Payment Processors / Payment Gateways: explained
Payment processing is the electronic means of exchanging account information between a storefront customer through a payment processor gateway and an Internet Merchant Account.
Usually a submission to process a transaction arrives at the pureCommerce software, from a shopper, at which time it determines which gateway and which method of processing to use. If the transaction type is a "sale", originating from a credit card, and the merchant has enabled real-time processing, then a secure encrypted transaction request is sent to the chosen payment gateway. The payment gateway (AKA payment processor) will then obtain a transaction confirmation notice from the "Global Payment Processing Engine" associated with your merchant account (IMA) and the funds are depositted into your account and the transaction ID, Authorization Code and other details are logged by your pureCommerce software with the order.
List of Global Payment Processing Engines
- EDS
- First Data Merchant Services
- Norwest
- Nova
- Paymentech
- TeleCheck
- Vital
Although the process seems lengthy, average processing time is usually within a few seconds. pureCommerce supports many payment processor gateways (over 60 and increasing) and you can review, research and select from our payment processing information page.
Note : a payment processor gateway needs to communicate with an Internet Merchant Account and a periodic service fee and possible per-transaction fee may be applicable depending on which Internet Merchant Account and which Payment Processor / Gateway combination are chosen.
Regarding Electronic checks (ECheck)
In order to accept payment from electronic checks, you will need a special kind of Internet Merchant Account called "Electronic Check Internet Merchant Account" (ECIMA) The account is seperate from any other IMA you may have.
To open an (ECIMA) you should follow the information from the Internet Merchant Account page, with the exception that you should ask your financial institution specifically about an Electronic Check account. To accept credit cards and Electronic Checks from your pureCommerce driven web site you will need to have two Merchant accounts
- Standard Internet Merchant Account
- Electronic Check Internet Merchant Account