Friday, June 29, 2012

Payment Processing Gateway

Payment gateway is a special service designed with a built in billing processor that allows and systematize the collection of credit card information and its transmission across the Internet. A payment gateway, which is a digital equivalent of a credit card processing terminal, is a software application that offers the functionality of a credit card company, allowing merchants to accept credit cards online and thus fulfill the merchant's payment services needs.

In the E-commerce site one has to consider the following factors for their payment gateway..
1) Easy transaction for your customer.
2) Less commission.
3) Availability of many payment options.
4) Easy integration.
5) Refund and cash back policies.

Types of Payment Gateway: Payment gateways come in two styles


  • The most commonly used style of Payment Gateway is a secure order form that takes the customer to a third-party site for ecommerce credit card processing and payment into the merchant's individual merchant account.
  • The second style of Payment Gateway is merchant-side application program interface or API. This is a code integrated into the server that is hosting the merchant's ecommerce site.

Advantages of Payment Gateway :


  • Reduces the geographical barrier in ecommerce. Merchants can accept credit card payments from customers located anywhere in the world in seconds.
  • Provides convenience to online shoppers. Customers can pay online with ease and speed.
  • Helps customers to know instantly whether their credit card payment has been accepted or not. This real time monitoring of online payment has saved a lot of time on the customers end.
  • Guarantees 100% safe and secured online payment transaction. The charge back facility that comes with online ecommerce credit card payment offers the consumer money back guarantee if the service fails to satisfy the customer.
  • Widens the business horizons of merchants by offering unlimited access to the global market.
  • Saves the infrastructure cost of setting up a shop. Payment processing online also cuts down the manpower cost.
  • The order and payment processing is very fast.
  • Saves the hassles of payment through check and also the time taken for check clearance.
  • Facilitates shopping even at odd hours.

If we look around for the payment gateways we have the following giants ICICI Bank, CITIBank , PAYPAL, CCAVENUE, EBS, Direct Pay, Transecute etc. If we talk about Cost almost each gateway costs some installation cost along with commission on each transaction. The transaction cost is somewhere between 4-7% of the transaction amount but on higher volume one may negotiate with them.

Top 10 Payment gateways in India in 2012 are:

CCAvenue: .The biggest 3rd party player in India. Offers variety of payment options which no other player come even close. It is the most popular gateway used in India. It offers a plethora of payment options and processes almost all kind of cards, supports direct bank transfer and USD payments. No other gateway can match the services offered by the gateway. Though the gateway is completely reliable but it is also the most expensive service in the market.

EBS : The plans are cheaper compared to most payment gateways. They were very responsive and offers multiple custom plans as well as some discounts. The services offered by EBS are next to CCAvenue.EBS is equally reliable and offers plans cheaper to other gateway services. It offers multiple plans along with some discounts one can pick from. If you do not like any of them then you can select from the custom plans offered as per your needs. Probably the second best player after ccavenue.

Transecute: Transecute is yet another payment gateway that is gaining popularity in recent times mainly because of the services it offers. The best part is it does not charge any setup fee or withdrawal charges. The rate per transaction is 5% and it supports master and visa cards. The application is claimed to be processed within 15 days and one can withdraw weekly. Apart from that, in case a transaction is reversed the gateway also refunds the commission charged.

DirecPay: DirectPay is a Times group endeavor and is known for its fast and reliable services. The gateway offers multiple plans based on the amount one is willing to pay for setup as well as the kind of retail store one has setup.

Paypal: Most people will suggest  Paypal and it is one of the most popular gateways over the internet. However, it is suitable for to deal with international clients. The gateway is not suitable for purely Indian market customers as it does not deal in Indian currency and hence one has to pay additional currency conversion charges along with the per transaction charges..

ICICI Payseal : It is an ICICI bank venture and their rate per transaction charge is also very less. The only thing is the gateway requires java technology to integrate it and the company sometimes take long to set the deal.They are probably the only bank who offer to small enterprises as well.

ABC Payments: ABC payments is another payment gateway by IndiaMART. The gateway enables to accept online bank transfers, credit cards and prepaid cash card payments from the customers. Apart from that it also offers free shopping cart, invoice management etc.

Paysignet: Paysignet not only supports almost all major international and domestic cards but also is by far the only gateway service that offers earn and pay facility. As per the facility, one has to pay only half the amount required to setup the account. The remaining half can be paid when you actually start earning from your website and funds are collected by the gateway.

HDFC Payment Gateway : The service is offered by HDFC bank. The services are reliable and the application is processed within 3 weeks. The transaction charges lay between 3.5-6% based on the plan selected.

IndiaPay: Last but not the least, IndiaPay also supports multiple payment options accepting almost all cards along with the option to collect payment from international clients. It also offers you a comprehensive API along with fraud and risk management services.

From above all CCavenue provides a wide range of payment options.As their integration is easy and its very easy to get the needed information on the CCavenue and based on the usage and reviews on various blogs and websites it is recommended to use CCavenue for the payment gateway.

Payment Gateway checklist: While choosing the payment gateway best suited to meet the payment services of the ecommerce web site, keep the following points in mind:

  • Address Verification System or AVS protection is a must for payment gateways in order to reduce the incidence of accepting fraudulent transactions. AVS does this by verifying the credit card holder's billing address with that of the credit card issuer's.
  • Payment Gateway Compatibility is very crucial. After  purchasing a shopping cart package for the ecommerce site, make sure that the payment gateway service is compatible with that.

A payment gateway acts as the mediator between the merchants shopping cart and the ecommerce credit card payments. Making the right choice of payment gateway is crucial as on this may depend the success or failure of the ecommerce venture.

For more details about eCOMMERCE PORTAL DEVELOPMENT and CONSULTING, please feel free to contact
Prevaj Consultants at prevaj@prevajconsultants.com or call +91-8144760745. For hosted eCommerce solutions please click here