Accepting Payments Online

By Jeremy Sanders

Many small businesses look to expand their income by creating websites to sell their goods and services. Choosing the most effective and efficient means of processing online orders, accepting payments, and shipping the product out to the customer are crucial in making sales online.

Some online companies still accept payments the “old fashion way” – by sending out invoices and then sending out the product once a check has arrived in the mail. But in today’s market, your customers want speedy service and want to pay with a credit or debit card. But with this type of transaction, where you are not face to face with a customer like you are in a retail shop to process their credit card in their presence, there is the risk of fraud or other scams.

The best way to handle online credit card payments is to let your bank handle it. Many banks have merchant accounts that allow you to accept credit card payments and the funds are deposited directly into your accounts. Most banks have a monthly charge for this service. If you have a credit card machine from your bank already at your shop, you may have the ability to tie that service into your website as well.

If your bank does not have these services, you can apply for a merchant account with a payment service provider. These are companies that accept the payment for you and transfer the funds into your bank account. They usually charge a monthly fee and/or a percentage of each transaction. There are thousands of payment service providers, so do some research on the most popular and find the one that meets your needs. Or ask your web designer or webmaster which company they recommend because they will ultimately have to modify your site to accept payment.

Once you are set up to accept payments, you have to make your site ready to accept payment. Each payment service provider has a different method of accepting the information from your site to take the payment from the customer. Some of these methods involve complex coding that must be entered into your website in order for it to work properly. You may also have to purchase and install an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) that encrypts the data being sent so that no one can steal the personal information or credit card information. So find out from your web designer or webmaster how much time and money it will take to implement each program before making your final decision.