Hidden Fees to Watch Out for When Dealing With a Payment Gateway

When you are involved in an e-commerce business, you may come across certain unnecessary or hidden fees which can take away your businesses overall profit. However, at times some merchants may even fail to notice these hidden fees. To run the business smoothly for you and your customers, it is important to understand what exactly these hidden fees are. Whatever the fees you pay, your goal should be to ensure that you are not drowning your business with it.

So, here is a list of 2 hidden fees that merchants should watch out for. These are PCI compliance fee and transaction fee.

·      PCI compliance fee- PCI means Payment Card Industry. It is set of rules that all companies handling card and payment information is expected to follow, to minimize fraud and data breaches. You should be PCI compliant if your business accepts any form of card or check payments. The payments can either be online using a virtual terminal or can be using a credit card machine at physical store. There are some payment processors who can impose a PCI compliance fees for offering you resources and tools to help with PCI compliance but in case they don't offer this service, you should not be charged for this. Paying a PCI compliance fee can either come with benefits or lack of benefits. It all depends entirely on the type of processor you choose to work with.

·        Transaction fee-Transaction happens when you swipe a card or when you put your card details into a virtual payment portal or shopping cart. So, when you are charged for each of these transactions, it is called transaction fee. No matter which processor you chose, but you will always be charged a transaction fee. This transaction fees varies from one processor to another based on the amount of transactions every month. The transaction fee should not eat up your profits that is why it is recommended to first understand the charges associated per transaction and then choose the payment gateway solution which fits your business needs and most importantly your budget.

Conclusion

Understanding of these hidden fees will ensure you a high profit margin and help run your ecommerce business smoothly.  If you want to avoid paying hidden fees, you need to research and opt for the right processing company offering the best payment gateway solutions. Similarly, always review the agreement to get a clear understanding of the hidden fees. When signing up with a payment provider, clarify all the points. Careful understanding of the terms and conditions will help you avoid surprises in the future and help your company to be profitable.

Top 3 tips to help you find the right payment gateway for your ecommerce website

Choosing the right payment gateway is a vital part of running an online business. Any merchant, who has an ecommerce website, should have a good e-commerce payment gateway integrated to his business portal for best results. Choosing the right payment gateway is a hassle for many decision makers. There are some gateway providers with great features but transaction charges are very high. So, how do we choose the right one? What factors to be considered while choosing a payment gateway provider?

If you want to make sure that the payment gateway that you are choosing is the right one, then this blog will be helpful to you. Follow the tips mentioned below to choose the right payment gateway for your ecommerce website. 

Determine your needs 

The top priority for any ecommerce merchant is that the payment gateway should satisfy all of his business needs. There are some payment gateways that charge a fixed monthly fee while some charge based on the number of transactions done on your website. Secondly, if you run a global business, the payment gateway that you choose should provide the option of collecting payments done through international cards like Visa and MasterCard and support multiple currencies. Also, a worthy payment gateway should offer numerous alternative payment modes to customers for making online payments. So, before you close the deal, analyze your basic needs and then choose the one that fits your requirements and is affordable too. 

Research

It is necessary for merchants to spend time and do a lot of research to determine which payment gateway to go for. Ensure that the payment gateway is transparent on pricing and mentions price structure upfront. Transparency in pricing will help you identify the expensive payment gateways. There are some payments gateways that have some hidden charges so choose wisely otherwise you will end up having bad surprises down the road. Do not forget to compare the fees structure of the payment gateways and opt for a provider that fits in well within your pricing structure.

Security

We all know how important is safety and security when it comes to online payments. The payment gateway that you are trusting on should provide you with SSL security and should comply with the PCI DSS standards. It is very important to check and double check the safety and security standards before you commit to a payment gateway provider. 

Conclusion

The tips mentioned above will help you identify the right payment gateway provider for your e-commerce business. In a nutshell, the best payment getaway is a combination of multiple factors. So, choose a e-commerce payment gateway that best suits your business needs and of course your budget. 

Controlling security risk and fraud in online payments

With the fast growth of e-commerce, cyber crimes have also been on the rise. Security is the top priority for ecommerce businesses and in order to protect their customers from any kind of fraud or risk when shopping online, payment gateway service providers are taking strict safety measures. In this article, we will provide you with five safety measures, which can help protect the payment data from fraud.

1. SSL- One of the safest measures to protect the transmitted data is by using SSL. SSL is a standard security protocol that protects data transmission and provides a secure channel for communication between the web server and browser. You can verify if the website has been secured with a SSL protocol by two-ways- check if a padlock icon is displayed, or check if the URL shows https instead of http.


2. Encryption- Encryption is highly effective when we talk about storing secure payment information. During the encryption process, the electronic data is converted into a coded message which can be understood only by the receiver and the sender. Third parties can only access the information with the encryption key.

3. Tokenization-Tokenization is a security measure to strengthen the security of online transactions. It is a process in which the customer’s data, like for instance credit card number is transformed into a random combination of characters which does not have meaning. This token acts as a reference to the original data but if in case a breach happens; no one can derive any value from it.

4. PCI-DSS Compliance- Customers data security is the top most priority for a business owner. A payment gateway that you choose should comply with the security standards. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a set of standards and policies to ensure secure online payments. To check if the merchant or the ecommerce website is adhering to the PCI standards, look for the PCI-DSS symbol on their website.

5. 3D Secure- 3D secure known as 3 Domain Server is a protocol that provides an additional layer of protection to ensure secure online transactions. This protocol provides the customers with a code called One Time Pin. This pin is provided by the issuing bank for a particular transaction and cannot be used for any other transaction. The customer receives this code by e-mail or SMS, and once this code it entered, only then the acquiring bank authorizes or declines the transaction.

These are some of the safety measures taken by ecommerce companies to secure the customers information but remember not always all of them follow the best practices. It is recommended to always check the reputation of the payment gateway service providers before making the final choice. As a customer, if anytime you have a doubt about the credibility of the merchant while shopping online, do not go ahead with the transaction.