I want to add a payment gateway to my website. What are some of the good ways to do it?
India has been an emerging e-commerce hotspot for a few years now, and as such, has quite a few more payment gateway options than what were available just two years ago. Typically, those who pose this question are more focused on the technical aspect of gateway implementation, but there’s a lot more you’ll need to consider.
Without knowing the specifics of your startup (the types of products or services you provide and whether you only plan on conducting transactions in India with a single currency, etc.) it’s hard to pinpoint what your best option would be. For that reason, I’ll provide a brief overview of the process, as almost all gateway implementations work similarly, and I’ll also provide you with some links to articles which can further elaborate on how payment gateway implementations works.
From technical standpoint, in order to perform the integration, you need to define which basic functions you need. At a minimum, you will need the basic payment card processing functions. In the case of e-commerce websites, mostly card-not-present (CNP) transactions are what is involved. However, there are some online services that might require website owners to use physical or mobile payment terminals. For that reason, a terminal integration aspect might also be relevant. You might also need to be able to void errant transactions.
Try to consider every possible customer scenario and choose your features and functionality based on the customer’s experience. It might help to consider what features you find useful when you shop online.
Next, you will need to decide whether you want to store payment card data. Online integrations are usually performed using hosted payment pages. As a result, you (the website owner) will receive an encrypted token to be stored instead of the customer’s actual card number. This will allow you to process recurring (repeated) payments (using this token).
If you choose to store card data (helpful when repeat customers make future purchases) you will most likely need to undergo PCI-compliance audits which can be quite costly and time-consuming.
You’ll need to understand the concept of hosted payment pages and their use. For those who need to process recurring payments, fully understanding the concept of tokenization is essential. Those who need POS terminal integrations will also have to familiarize with terminal specifications. I’ll provide an article at the end of my answer to help with this.
Another major consideration is whether you plan on conducting international transactions in multiple currencies. You might not think it matters, but costs can add up quickly when your payment gateway provider assesses a fee for every cross-border transaction and currency conversion. Just food for thought.
To summarize:
From a business perspective, it’s best to view the selection of a payment gateway as you would in choosing a business partner. Every gateway has its own specification for the implementation of each of your required functions and operations.
Ultimately, you need to choose which features are the most necessary to your specific e-commerce needs in India and partner with a payment gateway that can support those requirements in addition to scaling accordingly as your business grows.
How do get a high-risk merchant account for your business?
Has your local bank declined your application, telling you they cannot open a merchant facility because your business model or history presents a risk for them, or that they do not offer services to merchants within your industry?
Luckily Acardpay specializes in high risk merchant accounts. Our risk management experts and decade-long experience working with trustworthy payment institutions allows flexible case by case approach. With our network of tested and trusted international, offshore and domestic banking partners, we are able to provide a merchant account solution for your business no matter if you have been categorized as high risk before or even if your are a startup business.
Who needs a high risk merchant account?
There are many factors which are considered by banks and payment providers when classifying a business as high risk. First in the line is the industry reputation of the business and trading/processing history. For example, online gambling industry is automatically considered as high risk by acquiring banks due to historic connections with unregulated schemes as well as past experiences. When there’s a potential for clients being unsatisfied with the product or service, or when volumes are higher, there is higher chance of disputes or even data theft of credit card details. The providers are at risk and thus impose stricter terms, or decline the merchant account opening.
Chargeback ratios and processing history
Business trading history, what we refer to as a credit card processing history, is the second most important factor. Card schemes, Visa and MasterCard, dictate the acceptable chargeback thresholds, which are between 1-2% from sales volume and transaction count. Many businesses can reach this threshold very fast and even a couple of consequtive months above 2% means the bank will terminate merchant account facility. That’s why most high risk merchants are asked for detailed card processing statements for past 6 months and can only be approved after thorough review. High chargeback ratios, excessive refunds and fraud trends lower the chances of getting approved.
How did you decide which payment processing solution to use on your website?
If you want to choose a right payment gateway, you should consider the following:
Targeting audience. Identifying a target market helps your company develop effective marketing communication strategies.
Various payment providers suggest different payment methods and it is important to choose the best one for your demands.
Fees. Typically, payment providers charge money for each transaction but also, some of them have hidden fees, so be careful.
Find out whether your payment provider accepts recurring payments or subscription payment model or not.
Reliable payment providers must be compliant with PCI DSS certification - data security standard.
Availability of support.
I work at Acardpay - international payment providing company. We offer solutions for merchants across all business verticals, specialized more towards High-Risk business.
Our Advantages:
Integration with all major shopping platforms
Operate in 130+ countries.
24/7 support
Only transaction fees(starts from 1.2%). No hidden fees. Free set-up.
Mobile payments.
Recurring payments.
Credit and debit card processing.
Compliant with PCI DSS level 1 certification - the highest level of data protection.
Which online payment gateways can I use for an adult dating website?
Online dating is one of the industries that engage millions of users, so the business owners need to find a reliable payment partner to make sure everything goes as planned. One of the biggest challenges is to tackle with the chargeback problem (especially for businesses considered high-risk), so ask a payment provider for its anti-fraud tools and security solutions.
I’d recommend you Acardpay (the company I work for) that was introduced as the first choice for payments among the dating industry.
Acardpay gives you a multi-level risk protection and tools that adapt to new fraud patterns that spring up like mushrooms in real-time, so it helps you reduce the number of false positives. There’s also a non-invasive 3D secure authentication that reduces the number of chargebacks right away, without causing any drop in conversion.
The thing is to find a reasonable balance between fraud detection and customer experience. With Acardpay, you can add immediate, one-click payments that are secure and enhance the user experience by simplifying the entire payment process.
Furthermore, you can split the risk, as Acardpay partners with various acquiring banks. The smart routing also reduces the costs and improves the payment experience, as a payment goes smoothly, without interrupting the process.
How can you figure out what payment processor or gateway an e-Commerce site is using?
Any serious company will have it boldly stated in their Terms of Service. Especially with the upcoming changes concerning GDPR one should clearly inform their customers about how sensitive information such as cardholder data are being processed, and the Privacy Policy is the right place to highlight that kind of information.
Moreover, look for banners on their website. One of the compliance check rules when onboarding a new merchant asks for clearly displaying the Visa and Mastercard logos, and a lot of payment providers offer their merchants an easy way to install banners with these logos plus a security mark, stating who processes those payments, very likely in a secure way.
If this doesn’t cut it, you can always try and make a test order, to see where you are being redirected after the checkout. This page usually helps you identify who is the payment processor, and here are some cues to spot:
company name and logo (again, important if the PSP is keen on highlighting security)
support email and phone number (where you can spot the domain name)
(sub)domain of the page (this can be however customised)
SSL certificate
looking under the bonnet (HTML source code can reveal a lot in this regard)
What is a merchant account and how do I open my merchant account?
What is a merchant account?
A merchant account is an account to which you will receive funds for sales, as well as where funds will be taken out in the case of refunds. The funds from your merchant account will be transferred to your business’ bank account, at which time you can manage your funds as you would normally. It is necessary to have a merchant account in order to accept payments in an online store.
How do I get a merchant account?
One option is to go through your payment gateway provider to obtain your merchant account, so you don’t have to deal with the hassles of managing one on your own. Some services will provide you with one merchant account that can accept payments internationally. My company, Acardpay, provides a merchant account (capable of accepting payments internationally) in addition to provide payment gateway solution.
For more information:
Acardpay | What is a Merchant Account? - We wrote a blog post that breaks down merchant accounts into a bit more detail.
What Is A Payment Gateway? - This blog post elaborates on payment gateways in more detail.
Online Payment Solutions for eCommerce, B2B & Acardpay Companies - Check out our website for more information on our features and capabilities.
Services changing from payment processor
There are all kinds of third party payment processor companies which run business in the model about the same way. But the internet business is growing so fast and widely involved, all kinds of requirement and needs in many aspect surround this are increasing. So the payment processor is gradually changing their orientation. The third party is not merely a payment processor but also a combined service provider for online business runner. They develop various services according to the merchants’ requirement and raise the value of their existence. This has been a important way for third party payment companies in running their business.
For a third party payment company, the service level raised, user experience improved, could be a key of standing out in this industry. A good payment processor, they can get through all payment processing channels and provide custom solution for their client. And it requires a excellent technical team and many years of experiences in this industry.
During payment service providing with their merchant, each aspect surround it may affect a merchant using experience. A payment system can be subdivided to: account system, billing system, payment system, risk control system, accounting system etc. Among all these, it will affect a merchant directly or indirectly. The most concerned question from the merchant is the settlement. There are withdraw and wire transfer in settlement method.
