Understanding the Vital Role of Payment Gateways for Online Businesses

Online businesses these days are faced with a multitude of options when it comes to choosing the right payment gateway to meet their commercial needs. Before choosing a gateway to team up with, however, there are some vital questions that need to be asked (and answered) in advance of any agreement signing. For example, what’s the difference between payment gateways? Are some better than others? And most importantly, which is the right fit for your business? 

The answers to these vital questions can make the difference between a successful business and a failed venture, and that’s down to a whole host of factors. Things like high fees, hidden charges, non-secure transactions, and slow processing and payout times are very real issues for online companies wanting to succeed in today’s highly competitive business environment. This environment is even more competitive when you consider cross-border transactions and appealing checkout pages presented in the shopper’s local language and currency.

1. What is a Payment Gateway?

Online retailers and eBusinesses utilize Payment Gateways as a way to accept credit cards and alternative payment methods.  Payment gateways can be provided by banks to their customers, but they can also be provided by specialized financial service providers separately, such as payment gateway like Zotapay. Payment gateways facilitate the transfer of information between a payment portal such as a website or smartphone and the front-end processor or acquiring bank. A Payment Gateway is needed here, essentially to ensure that transactions can take place. The gateway is a software application that facilitates payment transactions and handles the transfer of information between the relevant parties. But not all payment gateways are created equal, and that’s the main point and takeaway here.

2. Who Needs a Payment Gateway?

As mentioned, any online company or business wanting to start selling digitally to expand their market reach needs some type of payment accepting facilities in order to open shop and start conducting transactions. Payment gateways act as intermediaries between a merchant’s website and payment processors.  It is prohibited to transmit transaction information directly from a merchant’s website to a payment processor because of online security standards known as PCI DSS. A gateway system also enables internal teams, including merchants, to analyze their transactions, download reports, and serve as a back-end for their financial systems. The cashier page is the front-end interface through which the end-user (customer) checks out. This is one of the most valuable features in any gateway, especially when using Zotapay’s tailor-made cashier page which helps to ensure carts are completed and significantly reduces abandonments. The reason for this is that with Zotapay’s cashier page, customers are presented with their local payment options, in their own currency and language making it convenient (as well as secure and familiar) to complete transactions. 

3. Payment Gateway Flow – The Six Steps 

As soon as a consumer completes their checkout procedure via a payment gateway for the goods they’re purchasing using a credit card or other payment method and the transaction is confirmed, various parties get to work behind the scenes to make the process happen. From the moment a transaction is confirmed, the following steps take place.

1. Payment information is entered and the transaction is registered. The information is encrypted and sent.
2. The information is sent to the merchant’s processor.
3. The transaction information is routed to the relevant credit card association or financial institution associated with alternative payment methods.
4. The customer will need to have sufficient funds. At this stage, their transaction is either approved or denied.
5. Once the transaction is authorized, the issuing bank sends the authorization back to the institutions within the payment network. From the credit card association to the merchant’s business and then back to the site through the payment gateway.
6. Funds are then available in account within 24-48 hours.

4. Offering an Amazing Range of Services

Zotapay brings fresh and innovative concepts to the payment industry thanks to our sophisticated Virtual Cashier Technology. We connect our merchants to the most relevant acquiring banks or payment service providers that can support their application package based on the company structure, industry, licenses, and target markets. Zotapay’s proprietary gateway system, saves human resources and integration/development times by performing one simple, single integration via our payment technology while reaching almost any acquirer bank worldwide. In addition, Zotapay’s cloud-based platform is fully PCI DSS certified as required by Visa, MasterCard, and other acquiring banks.

Today, Zotapay is acknowledged as one of the primary companies that can process, keep, and remit funds in and out of the most challenging and problematic regions around the world. Our business model of ‘One Application – One Integration‘ reflects our range of abilities in the payment world, continually evolving our partner’s accessibility to the most attractive and unique payment solutions. Our vast spectrum of local partners and sub-branches has proven itself already to be a stable, reliable, and efficient network when it comes to the management of funds on a large scale for the diversity of business companies and types.

5. Some Reasons Why Global Companies Choose Zotapay

• Rapid And Secure Onboarding For New Companies;
• Matching Merchants With The Right Local Payment Solutions;
• Delivering Significant Results Due To Years Of Online Payment Expertise;
• Intricate Knowledge Of Local Markets Around The World;
• A Wide Variety Of Local Currency And Payment Solutions;
• Broad Money Changer Network To Support Fast Overseas Remittance;
• Gold Standard Approval Ratios;
• Adapting Rapidly To Changes In The Market.

For more information about Zotapay and how we can help your business, simply reach out to one of our dedicated team members, who will be happy to assist or answer any questions you might have. 

Check out Zotapay’s Website.

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