Receiving credit card payments on your website

Posted by Felix Okoli on Friday August 3, 2012 16:44:34:

Most websites that make money from selling stuff do have need of setting up a means of getting paid. One of the most popular means of online payment is by making use of credit cards.

Credit cards are accepted on major online stores around the internet despite the fact that there are other third party online payment transfer services available. Credit card payments has been around for quite some time and may continue to remain so in the future. This is because it is a fast and efficient means of making payments for goods even automatically on websites.

Having a credit card payment facility on your website isn't that easy however as it takes some requirements to get it setup on your site and when you do so, you'll be able to accept global payments from cards like Visa and Mastercard.

How online credit card payment works
- A merchant has a store where he displays his goods
- Visitors flock in and decide to buy
- He clicks on the checkout button to go to payment
- He is take to a secure site where he enters his credit card details such as number, secret code and personal details
- Confirms the payment and his bank account is billed
- The merchant account of the seller gets credited almost immediately
- Goods are expected to be delivered then to the buyer after the payment has sailed through successfully.

Things you'll need to start accepting credit cards on your website
- A merchant account or third party payment service. Most web hosts offer this
- A reputable website
- Valid form of business

You can decide to have your own merchant account that allows you to accept credit card payments directly or use a third party payment service that will accept them on your behalf and pay your later for a commission.