Any entrepreneur with aspirations to work at home with an internet business must consider how they will be paid by customers. There is a fundamental distinction between an online business and a traditional business when it comes to accepting payments by credit card. For instance, with a traditional business, a customer walks into your store, puts the items which they wish to purchase on the counter, and hands you their credit card. However, with an online business, you cannot physically swipe a credit card. Therefore, you will need a payment gateway.
A payment gateway is the electronic mechanism which connects the “Buy Now” button on your website to your merchant account. This mechanism enables your business to accept credit cards and ACH payments (checks) in an instant.
One of the most assuring features of the payment gateway is its security. We all know that the world is full of identity theft. This is rampant in people’s minds. Hence, a reputable payment gateway will encrypt your customers’ credit card numbers and other sensitive information on its way to your merchant account. After the transaction is either accepted or declined, it will send an authorization number back to the payment gateway. This whole process takes less than three seconds. Thereafter, your merchant account will transmit your approved transactions to the issuing bank, and payment is deposited in your business account generally within 2-3 business days.
Okay, you have me hooked. Where do I get this payment gateway? The good news is that there are a myriad of companies out there who offer this service. Often times they come with additional, customizable, fraud prevention filters which provide even greater security for you the merchant to detect when someone is trying to defraud you. If you work at home, and sell items online, you must have this software associated with your website.
Moreover, most payment gateways give you the ability to accept an order over the phone if need be by typing the customer’s credit card information directly into your merchant account online. This might come in handy if a customer calls you up with questions, and then wants to make a purchase right away. The last thing that you want to have to do is turn a customer away who is ready to buy right now, telling them to complete the order on your website.
As we have been discussing, there are several companies who offer gateways subscriptions to business owners. Shop around and compare prices, then select the best option for your work at home business.
For those of you who Work At Home, there is a good change that you will need to accept payment by credit card. Put yourself in the best position to Make Money Online by setting up a payment gateway. Make sure that you check us out at SOSComplete.com.