Web Hosting Done Your Way

Do you need real time credit card processing?

When setting up a website you need to know if you want to process credit cards online via a "payment gateway" or off-line at a Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal. Both systems work basically the same: they verify the credit card number, check the expiration date, confirm the card has available credit, sends the information to your merchant account, and sends an approved or declined message to you or your shopping cart. We support many of the most popular payment gateways, and most can be accessed for use with your custom shopping cart. Payment Gateway companies are services you must subscribe to, so there are fees involved with setting gateways up. These fees vary and may include a setup fee, a monthly fee, and per transaction fees (or any combination of all three). Gateways interact with your merchant account to charge a credit card (authorization) and collect the money to deposit into your bank account (settlement).

Do you have a merchant account set up?

So you have a shopping cart, and a payment gateway. Now you need a way to accept payments made for the products you sell. A "merchant account" is a type of relationship you have with a bank or other financial institution to accept and deposit credit card payments. Generally, your local bank will have a process or service in place that allows for online transactions. If not, or if they want to charge fees that are unacceptable to you, there are a myriad of other companies who specialize in merchant accounts. As with payment gateways, a merchant account is a service, and there are fees associated with this service. Fees can range from application and/or setup fees, licensing fees, discount rates (a fee that goes to the bank and the processor to cover the costs of the transaction), monthly service fees, per transaction fees.

We have long term working relationships with several vendors that provide both gateway and merchant accounts. We will assist you in finding the merchant solution that fits your requirements and budget.

SSL Certificates

SSL Certificates (Secure Socket layer) encrypt sensitive credit card information from your customers so it's safe and secure. When taking customers' Credit Card numbers, your customers want to be assured that data is being sent securely over the internet. SSL certificates are used to to encrypt data as it is being sent, so that the information cannot be intercepted and read in transit. SSL encryption requires the use of a "Certificate", which can be thought of as a "key" that "locks" the incoming data during transmission from your customers to your web site, and "unlocks" it when it arrives so the information can be viewed by you to fullfill your orders.