Credit Card Online Processing

The advent of the Internet as a marketplace for an almost endless variety of products has opened up many options for small businesses. The only problem is that it is often difficult for them to accept money from the customers they wish to serve, since almost all online transactions are conducted using credit cards. In the early days, purchasers were required to either copy and fax their credit card information or fill out a form and mail it in so that they could make purchases, and a few mom-and-pop operations still use this method. But for the most part, the instant gratification nature of the Internet means that most purchasers will want to be able to make their purchases immediately, which necessitates immediate credit card online processing.

So how does an online merchant obtain credit card processing online? An increasingly large number of small businesses are doing so via the use of PayPal. PayPal was originally founded as a way to facilitate the transfer of cash from one person to another for the purpose of making eBay purchases and sales. It is a registered US Bank and follows all banking regulations, and can be set up to transfer money to and from registered US bank accounts on a regular basis. Most online users have a PayPal account because it allows for them to make purchases as well as send and receive money from friends. PayPal generally works by transferring money to and from checking accounts, but it can also accept credit cards. Any person who meets certain specifications and certifications for a PayPal Merchant Account may receive a “widget” which allows for instantaneous credit card processing online. PayPal accepts all major credit cards available in America, as well as many found in Europe and Japan.

Another major corporation that permits the processing of cards through their account is Amazon. Any company or individual wishes to accept online credit card payments may do so by listing their items in Amazon’s Z-Shops service. All persons with an Amazon account are permitted to open a Z-Shop or Amazon Seller account, and all credit card processing and payment is done by Amazon, leaving only the fulfillment portion to the seller. The downside is that this mandates that all listings must be done online through Amazon, which limits the ability of the retailer in terms of pricing, display, and special deals.

Small operations who wish to operate their own service independent of PayPal, Amazon or any other bank still have a number of options for online credit card processing. The most popular way is to outsource the actual processing to an intermediary, such as DirectPay or CCNow. These services, along with their competitors, conduct instant verification and credit card processing services online in exchange for a small fee that comes out of each transaction. These sites require that a certain amount of code and certain links be built into the online store, but they assist sellers in the installation of this code, and in many cases a direct link is possible. CCNow is popular because it offers an optional shopping card, which purchasers can use when they are buying a large number of items at the same time.

The only other way to process credit cards instantly online is the use of credit card processing software. This professional software allows banks to talk to one another via the Internet and conduct transactions and cash transfers without the need of the seller to see the credit card or handle the information. This sort of technology is complex, but it makes online transactions easy and painless. It is used by most professional sites, and anyone who has made a purchase online has invariably used some form of this credit card online processing software at some point. Because of the safeguards involved, this software tends to be expensive, but it is a good option for small businesses that make a large number of sales.