will allow you to charge your customer’s credit/debit card with the purchase he/she makes online.
Just like a physical point of sales terminal at your bricks and mortar retail store, the Payment Gateway authorizes you to take card payments directly from your website. The payment gateway acts as a mediator between the transactions that take place on your website and the payment processor. This is needed because it is prohibited, due to security reasons, to transmit transaction information directly from your website to a payment processor. Most online merchant accounts come with a payment gateway included, like VTC Pay (top1 payment gateway in Vietnam).
Just like a physical point of sales terminal at your bricks and mortar retail store, the Payment Gateway authorizes you to take card payments directly from your website. The payment gateway acts as a mediator between the transactions that take place on your website and the payment processor. This is needed because it is prohibited, due to security reasons, to transmit transaction information directly from your website to a payment processor. Most online merchant accounts come with a payment gateway included, like VTC Pay (top1 payment gateway in Vietnam).
Payment Processor
Payment processors or Acquirers are the financial institutions that work in the background to provide all the payment processing services used by an online merchant. These companies usually have partnerships with other companies that directly deal with consumers or merchants.
Payment processors make reselling agreements with Payment gateways or Merchant account providers in order to provide their services directly to internet merchants. Some Payment Processors do provide direct merchant services, but most companies focus on processing payments only. Payment Processors usually don’t market their services and prefer to stay in the background, processing payments for Independent sales organizations (ISOs) and Member service providers (MSPs) who have partnered with them.
Payment processors make reselling agreements with Payment gateways or Merchant account providers in order to provide their services directly to internet merchants. Some Payment Processors do provide direct merchant services, but most companies focus on processing payments only. Payment Processors usually don’t market their services and prefer to stay in the background, processing payments for Independent sales organizations (ISOs) and Member service providers (MSPs) who have partnered with them.
Merchant Accounts
Merchant accounts are the type of bank accounts that authorize you to accept credit or debit cards payments online. These accounts are required if you want to use a payment gateway to process transactions from your website.
Many companies including some payment processors and most payment gateways provide merchant accounts. These accounts can also be opened with some large banks that provide such services.
In most cases, Independent sales organizations (ISOs) or Member Service Provider (MSP) provide these accounts. These organizations have agreements with payment processors to provide such merchant services. In addition to this, Independent contractors or Agents of ISOs also provide Merchant accounts.
In all cases, to acquire a merchant account, one must have some sort of arrangement with a payment processor to charge a customer’s credit/debit card.
There are a variety of payment gateways and payment processors out there. They vary in the monthly fees they charge, transaction costs they incur and in various other aspects. It is vital to choose the right company for your merchant account if you plan to run an online business.
In all cases, to acquire a merchant account, one must have some sort of arrangement with a payment processor to charge a customer’s credit/debit card.
There are a variety of payment gateways and payment processors out there. They vary in the monthly fees they charge, transaction costs they incur and in various other aspects. It is vital to choose the right company for your merchant account if you plan to run an online business.
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