Online Credit Card Processing for Swift and Flexible Payments to Significantly Transform your Business
What is the Definition of Online Credit Card Processing?
Online credit card processing is the way of accepting payments from customers using debit/credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. Just like you would swipe your card at a petrol station, online customers must "swipe" while making a purchase through an ecommerce site. The primary distinction is that there is no physical terminal to conduct the transaction, which is where online processing comes in.
In a broader sense, online credit card processing (also known as having a merchant account) is the process of conducting financial transactions via the internet. This chain of events necessitates the use of a payment gateway and payment processor to assist transport and communicate information over the web and guarantee that you, the business owner, receive consumer payments swiftly and properly. While the transaction itself just takes a few seconds, there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes, which we'll go into later.
Instantcharge is famous when it comes to security and dispute settlement. Buyers not only trust us to keep their credit card information private, but we also provide various security protections for vendors. We makes online credit card payment processing a lot less terrifying with 24/7 transaction monitoring, merchant fraud protection, and protection programme that protects your balance against chargebacks.
Should I Use a Merchant Account or Online Credit Card Processing Service for My Business?
If you're like most others, your hunt for a way to take online payments begins with the question, "Should I use or obtain a merchant account?" While many companies choose to utilise other payment system because of their convenience and ease of use, there are some significant negatives to doing so on their own.
However, it's not an either/or situation: both are critical methods to give your consumers with the ease and flexibility they require. You must, however, ensure that accepting credit cards via your merchant account is always an option. This is why:
Enhanced Consumer Convenience:
Accepting credit cards through a merchant account simplifies the checkout process. If you only take PayPal, clients will most likely have to leave your site to log into or establish a PayPal account in order to complete the transaction. Many of your consumers will be unwilling to go the additional mile.
Reduce Abandoned Carts:
To elaborate on the previous point, if clients are unwilling to go an extra step, they will abandon their cart and choose a site that fulfils their demands. Accepting payments with your own merchant account can help you increase and maintain the sales you've worked so hard to achieve in the first place.
Receive Money Faster:
Using a merchant account allows you to receive payments in as little as two days, with money sent immediately into your bank account of choice. When using third-party services, it might take up to three or four days to get your payments, causing problems at the end of the month.
Get Tailored Support:
When you have a merchant account, you will frequently enjoy better and more personalized customer service. Phone help is often only offered to the highest-tiered consumers of third-party providers.
Maintain Business Growth:
As your company expands, you'll notice that third-party services are no more cost-effective due to excessive transaction costs. Furthermore, as your consumer base grows, so will the necessity for you to broaden your payment alternatives in order to accommodate a more diversified range of buyers.
Above all, solely accepting payments through third-party services such as PayPal harms your company's and brand's reputation. If you don't take credit cards directly through your website, it undermines the credibility of your whole ecommerce operation, leaving customers wondering if your site is genuinely authentic.
What Characteristics Distinguish a Reputable Online Credit Card Payment Processing Service?
Is it compatible with the payment methods you want to accept and how you want to accept them?
Do you want to directly take only major credit cards? Do you also wish to accept account-based services such? All of the services on this list accept major credit cards, and some also allow alternative payment methods.
What will you pay each month and each transaction?
Fees are maybe the most difficult to calculate. The majority of payment systems charge a percentage (say, 3%) plus a set fee (say, $0.50) each transaction. That implies that if you sell a $10 item, you'll pay $0.30 in percentage fees plus $0.50 in fixed fees for a total of $0.80.
Some providers do not include the set price and instead charge a monthly subscription (say, $50) to use the app. Others—and most merchant accounts—will charge a significantly lower price in addition to the interchange fee—the direct fee charged by the credit card provider. This implies that your costs will vary depending on the transaction. Almost all demand additional costs for charge-backs, disputes, and other payment services, as well as an additional % fee for overseas payments.
It's something you should double-check, especially if you process a lot of money. When you're just getting started, features that make payments easier are probably more significant than a 0.2 percent cost.
Is the Platform Safe to Use?
When working with financial data and transactions, security is also an issue. Any reputable payment processing instrument in the United States will be PCI-compliant, which means it follows the regulations for managing sensitive information like credit card data. All of the applications on our list fit this condition, but if you live outside of the United States, you should verify your local laws.
Payment processing solutions often check your identification and bank details before you can finish setting up an account to avoid fraud. This normally entails entering the last four digits of your Social Security number (in the United States) as well as your bank account information, such as the routing number.
Aside from these three requirements, you should examine whether you require any other capabilities in a payments solution, such as recurring billing or mobile payments. If you're selling personalized paintings, for example, you might want a payment solution that also has ecommerce capabilities, such as the ability to create distinct listings for each piece. If your product requires regular payments, you'll need an online credit card payment processing solution that can handle a variety of subscriptions or billing systems.
Instantcharge gives you a lot of freedom in how you integrate it into your online business, which might be scary if you've never set up a payment processing platform before. But it's not too difficult: you can add a basic, secure checkout form to your site. You may even personalise the whole experience by using APIs to power payments deep within your webapp.