If you want to accept credit cards online, you need to have a payment gateway. A payment gateway is an application that facilitates communication between your ecommerce Web site and the credit card accounts of your customers. Without a payment gateway, you would be unable to accept credit cards on your Web site. Customers would have to call you to place an order for products and services seen your business Web site. In today’s world, where customer convenience is paramount, that is an unacceptable solution. If you want to sell products and services online, you have to have a payment gateway.

VerePay Portal payment gateway

One of the many companies that offer a payment gateway is VerePay. VerePay Portal is a gateway that allows many options for accepting credit and debit cards. Indeed, VerePay offers the flexibility to accept credit cards using:

• Virtual terminal. This is a terminal that is basically online. You log in to a secure site and have the transactions performed there. VerePay is set up so that virtual terminal transactions can be entered via key or swiped. This is ideal in cases where you take orders over the phone, fax or by mail. It is also possible to process PIN based debit transactions.
• Cellular transactions. If you have a mobile device, it is possible to use it with VerePay to process transactions. This is ideal if you are on the move. If you sell merchandise and services door to door, at festivals and fairs or if you have a mobile business, it can be helpful to be able to make cellular transactions.

Obviously, it is possible to accept credit cards online as well when you use VerePay. Other features that VerePay can enable for your ecommerce business Web site include:

• Interactive voice response.
• Make use of loyalty cards and other discount cards.
• Securely store cards of valued customers.
• Help with customer relationship management.

In addition to these features, it is also possible to run a number of reports. You can search transactions, as well as settle batches, print out reports, and make use of accounting software that interacts seamlessly with the payment gateway.

Fraud protection from VerePay

It is very important to get fraud protection from your payment gateway provider. Many payment gateway services offer a certain level of fraud protection to help protect you and your customers. When a fraudulent card is used, you are penalized as well. You have to do a chargeback, and if you have shipped merchandise, it becomes a loss. Additionally, if you have too many chargebacks, that result in fees – or even a revocation of your merchant account. It is important to do what you can to fight fraud.

Some of the features that VerePay has that can help you control fraud include:

• Address Verification Service. This is a service in which the address given by the customer is verified with the billing address on the credit card account. In some cases, only the ZIP code is used. In other cases, it is required that the entire billing address be accurate. If the addresses do not match, the transaction is rejected. This can prevent fraud, since most scammers only have a stolen number, and do not know the billing address. If the fraudster knows the ZIP code, however, that can be a problem. And it doesn’t prevent issues related to shipping address.
• CVV. This a security measure by which a certain number is found on the back of the credit card. The scammer usually must have the physical card in order to find the CVV number.
• Blocked credit card. It is also possible to mark a credit card for blocking if there is a problem. This will work for both the Internet payment gateway and the virtual terminal.

Cost for the payment gateway depends on which features you want included. Like any other business decision, it is a good idea to do some comparison shopping to see which payment gateway provider suits your needs. Make sure you check different providers for price, service and features. Then choose what works best for you and your ecommerce needs.