What Payment Gateways Are and Why You Need Them
Not all consumers understand the difference between payment gateways and an ecommerce shopping cart. Some merchants equate gateways with merchant accounts, but that isn’t correct. Payment gateways collect integrate into a website’s shopping cart and collects payment information at checkout. Just like a Point-of-Sale terminal in a traditional brick and mortar shop handles payment information, the payment gateway is essential to every ecommerce merchant account. It lets the merchant accept multiple forms of payment from debit and credit cards to gift cards and more. A payment gateway may be a tool to handle information, but a merchant account goes above and beyond that. Merchant accounts settle funds through processing banks for instant payment.
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