What is a Payment Gateway? Basically, it acts as the central point between every financial transaction that is carried out online. A payment gateway helps in the transfer of information from a payment portal – such as an interactive voice response service, a mobile phone or a website – to the Front End Processor or bank. Here are some tips that will help you choose a good gateway for your needs. 

Compatibility 

Find out which shopping carts happen to be compatible with the payment gateway that you intend to integrate. It is extremely essential, given that you might install the shopping cart but find only later that your chosen payment gateway service is not compatible with it. It is thus a smart decision to make a list of every shopping cart that has compatibility with the gateway that you intend to set up. 

Also compare the prices of each software package that is available. Ask questions when you never understand specific aspects of the software package. This is expected by many salespersons. But you should not be pressurized or forced into picking a package that is totally incompatible. In case you end choosing such a package, there could be plenty of issues for you. You might not be able to know why no sales information is being recorded by your shopping cart when you are actually losing profits and sales. 

Smooth integration 

In case there is a shopping cart coming with your site, make sure that there is smooth integration of the payment gateway. Often, the majority of shopping cart vendors has all such things already figured out. However, it is important for you – as a business owner – to determine all that you are getting from your chosen gateway. After you install an ecommerce shopping cart, try to buy from it yourself, to check whether or not it is functioning well. In case your transaction is executed seamlessly, you do not need to worry about anything. 

Excellent customer support

Finally, it is also essential that the payment gateway of your choice is integrated to the 3rd party solutions that you intend to make use of. This indicates, in other words, that you would like to have the shopping carts and store front platforms to be compatible with your own payment gateway.

PCI-compliance

Make sure that it is fully PCI-compliant. A 3rd party must have audited the security of the company, and made sure that it satisfies the industry standards. All the credit card details of your customers are stored in payment gateways, which let you be reassured with the knowledge that the information of your customers is always safe and secure.