For small businesses looking to succeed in an ultra-competitive online world, certain merchant services are a necessity.
Being a small business owner can be difficult. We know it all too well. But being the owner of a start-up or small business, which is also active online? That's on a whole other level. From building your website on solid technology and maintaining an attractive e-store, to marketing your business and orchestrating logistics, running an eCommerce start-up is not a small task.
Online payment processing is one of the most important functions of an eCommerce business. It encompasses not only collecting payments and managing cash flow but also refunds and returns management, chargeback and fraud management, and even accepting localized payment methods beyond Visa and Mastercard. Therefore, we’ve created this go-to guide to explain some of the most essential merchant services to small businesses.
Read on and find out how you can accept electronic payments and manage other critical aspects of payment processing by employing the assistance of reliable merchant service providers.
How online payments work
If you are an owner of a start-up or small business and you are trying to take the company online or you're already there, you will need to set up a system to accept payments online. You may want to accept credit cards, debit cards, or local payment methods that vary across regions. You will, therefore, need a merchant account for your online business and integration to a payment gateway through a card processor for small businesses.
What is a payment gateway, and how can you integrate with one?
A payment gateway is a merchant service used to process debit and credit cards. It is linked to a merchant account for card processing. Integrating with a payment gateway is essential for any eCommerce business. It does not matter if your company is a start-up, moderately sized business, or large enterprise. The use of a payment gateway is essential for accepting debit or credit card payments online.
Types of transactions facilitated by a payment gateway
There are several card transaction types that can be executed through a payment gateway, including the following.
Authorisation
This is used to identify if the cardholder has the necessary funds in their credit or debit card for the transaction to happen.
Capture
A capture is used when an order is not shipped immediately. The money is captured once the shipment is gone.
Payment or sale
This transaction type combines authorisation and capture. The transaction amount is charged and transferred immediately. It's specifically useful for businesses that offer services online and provide access to their customers right after payment.
Refund
Refunds are used when orders are cancelled, or goods have been returned, and the merchant must refund the transaction amount to the customer. Tgey can be applied to both payment and capture transactions.
Void
Void transactions are similar to refunds but can only be applied if the transaction had not been captured yet. The transaction disappears from the customer's account within 24 hours.
Payment gateway integrations: What are your options?
Within the context of business payment solutions, it's also important to mention that there are mainly two types of payment gateway integration.
The first is hosted integration, which directs the user to the payment provider's payment page, which is seamlessly embedded on your website.
The other option is direct integration, which allows complete control but also responsibility of the checkout page and credit card data collection to the merchant.
What is a merchant acquirer?
A merchant acquirer, also known as an acquiring bank, is a financial institution with which an eCommerce company partners in order to obtain a merchant account. It enables them to accept credit and debit card payments online while settling the transactions to their business bank account. Charging transaction fees plus a fixed monthly amount in exchange for its service, an acquirer facilitates credit card processing for small businesses.
Therefore, any moderately sized business or start-up wishing to accept credit or debit card payments needs to partner with a payment acquirer who will handle the authorisation and authentication of each card transaction.
Small business merchant services offered by payabl.
Now that you’re familiar with terms commonly used in the merchant payment processing context, let us explain how our payment solutions for small business and start-up organisations can help your company grow while ensuring a seamless payment experience for both you and your customers.
Risk and fraud management
As a start-up in the eCommerce space, a merchant needs to be aware that with accepting payments online comes exposure to risks associated with payments and data security. Terms such as payment fraud, credit card data breach, and chargebacks are some examples of threats that any business accepting online payments should be aware of.
Our risk management practices involve numerous tools that are integrated into our payment gateway and are used to evaluate potential payment fraud, minimising the risks to the merchant. These involve elements such as fraud prevention and management, 3D Secure, geo-conflict, velocity check, BIN lookup, and pre-authorisation.
Payment processing
payabl. provides card acquiring services that empower European small businesses and start-ups to obtain worldwide payments in a cost-effective and secure way. We are a longstanding principal member of both Visa and Mastercard, as well as a regulated payment institution within the European Union.
As a European acquirer, payabl. offers easy processing of credit and debit card transactions to online merchants, shielded in a fraud-protected environment. And all this is achievable with a single, seamless integration to our payment gateway.
Alternative payment methods
Online merchants aiming to achieve global reach often look beyond the big players (e.g., Mastercard, Visa) as supported payment methods on their checkout pages. A host of alternative payment methods can be implemented to help with any localisation strategy, and to increase conversion in target markets by offering methods that the customers are accustomed to using in making payments.
These methods fall within three main categories, which are bank transfers, digital wallets (eWallets), and prepaid vouchers. Each region or country has its own popular payment methods (in addition to credit or debit cards, of course). If used by the merchant, they add value to cross-border shoppers by offering convenience and trust, since each shopper chooses the payment method they're most comfortable with. Any business can benefit from this solution, which enables acceptance of global payments.
Virtual terminal
There are some cases where the customers might not have access to the internet or prefer to pay over the phone, by mail order, or on-site via a tablet or other device. Our virtual terminal can be used to accept these kinds of payments without the need for any extra hardware and software. It is supported by our securely hosted PCI DSS Level 1 payment servers.
payabl.’s payment gateway services for small businesses and start-ups
Now, let’s discuss some of the most important elements that constitute our payment gateway services, which are designed to offer the best payment experience for both the merchants and their customers.
PCI compliance
Any merchant owning a small business or start-up should have a solid understanding of what PCI compliance is and why it's a very important factor in choosing a payment processor who can responsibly handle the security aspect of card transactions.
PCI DSS (which stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is a set of security standards that must be followed by companies that accept, process, store or transmit credit card data. There are several advantages of being PCI compliant, including increased trust levels between the merchants and their customers, which is something that every business or start-up should be aiming to establish.
3D Secure
3D Secure, which stands for 3-Domain Secure, is an additional layer of security in online payment processing. It's available through Visa as ‘Verified by Visa’ and Mastercard as ‘Mastercard Secure Code’.
Here’s how 3D Secure works and how it can impact moderately sized businesses and start-ups.
When a customer attempts to complete a payment online, a password or authentication code is requested to complete the payment. The customer is then redirected to the card provider's website where they can insert a password already set with their bank or an OTP received on their mobile phone. At payabl., we encourage our merchants to implement 3D Secure, which can be found in our payment gateway, along with other fraud prevention tools.
The effect of this on small businesses and start-ups is that the payment environment features additional security, minimising the risk of fraudulent transactions for both the merchant and the customer.
PSD2
PSD2 is a revised Payment Services Directive enacted by the European Commission and took full effect on September 14, 2019. It is aimed at increasing protection for customers during online and mobile payments.
This directive requires payment services providers and payment processors to implement a series of technical requirements, including Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), which is used to ensure that at least two identifiers are used to authenticate eCommerce transactions.
payabl. and its payment gateway fully support the latest SCA requirements today.
Why payabl. is an ideal digital payments platform
Merchant accounts for small business and start-ups can be difficult to comprehend at first, due to limited knowledge and inexperience. We understand that seamless payment processing is very important for new small businesses to function and start generating revenue.
Our comprehensive payment processing for small companies is designed to ensure a seamless experience for the merchant during the process of applying for and obtaining a merchant account, setting up the payment gateway, and starting to accept payments.
Dedicated account manager
We totally understand that setting up a business merchant account, running it and integrating with a payment gateway can be difficult at first. We, therefore, offer a dedicated account manager to each of our merchant account holders, so they can find the support they need in any situation!
24/7 support
Processing payments for businesses can often be tricky due to inexperience or even minor technological issues that might arise. payabl. offers 24/7 support to its merchant account holders, ensuring all aspects of payment processing are being managed smoothly at all times.
Competitive pricing
Moderately sized businesses and start-ups are running on a tight budget. As a merchant account provider, we want to help our partners grow instead of imposing high-cost payment processing solutions on them. We, therefore, offer competitive pricing across Europe to make sure that our merchant account holders can accept credit and debit card payments and alternative payment methods while keeping their payment processing costs low.
payabl. : The ultimate payment processor for your business
We certainly hope that we have explained a lot by now and that you have found this guide to be useful. We believe in making things easy for our customers and all merchant account holders, taking away the burden of payment processing and risk management responsibilities so you can focus on what you do best.
We'd be happy to hear from you and offer you a free quotation for your own individually tailored solution as well as to discuss with you in detail our dedicated merchant services for small businesses.
Contact us through our website and leave your details, and we'll get back to you via phone or email with all the information you need!