One of the questions I often get asked when someone is looking for online merchant accounts is “what exactly is a merchant account gateway?”

Now, it’s not the ONLY question that people have, but it is common enough to deserve it’s own article.

So, my goal is to clarify for you what a “gateway” is and why you need one if you want to accept credit cards online.

How a Merchant Services Gateway Works…

Let’s start off by using an analogy that most of us have direct experience of.

Say you walk into a store and you are ready to buy something. At the checkout area you will find one of three devices to process your credit card:

1. An electronic cash register with a swiper attached
2. A POS system (looks like a computer) with a card reader attached
3. A credit card terminal

Sometimes you will actually find a combination of these (say a POS terminal with a credit card terminal on the side).  Anyway, you get the idea.

In each case, the device (credit card terminal) acts like a payment gateway.

Here is how…

What you may not know is that each credit card terminal is programmed for the specific business using it, so that it can “connect” your payment with the the business.

The end result is that your credit card information gets sent through their merchant account for processing the payment, eventually resulting in money deposited into the bank account of the business.

And all of this happens automatically.

Well, when you are processing payments online you need something to LINK your shopping cart and/or website directly.

Sort of like a virtual credit card machine.

And that is the job of your merchant account gateway.  It provides the connection between your customer’s credit card and your merchant account.

In fact, a payment gateway allows for more flexibility because you can…

1. Link your merchant account to your shopping cart
2. Use the “quickclick” function to put “Add to cart” buttons on your website (just like PayPal)
3. Log into a secure website to process transactions directly, using the gateway as a “virtual terminal”

So the gateway acts as the connection between your shopping cart where people enter their credit card info, and securely passes that information along through your merchant account to process Visa, MasterCard and whatever other payments you would like to accept.

That’s why you need one if you are going to accept credit cards online.

Does that clarify things for you?

Now, you may be asking yourself “who do I contact to get a gateway?”

Choosing an Online Merchant Account Provider

Payment gateways are usually something that most merchant account provider can help you get set up with.

Provided they don’t focus solely on retail accounts.

To find a merchant account gateway and online merchant account provider, there are a couple of ways you can get started.

You can request merchant account quotes from qualified providers.  Simply follow the link and answer a couple of questions and we’ll take care of the rest.

If you want to find out a bit more about online merchant accounts follow the link and review merchant account set up tips.

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