What Is a CC Payment Gateway?
With the number of available customers dwindling for brick and mortar businesses and skyrocketing for online stores, the difference between a CC payment gateway—that is, a credit card payment gateway—and merchant accounts online is an important thing to be aware of.
This knowledge can help to propel a business toward success with customers hungry for more efficient services and more diverse available payment methods. The lack of it could leave businesses out in the cold. Processing eCommerce transactions for businesses with an online component can be done efficiently and cheaply or it can be done with unnecessary fees and ineffective services. The right CC payment gateway can be the difference.
Can anyone get a gateway?
CC payment gateways are a portal between the Internet and the traditional banking network. The infrastructure necessary to do this has some things in common with the functions performed by a merchant account online, but it is not the same.
Every time a transaction is conducted online, the transaction information is sent to the CC payment gateway, which, in turn, transmits this data to the traditional banking network. Then, the CC payment gateway immediately returns the results of the transaction to the Internet, letting both the buyer and seller know whether the transaction was completed successfully or if the transaction was declined for some reason.
Merchant accounts online
Merchant accounts online are special bank accounts for merchants. With a merchant account online, businesses have someone in their corner enabling their sites to accept credit and debit card payments, assisting with chargebacks and other transaction disputes, and providing security services that encrypt transactions against hackers. In addition to accepting credit cards online, these same merchant accounts can also be used to accept credit card payments by mail, over the phone, or face-to-face. Some merchant account providers also offer card swipe machines, mobile purchase options, encryption programs, shopping carts, and many other things that businesses may require in order to successfully conduct eCommerce transactions.
Merchant accounts online and CC payment gateways work hand-in-hand. When the CC payment gateway conducts the credit card transaction, the cardholder’s payment is transferred into the business’s merchant account.
The Takeaway
CC payment gateways and merchant accounts online offer services that complement each other. CC payment gateways connect the Internet to the traditional banking network in order to conduct online credit card transactions. After those transactions are successfully completed, the customer’s payment is transferred to the business’s merchant account.
Visit charge.com or call (888) 924-2743 to accept credit cards online with a service that keeps payments secure, assists with transaction disputes, and offers other business services enabling diverse payment methods that can help any business be more successful in the competitive online marketplace.