CMS and E-commerce

Things you should know before using payment system

In our previous articles two payment system (payment processor and payment gateway) have been described. But if you’ra asking me which one is the best, then the answer is depends on the objective of your e-commerce and off course the budget.

Payment gateway consider more more professional and ought to be your solution for all but the simplest e-commerce sites. But payment processors are quite commonly used and do make sense for some businesses, so don’t dismiss them as an option entirely.

When selecting among payment providers, you should first determine if your business bank or Web-hosting company has an arrangement with any companies. By choosing a pre-approved vendor for this important service, you’ll minimize some of the potential headaches and hopefully have an expert to turn to when you need technical support.

Another factor is geography: Different providers will work in your part of the world and will be limited as to what other regions they support. Also, you’ll want to check that the currency the provider uses gels with your business.

There are many features to weigh when making your selection:
? Tools for fraud prevention
? Ability to perform recurring billing
? Acceptance of eChecks
? Automatic tax calculation
? Automatic shipping calculation and processing
? Digital content handling
? Integrated shopping cart

Clearly, many of these features can greatly simplify the development of your e-commerce site and result in a more professional Web application, but I would like to highlight fraud prevention. You may not have given much thought to the subject, but excellent fraud prevention is in the best long-term interest of your site. If someone can use a credit card at your site that isn’t valid or isn’t theirs, you’ll have a false sale and later have some cleanup to perform to undo the transaction.

Further, the person whose credit card was fraudulently used will think poorly of your business for allowing the fraud in the first place. For these reasons, using a gateway with sophisticated fraud-prevention tools is a must. The two most common techniques are to verify the billing address and the Card Verification Value (CVV)—those numbers on the back of the card.

A final, obvious factor that was not listed earlier is cost. You’ll need to consider the initial setup costs, the monthly fees, plus the individual transaction expenses. If you require features that come at an extra cost, factor those in, too.