Payment Gateways
A payment gateway is a separate service and acts as an intermediary between the merchants' cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction, including the customers' credit card issuer and your merchant account. Think of it as a EFTPOS terminal in cyberspace. It checks for validity, encrypts transaction details, ensures they are sent to the correct destination and then decrypts the responses which are sent back to the merchant.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway; as data is forwarded to the gateway via the shopping cart and a secure (SSL) connection. Plugins are used to send information in a format that is acceptable to the particular gateway.The proper choice of payment gateway is another vital element which will contribute to your success or failure as an online business.
Payment gateway issues
As with any other ecommerce element, shop around, compare prices and read the fine print.
Gateway compatibility
