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Online payments
Introduction
For many small businesses, accepting payments online provides some major benefits. Customers increasingly expect this facility and it can improve your cash flow significantly.
It's easy to accept cheques or invoices for your online sales and to process payments in the traditional way. However, because buyers often use the Internet for a speedy service, most sales are paid for with credit and debit cards. To accept cards online, you will have to make special banking arrangements.
Online payments using cards are "card-not-present" or CNP transactions.
There are higher risks of fraud with this type of payment and banks require
you to
operate within a well-defined set of rules and accept a higher level of commercial
risk than a conventional swiped card transaction in a shop.
This guide will help you to understand these requirements and look at the options available
for taking advantage of online payments.
Online payment jargon
Debit and credit card payments and their application online involve some
key concepts and jargon.
An acquirer can be a high street bank or other financial institution that offers credit
and debit card accepting/processing services. It acquires the money from the
customer, processes the transaction and credits your account. You need to apply
for a merchant service agreement if you want a bank to handle your electronic
payments. For web-based online transactions you need an Internet merchant account.
Obtaining an Internet merchant account from an acquirer may be quicker and easier if you already have "offline" card-processing facilities setup. In this case, just ask your acquirer for an additional Internet merchant account ID for use exclusively with Internet transactions. This process is normally quick, especially if the risk to your business does not change.
To help protect merchants and card holders from fraud, the card schemes have developed a service that allows card holders to authenticate themselves when shopping online. Master Card's is called "Master Card Secure Code" and Visa's is "Verified by Visa".
A payment service provider (PSP) will provide you with a "virtual" till or terminal that collects the card details over the Internet and passes them to the acquiring bank. To take electronic payments over the web, you will need a PSP.
Your choice of PSP will depend on its cost and compatibility with your chosen e-commerce software solution. A fixed monthly fee starts at around £10, but there are some cheaper options available, starting as low as 5 pence per transaction. Usually, the higher your transaction volume the cheaper the rate you will be charged.
Some acquiring banks offer PSP services as part of their product and there are other less expensive options available.
Selecting the best online payment option
You can use the following scenarios to help you choose the best option for your
business.
Merchant account
Your business already accepts debit and credit card payments for face-to-face transactions. You expect a fairly high number of online transactions, most of which will be simple and low risk. You need the greatest amount of flexibility in operating your business and cash flow is very important. If this sounds like your business, then you should apply directly for an Internet merchant account and discuss your requirements with the acquiring bank.
Your business will not have a large number of online transactions and you do not currently accept debit or credit card transactions so have no merchant account. You have not been trading long and you can not provide a well-documented operations history. You value the ability to attract online sales more highly than the ability to collect sales income quickly. Your business will need some flexibility in the way in which it designs and operates its web site, so you should consider the facilities that a payment-processing company could offer, with the possibility of moving to a less costly option at a later date.
Your business is small, you do not currently offer debit or credit card sales and you have very limited IT skills. Your products are fairly standardised and easily understood. You do not think that your web site needs any unusual features. You are prepared to pay higher transaction and fixed costs just to establish a web presence. If this applies to your business, you should look at the facilities that an online shopping mall could offer.
Find a bank to process your online payments
Online payments are processed by acquiring banks. Currently businesses can open a merchant account with several acquiring banks to receive payments from credit and debit cards. In general, American Express and Diners Club will only acquire their own cards.
The acquiring banks have strict requirements and it's possible that even the bank you use for your business current account may refuse you. Alternatively, there are other online merchant account providers that you can investigate.
Once the merchant account has been set up, secure socket layer (SSL) technology is used to encrypt transaction data and to send the necessary customer and card details to the acquiring bank in order for the purchase to be authorised.You should, there fore, ensure that any web hosting solution you are considering is capable of supporting the SSL protocol.
