Payment gateways fulfill a vital role in the ecommerce transaction process, authorizing the payment between merchant and customer. Right from encryption of the data to clearing transaction, payment gateway acts as a perfect middleman and perform several tasks to finalize the transaction. Payment gateways also screen orders with a myriad of helpful tools. This screening process filters out as much fraud as possible. To sum up, there are four simple steps in the payment gateway process:
Collection
Your customer chooses the product or service they want to purchase and then enters their credit card details onto your payment page. This information is then directed to your payment gateway.
Authentication
Your payment gateway then takes this information, and sending it via a shielded link to your bank account.
Authorisation
At this point you will know that the sale has been approved and you can deliver the ordered products or services.
Settlement
At last, the transaction data is verified by your bank and the money from the sale is deposited into your account. When the actual payment will arrive in your account will depend on your payment gateway – it can be as little as real-time or as long as 21 working days.
