Written by When you’re trying to decide on an internet merchant account company, it’s helpful to have a general understanding of how internet credit card processing works.
The first step usually involves a customer utilizing your website’s shopping cart to select items for purchase. They are then directed to an order form where their credit card and personal data is captured. Next, the transaction information is forwarded to the payment gateway utilized by your internet merchant account company. This includes customer information as well as your store’s information.
The payment gateway forwards the transaction information to a banking network, the approval or decline of the charge takes place, and the customer is notified. Only after the merchant captures and settles the day’s transactions will payments reach the merchant’s account. This takes on average around two days.
These are by no means complete details of all the steps involved in credit card processing, but a rough outline of how it generally works. It is easy to see why companies are able to apply so many “fees” to merchant accounts, and also how fraud can occur if the process breaks down or is breached at any of several points. One way to protect against fraud is to insist all companies involved meet PCI Compliance standards.
