What is an Internet Payment Gateway?

In order to process credit card transactions over the internet the merchant must have an internet payment gateway along with a merchant account. This is where a lot of merchants get confused. The internet payment gateway is the means of getting the secured transaction to the merchant provider for an authorization; think of it as a Point of Sale terminal (POS) for the internet.

Most merchant account providers have access to a payment gateway and your merchant provider must set you up with your payment gateway; the information needed to set up a gateway must come from the merchant account provider.

The payment gateway can also be linked to a secured shopping cart for e-commerce merchants; by now most of us have made purchases through the internet and have used a shopping cart. The shopping cart is a secured portal that allows the customer to enter in their information, credit card number and then send the transaction to the payment gateway. From here the transaction goes to the merchant account provider and then a confirmation email is sent to the merchant informing them that a customer has made a purchase.

If you have any more questions on internet payment gateway's please call Eagle Merchant Services and let one of our sales representative's answer your questions.

© Eagle Merchant Services, a provider of merchant accounts in the Chicago area that offers national services.