The concept of online shopping has brought many benefits, both for the sellers and buyers. A simplified procedure (from ordering to paying for goods), a higher level of security, and data protection on both sides are significant advantages over shopping at traditional brick-and-mortar stores.
Although paying methods of cash on delivery and payment slips are still widespread, credit card usage is slowly taking the lead. The e-commerce business has been raised to a higher level thanks to payment gateways such as Dowcommerce and the like. These are software that plays a significant role as an intermediary (third party) in a buyer-seller transaction.
Useful Features of Payment Software
Every business owner who has transferred its business to digital form, especially if it is a web store, has to think about the payment method. The payment gateway should be easy to implement as well as to be used by customers. Any complicated procedure when registering on your website or entering information when making a purchase will reject them. So keep it simple.
Certain payment gateways are appropriate for specific e-commerce platforms. Most of them have features that can be tailored to the client’s requirements, and that will grow with their business. In addition to accepting credit cards, there are special fraud detection tools in this software.
Paying software guarantees data security by encrypting it before passing it on. Also, payment gateways offer the option of recurring billing or automated billing by subscribers. Most software also has the option of storing the data entered. That is important for buyers who decide on re-purchase, so they don’t have to fill the information fields about credit cards again. However, many do not look at this feature favorably; why so, find out here.
How Software for Online Payments Works
‘Plastic money’ is our reality. In order for your e-commerce business to be successful, you must accept credit cards as a paying method from day one. People who prefer this method of paying are more prone to impulsive purchases and more comfortable to spend their money. And that’s precisely what web store business owners want.
The payment gateway in the online world is the same as the POS (Point of Service) in the real world. And the working principle is almost the same. So, they both use credit cards and process information from them. While POS terminals do this by directly reading from the chip, gateways use the card information the user enters.
Thus, the customer enters the necessary information. The card should be valid and have sufficient funds to make the purchase. Based on this information, the software starts the transaction by encrypting and sending the customer’s data to credit card associations (depending on the type of card).
Some tips on how business owners can ensure when taking online payments, check below:
https://www.business.com/articles/online-payment-security-tips/.
That is where the initial authorization occurs. Based on the solvency of the customer, the transaction will be approved or rejected after the algorithm processes the required information. These complex backend procedures are happening in just a few minutes.
The declined transaction will be terminated; the approved one is moving further. The buyer remains to wait for their order to arrive. The seller has to wait for the end of the authorization and the cash inflow. An issuing bank is in charge of this action, and it often takes one to two workdays until money gets to the merchant’s bank account.
Considerations when Choosing Paying Software
For the service you receive from the payment gateway, you pay a fee to the provider. It is a certain percentage of transactions that vary from one company to another. Generally speaking, older versions of this software have lower fees, while more modern programs offer more features at a higher cost.
The speed of transaction processing is also significant. It’s essential for customers when they can finish everything in a matter of seconds, and they consider it a great convenience. It means to sellers that the money from the transaction is on their accounts as soon as possible.
Before you commit to using a particular payment gateway, you can try several of them. You can hire an expert to explore all the options and settings, see the ability of software implementation to your system, but also what kind of reporting it provides.