The Difference Between Payment Processor and the Payment Gateway

Being in the market for online payments gateway services in Qatar, or any other country for that matter, you must have come across all sorts of terms that sounds complicated and make little sense to you. Two of these terms would be payment gateways and payment processor. You must have seen these terms being used interchangeably when in fact, they do have a difference.

First of all; there are four parties involved in every credit card or plastic currency transactions:

• The Merchant 
• The Customer
• The acquiring bank that processes the merchant accounts.
• The issuing banks to which the credit card used by customers belongs to. 

Both payment processor and payment gateway services play an important role when they accept payments online.

The Payment Processor:

To accept payments online through the cards and multinational currencies, you will need to set up an account with a merchant processing service like PaymentsMe. The payment processor carries out the transaction by transmitting information between:

• You, the merchant or the e-commerce business
• The issuing bank that issued the customer’s credit/debit card
• Acquiring bank that accepts payments online on your behalf

A payment processor also provides credit card machines and other equipment used to accept payments online through credit card.

The Payment Gateway:

An Online Payments gateway service validates the payments for e-commerce websites. You may think of it as an online point-of-sale terminal/portal for your business. Not all merchant account services offer you the payment gateway so make sure to ask your merchant account service about their payment integration gateway. An online payment gateway service can reduce errors, reduce transaction processing time and facilitate the interaction between customers and merchants.

Online payment gateway services are advisable to the e-commerce business instead of a simple merchant account. They also help businesses to effectively manage the recurring payments, while securing the customers’ financial details.

Online Payment Gateways and their Characteristics

In order to accept payments online in Qatar, you must need an online payment service for the Middle East. If you run an e-commerce or woo-commerce store, you’d be interested to know that e-commerce market is expected to grow to $2.2 billion by 2019, a direct raise of $1.2 billion this year in Qatar alone. So it’d make sense for you to engage an online payments gateway system to secure your cash flow so you can focus on the business side of the things. Only if it will ensure that your competition is An online payment service enables the data transaction from the merchant to the acquiring bank. It accepts payments online on behalf of its e-commerce clients and handles the currency differences.

Online Payment Gateway Characteristics & its Significance for Your E-Commerce Business

Data Encryption: As an online business, you are likely to be concerned about the security of your data, your client’ data, and that concerns are valid in the lieu of online security threats. That’s why online integration services use data encryption to protect it against malware and online theft.

Payment Authorization Request Sending: When the cardholder inserts his information for the checkout, the payment gateway service ensures that the required funds are present in the account or if the lending company verifies it. Upon receiving the answer, the order is processed accordingly.

Processing the Order: The order processing ensues whether the online vendor confirms the order or denies it.  Your customers can adjust the recurring billing options to match their needs or they can proceed to one-time checkout.

Security: Security is the main concern for both online vendors and customers. If you are considering payment gateway services in Qatar, you should ask your provider if they comply with PCI DSS standards. For instance; Payments Me is a PCI DSS level-1 certified company that accept payments online in Qatar.

How to Pick the Right Payment Gateway Services in Qatar

Selecting your Online Payment Gateway in Qatar can get a little tricky because it’s both an investment and commitment. If you make the right decisions, you will find that it can substantially influence your revenues, conversions and user satisfaction. Your business can benefit in a lot of direct and indirect ways if you let your payment integration service accept payments online on your behalf. In this article, we will guide you about how to choose the right Payment Gateway Services in Qatar or in any other country.

Given that there are many Accept Online Payments in Qatar, you have your options to select the best of all the available companies. In order to that, you need to define your business requirements first and define the target audience you are hoping to attract. This will enable you to figure out what banking laws or the card associations your customers are likely to uphold. Your products or services, or even the business model you follow can also alter your choice of online payment gateway.

Basically what you need is an online payment service that is:

• Flexible & Easily Setup: You need a provider that can adapt to your website programming and can process your customers’ varying currencies etc. Ask your payment gateway about the integration possibilities and the estimated duration of the setting up of the initial set up and when can they start processing the transactions.

• Processing Possibilities: Your payment gateways service should have interactive check out options with no redirections (if you wish you to increase your conversion rate). The seamless checkout pages mean managed user flow and faster payments. 

• Technical Integrations: Your online service integration service should be easy to understand and execute, even for a non-technical personnel. If your payment provider is offering straightforward integrations, you will save up a lot of time and effort.

• Understand the Fee Structure: Global payment provider and processor companies have a complex fee structure so make sure you understand all of it before agreeing to the services. All these charges can alter based upon the frequency of your transactions so make sure you know everything about the setup, monthly, registration, processing, termination etc. charges to select the right provider and package.

Fee Structure of Online Payment Gateways

Credit Card Processing Companies or Online Payments Gateways can solve a lot of your problems as a business owner in today’s digitalized world. May you be an E-Commerce website, a physical store, a large company or a home based business, you can benefit from online payment gateways. They are securing internet transactions all over the world and smoothen the cash flow for businesses in the fastest, most efficient way. The merchant accounts and personalized solutions offered by these online payment gateways can be tailor-fitted to secure your business objective and financial transactions.

These gateways accept payments online from anywhere in the world and get them to you safely. Of course, the service comes with a fee. The only slight hitch that business face, when they are working with online payment integration service, is that there is on one black and white payment structure, rather it’s divided into smaller fees. If you do not do your research right, understanding these payments can be quite confusing, but in this article, we will try to simplify that down for you.

Remember the most important thing is that as a merchant you are well within your rights to cancel the service at any time.

Application & Setup Charges

This fee is sometimes charged for applying for the integration service & setting up all the initial details might come at a price. Depending on the payment processing company, these prices may vary.

Monthly Statement Fees

This fee covers the expenses of mailing monthly statements, as implied in the name. 

Interchange Fees

This fee is charged for any and all payment transactions and is paid by the payment processor to the credit/ debit card issuing bank. The rate of the fee is determined by the type of the card being used, the mode of transaction (online, by phone or in a store), and the magnitude of the transaction in question. In-store transactions, because of the owner’s & cards’ actual presence is less risky and therefore comes cheaper.

Monthly Minimum Fee

This amount is one that online payment gateway firm is bound to collect each month. If this minimum amount isn’t collected the company will charge you the remaining sum.

Monthly Gateway Access Fee

This sum is charged by some online processing firms to grant you access to their services (transmitting transaction information from your database to the card issuing bank).

Early Termination Fees

Some processing companies have a specified duration that you need to complete even if you want to discontinue the service. In case of early termination, you get charged a percentage.

Yes, we understand that all these fees might sound overwhelming, but the fancy fee terms shouldn’t keep you from safeguarding your business against the excessive finical security threats, common in the cyber world. Once you understand how everything works, you will see that investing in an online payment integration service will work in your favor. We have tried to cover the basic details, but you should go over these charges with the expert of your chosen payment processor firm before getting their service.

Why Should You Consider Integrating Online Payment Gateways to Manage Your Payments

With the technology evolving to become more advanced every second of everyday, businesses have been able to overcome cumbersome geographical barriers. E-commerce solutions have enabled businesses to expand their target markets in the entire globe. However, with this global interconnectivity comes issues like currency differences, recurring payments, funds transfers, funds reversals etc. An effective way to deal with these transaction difficulties and manage them effectively is for you to consider engaging an online payment gateway service provider.

There are many powerful online payment solution providers that enable E-commerce merchants, companies or individuals to accept payments online, without any hassle.

Wondering how you can trust such a sensitive matter to a third party online payment gateway to control your cash inflow? Rest assured, these online payment accepting services claim full responsibility to protect your clients’ financial information. Like in Qatar, companies like PaymentsMe are charging clients a minimal percentage to accept payments on their behalf and set up recurring payment plans, if need be. They are fully responsible for keeping your transaction free from frauds or information leaks. These services can collect funds from credit/debit cards when customers check out from your website. Customers can choose to save their card details for repeated transactions.

Benefits of Using Online Payment Gateways

·       Multiple options available for customers to pay through mobiles, checks, or websites etc.

      Manage hardware modules & encrypted digital card information to prevent any data leaks or frauds.

      Handle multiple currencies all over the globe.

      Have integration with famous shopping carts for client’s convenience. Some payment processors have their internal shopping carts for even smoother transaction process.

      Easy and instant refund in case the transaction goes south.

Before you go…

Despite bringing ease for many businesses, one should research carefully before selecting an online payment processor service. Make sure to go over the technical terms with your service providers, because terms like early termination fees, integration fees, interchange fees, maintenance fees and tokenization fees in your payment plans need to be perfectly understood beforehand, to avoid any miscommunication.

What are Online Payment Gateways & Why Should Businesses Choose Them to Secure Online Payments

Online payments are becoming the top reliable source for electronic transfer of money between customers and retailers. Computer networks, internet, and digital stored value systems; are all used in these online payment processes, making it faster, safer and an easily accessible way to conduct business transactions. No longer businesses can operate with checks and cash, given the global customer pool. Usually, people make these transactions through their banks and credit cards. The online payments can be made from the credit cards, checking accounts or online payment gateways like PayPal and PaymentsMe etc.

Vendors, who accept payment online, have to observe a list of security requirements. These requirements are devised especially to secure the transactions from any risk of monetary and private information theft. A secure and encrypted connection is used to transfer the funds. In cases when the customer information needs to be stored, like for standing orders and recurring billings, a more thorough security protocol. The online payment methods used for recurring billing arrangements are usually scanned at regular intervals, to identify any leaks.

The vendors need online payment gateways to accept online payments. Integrated with the credit cards, online payment gateways are the service providers that transfer the funds between payment processors and merchants.

How Online Payment Gateways Operate?

·         When the customers buy things online, they fill the forms to submit their payment information before checking out.

·         The vendor websites give this information to the online payment gateways like google wallet, ApplePay or PaymentMe etc.

·         These payments are submitted to the payment processing banks by the online payment gateways.

·         The processors verify the payment and give feedback. The vendor/merchant is then notified by the payment gateway of payment authorization.

·         The vendor then notifies the customer that the payment has been accepted and appropriate action is taken.

Why Engage Online Payment Gateway Services?

Online payments are way faster than traditional methods. You don’t have to wait for the checks to clear and that makes the cash flow of any product based business like yours to be smooth. You are notified in real time when your customers are initiating payment procedures. You will not have to deal with any valuable critical information that might make you a target for the security breach.

Of course, all this service comes with its own price. Your online payment gateway service providers will charge you a small fee for each transaction or any other charges they might deem appropriate. The fees are likely to go up as you expand your target market but that’s only reasonable.