One of the most effective ways of running a business online is having your own eCommerce website where you can independently manage customer orders and transactions directly from your platform. However, in order to give shoppers on your site a seamless and secure experience, one crucial detail you must not overlook is having a trusted ePayment gateway to securely manages debit and credit card payments on your platform.
In this article, we’ll walk you through how to choose an ePayment gateway and what types are available.
What is an e-Payment Gateway?
An e-Payment gateway is an online payment service that processes card payments for online businesses and merchants as well as for physical stores that accept debit and credit card payments. Payment gateway services are usually provided by a financial technology company and are integrated into the checkout page of your eCommerce website or shopping app or to your POS machine.
How do e-Payment Gateways Work?
Here’s a step-by-step process of how an e-Payment gateway works behind the scenes to complete a transaction:
Step 1: Customer initiates a transaction on an eCommerce checkout page.
Step 2: The e-Payment gateway checks with the customer’s bank to ensure required funds are available for the transaction
Step 3: The gateway sends the encrypted payment details to the appropriate card scheme e.g. VISA, MasterCard
Step 4: The transaction is approved by the card scheme and the customer is redirected to the merchant’s site
Step 5: The payment gateway sends the information to the merchant’s bank to move the money from the customer’s bank account to the merchant’s account
Types of e-Payment Gateways
Depending on how you wish to integrate an e-Payment gateway into your online platform, there are a variety of ways that payment gateways can function:
1. Self-hosted Payment Gateway: This option is a common choice among large online retailers who can handle online payments on their own website servers and directly collect customer payment details on their eCommerce website. Self-hosted e-Payment gateways have a faster checkout experience as they are completed on the merchant platform without the need to redirect to another platform. However, self-hosted payment gateways require you to have adequate technical capabilities as you are fully responsible for managing the checkout experience for your customers.
2. Third-Party Hosted Payment Gateway: This option allows an ePayment gateway service provider takes full control of the payment processing and authorisation for transactions that happen on your eCommerce website. For this method, customers are usually redirected from your checkout page to a separate site hosted by a payment service provider page where they fill in their details and complete payment. A good example is PayPal, a platform that fully hosts the customer’s payment experience from collecting their card details to authorising and completing the transaction.
3. Backend-Hosted Payment Gateway: This method allows an online business to host the front-end checkout experience on their website, while the payment processing happens through a payment gateway that has been integrated into their platform. With this option, your customers experience the same interface of your website and do not feel like they are leaving your site or platform to checkout. They can simply fill out their card details and finish the payment process on-site while a third-party payment gateway processes and authorises the payment process behind the scenes while ensuring increased security.
How to choose an ePayment gateway for your eCommerce website
Before you choose a payment gateway for your business, it is important to decide the level of technical responsibility you are willing to handle and how much control of the payment process you wish to have. This will help you identify the type of ePayment gateway to pick.
Keep in mind however that whichever choice you make, giving your customers a seamless and secure payment experience is the top priority. For this reason here are five things to consider when picking a payment service provider.
- Easy integration with your platform
- Reliable technical and customer support
- Simplified checkout experience
- Security Compliance
- Fees and contract details
What is the best eCommerce payment gateway in Nigeria?
While there are many excellent e-Payment gateways offering a reliable payment experience to merchants and online shoppers, ChamsSwitch offers one of the most robust technologies for secure and reliable online payment in Nigeria. ChamsSwitch currently manages four electronic funds transfer platforms including PelPay, Naira.com, SwitchPay and Naira Plus and are seamlessly able to integrate with any financial system.
ChamsSwitch is a subsidiary of Chams, a proudly Nigerian-owned digital company that has been in business for over 38 years and is well known for having championed e-payment, identity management and other major initiatives in Nigeria; including BVN and INEC projects.
Ready to integrate a seamless payment experience into your eCommerce website? Contact us by visiting chamsswitch.com/contact-us/ today!
