Online payments

The term PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) is used in relation to the compliance standards that businesses and service providers must meet when they accept, store, transmit or process cardholder data securely. A payment gateway that has the required level of PCI compliance can help you and your customers stay safe from data breaches and fraudulent activity.

Here’s what you’ll need displayed prominently on your website (or dummy site) if you want to use our payment gateway:

• card scheme logos at the point of sale
• legal compliance compliant with any known legal restrictions or regulations
• a description of the goods or services you offer
• your delivery and refund/ return policies
• details of how to contact your customer services department
• details of which currencies you accept transactions in and any export restrictions (if applicable)
• your consumer data privacy policy
• your terms and conditions.

We’ll ask for your website address (your URL) when you’re submitting your application.

If we can’t see everything in the list above on your website when you’re applying, we might get in touch with you to request details about what goods or services you sell, who owns the stock, where the stock is held and how long it takes for your business to provide the goods and services it offers.

A payment gateway provider, sometimes referred to as payment service providers, are companies that provide technological solutions to enable you to get paid in a secure manner. They act as a bridge between you, the merchant, and your customers – as well as the issuing bank – by transmitting encrypted card data that can safely pass between accounts.

A shopping cart plugin lets you sell products directly on your website. By using a shopping cart plugin, your customers can view their selected items and payment options, and potentially enjoy a more user-friendly experience.

To many business owners, payment gateways are a no-brainer if you want to sell online. According to Statista, there are 66 million digital commerce users in the UK, so almost everyone relies on safe and secure electronic payments one way or another.

Unlike in-store payments, where you can request that a customer enters their PIN, online payments require additional layers of protection to combat fraud. Also, having a gateway for payments can help you meet your legal obligations to protect your customers’ personal data, in addition to complying with initiatives like GDPR.

A payment gateway provides extra layers of security: when a customer enters their card details online, the gateway performs fraud checks and encrypts the data, before passing it onto an issuing bank, which authorises the transaction following additional fraud screening.

Aside from the encryption of cardholders’ personal data, and the layers of protection from transferring data with the issuing bank, there are other ways that payment gateways can protect your business from fraudulent activity. For example, a transaction can be rejected if the card is expired; there are insufficient funds; a credit limit has been exceeded; or a bank account has been closed.