Merchant Accounts

To become and online merchant, you need to establish your own merchant account and payment authorization gateway. What exactly is a merchant accout and a payment gateway and why do you need it? Well, if you want people to be able to purchase things directly from your website through your online shopping cart, you need a way for the credit card information to be verified. You also need a place for the funds to be deposited once the customer's information is verified and the order is filled.

In other words, your shopping cart collects the information that the customer entered, then transmits that data via a secure socket layer (or SSL) to the payment authorization gateway on its way to be verified. The payment authorization takes place and is transmitted back to the shopping cart, which confirms or denies the transaction. If the transaction is verified and approved, the sale is placed into a "pending" status at which point you (the Merchant) can fill the order and mark the sale as "filled". Once the status is "filled" the funds are released from the transaction and deposited into your merchant account.

Merchant Account and Payment Gateway Services

Authorize.Net
Authorize.Net provides global payment solutions that enable merchants to process credit card and electronic check transactions worldwide. Services include the Authorize.Net Virtual Terminal, Authorize.Net Payment Gateway, and much more. For more details and information about Authorize.Net's services, please contact us.