In an age of connected commerce, creating a frictionless purchasing experience is key to driving new business and improving customer retention. With eCommerce credit card processing, customers can make seamless and secured payments directly on your website or in your app. eCommerce solutions aren’t just for retail goods. They also encompass services like online bill payments, donations, and registrations.
The Basics of eCommerce Payment Processing
To accept online payments, both small and large eCommerce merchants need three things:
- Merchant Account: A type of account that allows merchants to accept electronic payments from their customers. After transactions have been authorized and settled, the funds from customers’ credit and debit card companies are deposited into this account. The money is then transferred to the merchant’s business banking account usually within 1-2 days. To obtain a merchant account, businesses need to establish a relationship with a merchant services provider, like First Data.
- Payment Gateway: A technology platform that connects your ecommerce web site to a merchant services provider. It transfers the data between the payment processor and the website or mobile device to continue the payment lifecycle.
- Payment Processor: A financial services institution, such as a credit card services provider, that facilitates the transaction data between the merchant account, the issuing bank, and the acquiring bank. The processor basically administers the entire transaction lifecycle. First Data is a payment processor that supports both issuing banks and merchant acquiring.
How eCommerce Credit Card Processing Works
Whether purchasing a gift, paying a bill, or making an online donation, customers begin the eCommerce transaction by entering their credit or debit card numbers into the checkout page or form on the website or app. Once they click the button to submit the information, the encrypted payment details are sent to the payment processor via the payment gateway. The payment processor notifies the card-issuing bank to ensure the customer has available funds, and the transaction is approved or rejected.
The payment processor then communicates the authorization or decline back to the payment gateway. The gateway sends the approval or decline back to the merchant’s website. If approved, the customer receives a receipt or order confirmation, and the funds are deducted from customer’s available credit or bank account and settled into the merchant’s bank account.
eCommerce Solutions
All eCommerce merchants are unique, but the goal should be the same – ease the online checkout process and instill customer confidence with a secured payment transaction. At First Data, we offer a number of eCommerce solutions that will help you reach your goals and offer a secure eCommerce payment processing experience.
First Data Gateway
A payment gateway is essential to processing eCommerce transactions. With First Data Gateway, you can accept secured payments through your website and receive real-time authorization responses from major card brands and/or other local payment providers through a single solution. The feature-rich payment gateway also provides access to services including tokenization, hosted payment form options, and a Virtual Terminal to accept transactions manually.
PayeezySM Gateway
Payeezy, an alternative payment gateway, is a dynamic eCommerce solution that goes beyond accepting payments, giving you easy access to everything needed to establish or improve your customers’ online shopping experience. Payeezy helps make it easy to sell online, empowering merchants to think bigger, work smarter, and compete in today’s ever-changing marketplace.
Local Payments
The always-on digital economy is borderless. Your customers may be right in your own “backyard” or around the globe. To accommodate your customers and the way they want to pay, First Data Local Payments enables merchants to manage varying online payment methods through a single interface. This includes real-time online banking, direct debit, cash/voucher payments, mobile wallets, payout schemes, and more.
Dynamic Currency Conversion (DCC)
Offer international customers the choice to pay in your base currency (price) or in their preferred currency. To help ensure customers are receiving the best foreign exchange rates at the time of purchase, DCC is highly regulated by Visa® and Mastercard®.
This transparency allows customers to make educated purchasing decisions and usually leads to customer loyalty. As transactions are converted at the time of sale, instead of on the cardholder’s statement, the price on a customer’s receipt will match their statement.
Fraud Detect
According to a Lexis Nexis study, eCommerce saw a 30% increase in fraudulent transactions in 2018.1 First Data’s Fraud Detect solution gives you the tools to help get ahead of the fraudsters and reduce risk. The technology provides real-time data on credit, debit, and gift card transactions to alert merchants to stolen and counterfeit cards, as well as emerging fraud schemes. Powered by machine-learning technology, Fraud Detect also provides fraud scoring and decisioning to help pinpoint fraud globally.
Why Do You Need eCommerce Solutions?
Business owners are no longer limited to brick and mortar locations to sell their goods, provide a service, or accept bill payments and donations. The world of eCommerce has allowed business owners, like you, to expand their reach in the age of digitization. With eCommerce credit card processing, you provide your patrons with a seamless and secured checkout process that helps lower your costs, reduce shopping cart abandonment, and enhance the customer experience.
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1 “2018 True Cost of FraudSM Study for the Retail Sector,” LexisNexis
