Credit card processing can be a profitable service to offer, especially if you own an Internet-based business. Over 90% of online transactions worldwide have taken advantage of credit card payment services because they are fast, convenient, and secure. Understanding how credit card payments are processed is a challenge, however, because most of us never see what happens behind the scenes. Below is a summary of how credit card processing works online.
?A customer enters credit card information to purchase your product or service.
?This data is passed to the merchant web server and a payment gateway through a secure socket layer (SSL)*.
?Once the payment gateway receives the transaction data, their software verifies all of the credit card information and then accepts or declines the credit card.
?The payment gateway sends an email receipt to the merchant web server and to the customer.
?Along with the email receipt, the payment gateway sends the order to the merchant bank. The money is subtracted from the purchaser's credit card account and placed in a 30-day holding merchant account owned by your business.
