| Data privacy |
| Data protection |
| Secure payment |
| Payment card |
| Epay Security |
To choose a reliable and affordable secure solution provider for card processing, you must have already considered various issues, that we address in Part one and Part two of this column: Data protection and data privacy and Secure payment.
Your solution must be adapted to the nature of the products and services that you offer. If you have your own ecommerce cart or an e-business solution, you must conform to their requirements.
There are various criteria that may help chosing a reliable third party solution for credit card processing. The information set provided below may help you build a helpful check-list.
Main choice criteria
Apart from the requirements related to the products or services that you offer, the following criteria must be considered:
Speed - A rapid display of the payment interface is needed.
Usability - Your client must find immediately the action to accomplish to input the credit card data and submit it.
Clarity of the payment process - The payment and delivery process must be clear and easy to understand.
Easy to understand email confirmation - A short and easy to understand confirmation must be sent to the client from the system.
Pricing - Each element of the pricing must be easy to find and understand.
Finance availability - You must check the provider's terms of finance availability, the minimum amount to keep on the account, the cost of transfer to you bank account.
Security - Obviously, security is the main concern when chosing a secure payment solution provider. Some providers are more security aware than others. It may be useful to ask for more information regarding security.
Shoppint cart - You may want to use the shopping cart provided by some providers or you may prefer to implement a simple checkout or a custom one.
Languages - You may prefer a provider making available various languages.
Custom implementation - If you want to customize the solution, you will ensuire that the api provided is compatible with your system.
The service provided - In relation with your own requirement, the quantity of transactions, the amount per transaction, you may need different services and give more importance to some criteria.
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The service provided
Though all providers offering a credit card processing provide credit cards transaction, all do not provide the same services. From the angle of the Web site owner, the services can be described in 4 steps:
- 1. secure credit card transaction,
- 2. credit card validity verification,
- 3. verification that the transaction has been accepted by the buyer's bank,
- 4. transfer of the amount to the vendor.
Many financial providers provide the services 1, 2 and 4 at various prices. But few of them provide the service 3, which makes it possible for the vendor to sell against effective payment only, avoiding the risk of fraud for the Web site owner.
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Internet Merchant account
An Internet merchant account may enable International credit card or debit card processing. Not all of them allow worldwide merchants to apply. Some merchant accounts enable International card processing and allow worldwide merchants to apply. This is of course the first criteria to consider. If you cannot apply due to your location, obviously, the system is not for you. This is the first criteria, check if your location is accepted. You shall consider the adequacy with your transaction level, the amount per transaction and the monthly online sales.
For our clients, we recommend ePay Security, an easy to implement
system providing the full chain of services 1 +2 +3 +4 for USD and Euro, accepting more
than 30 credit cards, cost effective as soon as the monthly flows are significant and the
price per unit higher than 250 USD. This is convenient is you need only the US dollar and
Euro currencies.
ePay Security choice criteria
and features
For our next update, we will give some leads for small businesses receiving small payments.
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Bank gateways for online payments
In most countries, the banks offer credit card processing gateways. The usual main difference is that the banks scarcely provide the service 3. So check it before to decide. Also a bank usually offers a proprietary or partly proprietary system. Of course, check all of this with your own bank as well.
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Other third party payment solution providers
Other third party solution providers, such as Paypal, Worldpay, or smaller companies, may offer an easy to implement and sometimes cost effective solution to small business merchants. Usually, these solutions may be convenient for small amounts. Today, google offers Google checkout to its users, at no cost untill the end of 2007.
For our next update, we will give some leads for small businesses receiving small payments.
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Comparing the costs
The main criteria that you should check when comparing the costs are:
- A one time set up fee or not
- Installation easiness
- Installation fees
- Monthly recurring fee or not
- Percentage taken per transaction with various credit card
- Fee or percentage on transactions cancelled
- Costs money transfer or not
- Conditions for money transfer (minimum amount, etc.).
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