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Accepting Credit Cards On Your Website
Credit card payment gateways make it possible to accept credit card payments online. There are different types of credit card payment gateway services in Australia but essentially all provide the necessary mechanics, that when teamed with a merchant account, enable you to accept credit card payments on your website.
The New Manual Credit Card Payment Gateway Phenomenon
2004 saw the emergence of the new  manual credit card payment gateway system. While real time gateways communicate directly to merchant accounts to effect transactions in real time, a manual credit card payment gateway system communicates directly to the seller/merchant, placing them in control of what is entered into their merchant accounts and what's not.
This is a highly significant change to the way accepting credit cards online is performed. A 'real time' gateway requires the merchants own merchant account at their bank to be permanently open on the internet to allow open access to anything that is sent to it from the 'real time' payment gateway. It will literally transact anything entered into it. This of course allows transactions to be performed live, however, it also means the merchant account is openly vulnerable to malicious activity such as a criminals entering in stolen credit card numbers.
On the other side, the manual payment gateway system of putting the payment details in front of the seller/merchant first before the charge is effected is an extra layer of security providing welcome relief for both merchants and the banking industry as they struggle to control fraud and those inevitable "charge backs".
A manual system is inherently cheaper to set up and does not charge per transaction whereas real time gateways will usually charge either a fixed fee or a % of the value of each transaction and are generally considerably more costly overall.
The service from the popular Australian manual internet payment gateway, E-Path, takes things one step further and hosts its merchants payment gateway systems under full THAWTE SSL security thereby negating the need for the seller/website owner to install costly secure systems on their own website.
E-Path offers their Submit Secure and Submit Direct services, both are manual credit card payment gateways. Unlike with similar services found in the U.S., e-Path creates a unique secured gateway account for each of its merchants because each account has its own unique encryption key. At time of writing e-Path is purported to be Australia's least expensive credit card payment gateway service.
Payecom Internet Payment Gateway is another popular manual credit card payment gateway system that is quickly gaining popularity amongst first time start up or low volume online merchants on a global level. Like e-Path, Payecom utilises amazingly powerful encryption technology to protect its processes at every level. And again as with e-Path, the Payecom internet payment gateway is considerably less costly when compared to any real time gateway.
However, real time credit card gateway services, like from Secure Pay still seem to be the preferred method for those businesses transacting many hundreds of payments per week through their websites. With large volume sales, the high cost of a real time gateway can be absorbed. The singular advantage of a real time system is automation, everything happens instantly behind the scenes and this can be a great asset for high volume transaction businesses.
But there are well known risky trade-offs with automation, the main one being an absence of control. With a real time gateway set up to transact live on your website your gateway is permanently "plugged" directly into your merchant account, you have little, if any, control over what payments it transacts Subsequently dealing with fake or fraudulent transactions can be very much part of having a real time gateway service.
So for the smaller or budget conscious operator who already has a merchant account with a bank (or who can get one) that is of the type that allows them to directly enter credit card numbers in as they would do when they receive payment via fax machine or telephone, or for the online merchant who just wants control, the manual credit card payment gateway systems are like a breath of fresh air, enabling immediate secure e-commerce functionality on any website for a fraction of the cost of a real time gateway.
When thinking about what system would best suit you perhaps look at four main factors (not in any particular order):
- Cost (initial and ongoing)
- Risk (security for your online customers and yourself as the merchant)
- Ease of use (the flow of how the system works for your online customers)
- Ease of integration (the ease by which you can integrate the system)
In these regards the difference between the manual credit card payment gateways and the real time gateway systems is like "chalk and cheese".
To partake in a friendly online e-commerce discussion community, try visiting one of the many online e-commerce fourms, like e-CommerceTalk.com.au
Below are industry leading Australian service providers of both the manual and real time credit card payment gateway systems:
Australian Manual Credit Card Payment Gateways:
Australian Real Time Credit Card Payment Gateways:
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Secure Pay offers commercial organisations, utilities, local government and e-merchants secure B2B, B2C, and payment services via the internet, phone, or custom software applications.
Combining the latest in internet, telephony and banking network technologies, SecurePay delivers real time secure transactions systems. |
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ANZ eGate is an electronic payment service that enables you to securely accept and process customer payments, by credit or charge card, via your website or call centre. In addition to Verified by Visa, your transactions are transmitted securely over the Internet using 128-bit SSL encryption and PKI digital certificate authentication. |
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Camtech, in conjunction with its Acquiring Institutions and Card Associations have developed a secure payment solution, which allows businesses to transact on the Internet, through Wireless applications, Call Centre solutions & IVR applications in a secure manner. |
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DirectOne Payment Solutions is more than just a "gateway". DirectOne provides all the necessary parts of a credit card transaction system that allows you to sell what you want for the prices you want. DirectOne allows any business to securely process credit card transactions in real time. |
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eSec Internet payment gateway is a secure method for authorising credit card transactions over the Internet in Australian currency. With the Payment Gateway, client credit card details are encrypted the moment that they are transmitted by the client to the banking network. eSec is one of Australia's most affordable real-time credit card payment gateways. |
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