Payment Options
Once you have a selling platform in place you will need to integrate the platform with some method of payment. The following section summarises the different options available to you as an online seller.
1. Manual Processing (Physical / Virtual Terminal)
This option would require you to put an E-Commerce Merchant Agreement in place with your bank. Once this agreement is in place you will have a access to a physical credit card terminal or virtual credit card processing terminal (online interface). Your online shopping system would process all of the orders and then alert you of any orders that have been completed. Once an order is received the payment can be processed manually and the order dispatched accordingly. There are initial set up fees and monthly rental fees associated with the use credit card terminal terminals.
2. Integrated Payment Gateway (Virtual Terminal Also available)
This option also requires you to put an E-Commerce Merchant Agreement in place with your bank. The integrated solution uses a real time payment processing system such a RealEx Payments. Using this method of payment, the payment verification is carried out in real time and if the payment gets verified, then an online order is allowed to be processed. This verification occurs in seconds. Once the order is completed the funds will be lodged in to your merchant account and all you have to arrange is the dispatch of the order.
3. Third Party Payment Services
Companies, such as PayPal, offer a range of payment products that release the seller from the overheads of having a Merchant Account and an credit card processing terminal. Taking PayPal as the example they act as a third party in the payment process. The buyer pays PayPal, Paypal then holds the funds until the seller draws them down in to their own account. These products can be fully integrated in to shopping carts and management systems for payment verification. The only draw back with this solution is that ht seller is redirected to PayPal website for payment and then redirected back to the merchant site once payment is received.
