Accepting Credit Card Payments from Online Customers

There seems to be one part of owning and running a business that many otherwise intelligent and savvy e-commerce business owners forget. They will spend weeks setting up a web site, listing their products and services and uploading photos of their wares but sometimes spend no time on the ultimate result - making it easy for customers to purchase what they are selling.

It is not secret that the easiest and most popular online payment method is the credit card. There are of course, many more payment options available to both consumers and businesses, but today we will focus on how to set yourself up to accept credit cards. This is the most popular type of online payment, which makes this a necessity for your business – not an option.

The Internet is built on immediate access to information as well as products and services - hopefully yours. People who enjoy the immediate access that the internet allows don’t want to mess with phoning in their orders much less writing out a check and mailing it to you. They will go somewhere else. Another point that you have to remember is, since this is a “virtual” business not a brick and mortar store, it looks more like a “real store” if you accept credit cards. Accepting credit cards will also give you the advantage of not having to run to the bank and will prevent you from getting letters in your mailbox notifying you of a bounced check

The first order of business in accepting credit cards is to contact a merchant account provider that provides the hardware and software you will need to accept credit card payments on your site. This is an application process for which you and your business must qualify.

There are three types of merchant account providers:

1. Direct processors
Direct processors, which are usually banks, allow you direct access to the credit card processing centers. The completed order form is transmitted from your site through a secure server that then captures the credit card information, and passes it along to the bank.