From Web surfer to Web site: credit card
numbers
A potential customer visits your Web site. He sees something
that interests him so he places an order, inputting his personal and
credit card information on your site. You have a variety of options
available regarding how you will accept this information.
Your customer's information will be transmitted securely from your
customer's browser (i.e. Netscape, Internet Explorer) to the server
at Webcenter on which your Web site is hosted. Security is an important
part of merchant transactions. Most people are unwilling to provide
their personal information without the assurance that a third party
cannot intercept the information as it travels across the Internet.
This securtiy is accomplished using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption
which is a feature of your customer's browser and also of our Web
server.
Processing the Credit Card
Once the information is passed to your Web site, it must now
be verified by your Merchant Processor. Since most Merchant
Processesors don't provide connections to the Internet, you
must pass the information through a gateway such as iTransact. The information
is passed from your Web site (on Webcenter servers) to the gateway
(using a secure method provided by the gateway). The gateway
services have a dedicated connection to your Merchant Processor.
Once the gateway receives a response from the Merchant Processor
they forward that information back to your Web site where you
can act on it accordingly.
Gateway services are normally resold to you by your Merchant Processor.
The fees associated with the gateway are included in the fees that
you pay for credit card processing.
Do I need to have a regular bank account for
my business?
Yes. Where would your Merchant Processor put all the money you
make otherwise? |
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Merchant Services
Terms & Definitions
Can you sum this up for me?
What do I have to do to accept credit cards?
- Set up your shopping cart.
- Establish an account with a Merchant Processor.
- Spread the word. Tell people your site is ready for business.
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