Payment Integration

Taking payments online is a common practice on e-commerce websites, but is also regularly used for other sites such as those taking payments for membership schemes, subscriptions, donations, deposits or other transactions.

As you would in a shop, online payments are handled by a company that then process the transaction and deduct the money from the customer’s credit or debit card. Instead of using a physical card to run the payment, the card number, the expiry date and sort code are used digitally to authorise with the bank.

There are a numerous amount of companies out there offering this service, all of which are fully compliant and secure Our role is then to integrate and pass information to make the transaction happen.. We offer a number of integrations as standard with our e-commerce platform and we can also integrate specialist providers on request.

The process of taking payments is simple. The user will go to checkout, they will then be presented with a screen to enter their card details securely. Once they have been authorised by the payment gateway provider, we are then issued with confirmation that the funds have been transferred. Once this is complete, it’s safe to send the Order Confirmation to the customer and ship the item.

There are a number of different types of payment integration. We are proficient and experienced in handling all of them. The two main methods are off site integration and Direct Access. Some providers only offer one, while others offer both.

Off Site Integration is where the the customer will go to checkout on your site and then be passed onto the payment provider for the customer to enter their payment details. The customer is then passed back the site on completion of the payment.

Direct Access integration is where the customer enters the details within the website, but the website itself never gets access to the card details. They are sent securely encrypted via a direct link to the payment gateway. This is by far the most professional off the integration types and allows for full control and custom error handling during the process.

Finally, the two main types aside. There is iFrame integration which is essentially cross between the above two. In this integration, the customer is given the impression that they do not leave the website. However, the iFrame is actually accessing the payment provider discreetly. This keeps the professional aspect but is an easier process to integrate.

By far the most common of payment integrations, is PayPal. They offer a wide range of packages from no monthly fee with higher transaction charges, right through to monthly packages where the transactions are heavily discounted.

The package you choose to go for will depend on the volume of orders to estimate receiving. Talk with us and we can recommend the best solution for you within PayPal.

SagePay has become a very popular payment gateway in the last couple of years and is our personal favourite. They offer a number of different integration levels mentioned above. Their transaction fees are also good.

If you use Sage for your accounting, you’ll also be able to directly link the two together for a better management of online business. If you receive a lot of repeat custom, they also offer packages that can store customer card details securely.

Secure Trading is another common provider. They have changed over the years and their latest software is powerful and easy to use. They offer fantastic rates and integration is carried out by our staff on a regular basis.

Sometimes, some customers may already have accounts with a bank. The bank may also run their internal PDQ machine in their shop. This can come at a great advantage such as lower rates per transaction. The common providers are HSBC and Barclays.

Integration into this can be carried out by our staff. However, there are strict requirements from the payment providers that sometimes require dedicated hosting. This is because these providers require you to install code at the server level in order to make them work. If you are looking to integrate with these, speak to our about your requirements and we can help you understand what is involved using your bank account gateway with your ecommerce site.

We are always happy to look at other providers that you are considering. We will investigate the pros and cons of each one and help you reach a decision. Our staff have been integrating with various providers for almost 15 years, so our experience will mean we can get your payment integration up and running in no time.