Online Payments
All online shops designed by ecommerce website designers will need to be integrated into a payment gateway so you can take credit / debit card details securly online.
PayPal enables anyone with a valid email address and credit card account to make and accept online payments. The system lets individuals make payments to other individuals, which account for much of PayPal's success on auction sites and as a system for buying shareware. It's also scalable, allowing it to be used by serious businesses to process orders online. There's good news for European users too - PayPal has recently acquired a dedicated European arm. PayPal's documentation is comprehensive, giving you advice on everything from setting up subscription services to integrating transactions into your site. You'll find everything you need to at the 'Merchant Tools' section of www.paypal.com.
A more direct option is Worldpay, a company with a shorter history than PayPal but one that's more clearly targeted at small business. Like PayPal, they'll enable you to accept most credit cards and deal with one-off payments or subscriptions. Unlike PayPal, users don't have to set up a PayPal account in order to do business with you; they can pay direct with their credit card. The 'Small Business' section of www.worldpay.com is where to go for more information.
One of the cheapest ways of taking payments online and is a professional credit / debit card processing payment system is Protx. They charge you a monthly fee of around £20 and that’s it regardless of the number of transactions you make. The only problem with this is you will need to get a merchant account from your bank. Protx only deal with collecting the customers credit / debit card details securely online.
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