Designing and Building Payment Applications

Written by Robert Levings


Continued from page 1

In some cases,repparttar payment gateway may actually displayrepparttar 108920 variable name that has been used for a specific data field inrepparttar 108921 response page (e.g. if you use “CustName” asrepparttar 108922 variable, this may be what is displayed torepparttar 108923 user inrepparttar 108924 response page, email, etc.). Wherever possible, try to use “customer-friendly” variable names rather than cryptic ones to avoid confusion onrepparttar 108925 part ofrepparttar 108926 user.

4. Fail Safe Development

Put fail-safes in place to compensate for internet connectivity failures that might result inrepparttar 108927 customer not getting a payment response fromrepparttar 108928 gateway. This involves working throughrepparttar 108929 logic of how a customer processes a transaction and receives notification ofrepparttar 108930 transaction to identify possible points of failure (e.g. what would happen if Internet connectivity failure occurred immediately after a customer posted a transaction torepparttar 108931 payment gateway but beforerepparttar 108932 response page was returned? How doesrepparttar 108933 customer know whatrepparttar 108934 status ofrepparttar 108935 transaction is?).

Fail-safes can take many forms. EasyPay123, for example, has a Get Transaction Status feature that allowsrepparttar 108936 application to query Skipjack based on unique order number to determine (a) whetherrepparttar 108937 transaction is inrepparttar 108938 system, and (b) if it, what its status is (e.g. approved, declined, settled, etc.). Oncerepparttar 108939 status is known,repparttar 108940 application can be programmed to determinerepparttar 108941 correct course of action to take automatically.

5. Third Party Linkages

In some instances, there may be a requirement to pass transaction data to a third party application, either atrepparttar 108942 timerepparttar 108943 data is posted torepparttar 108944 payment gateway, or usingrepparttar 108945 results returned fromrepparttar 108946 payment gateway afterrepparttar 108947 transaction is processed. There are a number of ways to do this, either by havingrepparttar 108948 gateway post to a specific location, or by extracting and formattingrepparttar 108949 data for import intorepparttar 108950 third party application.

Talk to your payment gateway provider to determinerepparttar 108951 best method of integrating torepparttar 108952 application.

Step 4: Test

Testing can be accomplished duringrepparttar 108953 development stage by usingrepparttar 108954 payment gateway’s development environment (if one is available) and a test credit card. This allowsrepparttar 108955 developer andrepparttar 108956 user to ensure thatrepparttar 108957 application functions inrepparttar 108958 manner that it should. Development testing only provides assurance ofrepparttar 108959 functional parts ofrepparttar 108960 application, however. To ensure that funds are approved and settled properly, testing should also be performed withrepparttar 108961 application onrepparttar 108962 “live” platform before making it available for general use. We recommendrepparttar 108963 following:

1. Using a live credit card, authorize a transaction inrepparttar 108964 amount of $1.00 2. Ensure thatrepparttar 108965 transaction is successfully approved, and that: (a) The response page is displayed and contains all ofrepparttar 108966 necessary information (b) The email receipt is received and contains all ofrepparttar 108967 necessary information (if an email receipt is being used) 3. After 24-48 hours (depending uponrepparttar 108968 merchant bank), checkrepparttar 108969 merchant bank account to determine ifrepparttar 108970 funds fromrepparttar 108971 authorization were successfully deposited. 4. Verify thatrepparttar 108972 merchant name appearing onrepparttar 108973 live credit card statement used in Step 1 appears as expected (this is defined duringrepparttar 108974 merchant account application process, and is typically a derivative ofrepparttar 108975 “doing business as” name onrepparttar 108976 application).

Step 5: Communicate

Chances are that you built your payment application because it helped you streamline your operations, reduce your costs, increase your sales, improve customer service, or all ofrepparttar 108977 above. If your customers/users are not aware that it exists, your success at achieving your objectives may be reduced. You will need to getrepparttar 108978 word out that your application exists. This could include advertising or leveraging search engines inrepparttar 108979 case of online retail, or a link to your payment interface in your emails and invoices inrepparttar 108980 case of bill payment applications. Many methods of communication exist, including advertising, affiliate programs, “viral marketing” efforts, search engine submissions, and others. The Internet is an excellent resource to research these various options. We also have an article, “Gaining Visibility for Your Website”, that highlights a few of these different methods. You should also use your offline marketing efforts and collateral material to make customers aware of your application.

Don’t ignore your employees when sending out communications. They should be aware ofrepparttar 108981 value and implications ofrepparttar 108982 new payment application, since it may affect how they do their job or interact with customers. Sending an internal bulletin to them describingrepparttar 108983 application, its value, and how it may impact them, will go a long way toward avoiding confusion oncerepparttar 108984 application launches.

Design and Development Tips

* Data validation and required field coding will dramatically reduce end-user generated errors and dissatisfaction byrepparttar 108985 end user. * Design and test for all browser types. * Test, test, test to ensure that all elements ofrepparttar 108986 system are functioning properly. Mapping outrepparttar 108987 data flows and developing an exhaustive test protocol to follow will ensure that most issues will be identified and tested prior to launch.

Summary

A complete discussion of how to integrate a payment gateway to an application is beyondrepparttar 108988 scope of this document. There are, however, basic steps that should be followed regardless ofrepparttar 108989 nature ofrepparttar 108990 integration. If you are a developer looking to integrate a payment gateway, your gateway provider should provide you withrepparttar 108991 documentation, scripts, software modules and support to make your task easier. If not, then you may wish to look at alternate gateway providers. If you are a merchant that is engaging a developer to do this work for you, you may find value in usingrepparttar 108992 points in this article to ensure that your developer is following a comprehensive approach that will result in an error-free, customer-centric solution.

About EasyPay123

EasyPay123 is a leading supplier of payment processing solutions to businesses across North America. Offering world-class solutions at affordable prices, EasyPay123 helps merchants simplifyrepparttar 108993 process of acquiring, launching and using payment applications to improverepparttar 108994 way they do business. Visit us at www.EasyPay123.com.

For a description of some ofrepparttar 108995 e-commerce terms used in this article, please visit our online glossary at www.EasyPay123.com.

If you found this article helpful, you may wish to request one or more ofrepparttar 108996 other articles inrepparttar 108997 EasyPay123 series by visiting our website. Articles in this series include:

Understanding E-commerce Transactions How Transactions are Processed Getting Merchant Accounts How to Design and Build Payment Applications How to Choose a Payment Gateway How to Pick a Shopping Cart Preventing Online Fraud Gaining Visibility for Your Website Understanding Wireless Payments

© 2003 EasyPay123. All Rights Reserved. This article may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit written permission from EasyPay123.



Robert Levings is President of EasyPay123, a leading provider of online payment solutions to merchants across North America.


The Ins and Outs of Merchant Accounts

Written by Robert Levings


Continued from page 1

4. What Fees are Associated With a Merchant Account?

The fees that you will pay for a merchant account vary depending upon many ofrepparttar factors discussed earlier, such as perceived level of risk, estimated dollar volume,repparttar 108919 aggressiveness ofrepparttar 108920 acquiring bank, etc. In general, however,repparttar 108921 following rates will apply:

Setup Fee: sometimes called an “application fee”, this one time fee varies widely, from $0 to $500 depending uponrepparttar 108922 acquiring bank.

Discount Rate:repparttar 108923 discount rate isrepparttar 108924 percentage ofrepparttar 108925 total sale that you pay torepparttar 108926 acquiring bank. These rates are determined using a number of factors, includingrepparttar 108927 average order dollar amount, estimated total monthly dollar volume,repparttar 108928 perceived business risk, etc. Discount rates range from approximately 2% to 4%. Small variations in discount rate can have a large impact on your total cost if you are processing significant dollar volume.

Transaction Fee: some acquiring banks levy a transaction fee in addition torepparttar 108929 discount rate. Of those that do levy a fee, they typically range from $.10-$.30 per transaction. Note that banks that waiverepparttar 108930 transaction fee sometimes “build it in” torepparttar 108931 discount rate to make their fees appear more competitive. Comparingrepparttar 108932 total cost of different providers will allow you to make informed decisions by comparing “apples to apples”.

Statement Fee: this fee coversrepparttar 108933 cost of producing your monthly statement. Typical fees are $10 or under, although some banks will not charge a statement fee at all.

Monthly Minimum: some acquiring banks will charge you a minimum fee (e.g. $25) if your discount rate plus transaction fees do not exceed some minimum amount.

Chargeback Fee: if a customer successfully repudiates a charge from you,repparttar 108934 bank will charge you a “charge-back” fee. This rate varies from $10 to $25 for each chargeback. Note that too many charge-backs will likely result inrepparttar 108935 loss of your merchant account status, so be sure to take advantage of available fraud control technology and apply sound business judgment in order to reduce incidences of charge-backs.

Reserve Funds: ifrepparttar 108936 acquiring bank perceives that your level of risk exceeds their standard guidelines but is not high enough to result in a rejected application, you may be required to set up a reserve account withrepparttar 108937 bank. This typically consists of a percentage of your sales volume (e.g. 10% of your estimated first six month’s sales). This provides a fund thatrepparttar 108938 merchant account provider can access should you exitrepparttar 108939 business.

Because ofrepparttar 108940 number of fees involved, we recommend that you prepare a spreadsheet to calculaterepparttar 108941 total cost ofrepparttar 108942 various merchant account alternatives that you are exploring. This will help you make your final decision. EasyPay123 has a simple online fee calculator available on our website that helps simplifyrepparttar 108943 process of comparing different merchant account providers’ fees.

Merchant Account Tips

1. Determine what software you are going to use to process credit card payments before you get a merchant account. This will determine whether you will need a card present or card not present type of merchant account. 2. Be sure to shop around in order to getrepparttar 108944 best value from your merchant account provider. Remember that price should only be one factor in your selection process. Service, reputation and policies should be evaluated as well. 3. Ensure that your merchant account provider connects to a processor that your payment gateway also connects to. 4. Minimize your charge-backs by employingrepparttar 108945 latest fraud detection technology and exercising good business judgment before shipping products. 5. Be sure to calculate total costs when comparing merchant account providers. Often fees are “hidden” inrepparttar 108946 discount rate to make it appear that, for example, transaction fees or setup fees are being waived. Understandrepparttar 108947 various components that will determine your cost and take a few minutes to dorepparttar 108948 necessary calculations. It could save you a lot of money downrepparttar 108949 road. To speed up your comparison process, use EasyPay123’s merchant account fee calculation located on our site.

Summary

Obtaining a merchant account is a necessary step in providing your merchantsrepparttar 108950 convenience of paying by credit card. If you haven’t gone throughrepparttar 108951 process before, it can be somewhat confusing, since many players and fees are involved. Shop around, understand all ofrepparttar 108952 related fees and policies associated withrepparttar 108953 merchant account, and ensure that you’re dealing with a reputable company. Your business deserves nothing less. If you have any questions aboutrepparttar 108954 process, please call us at EasyPay123 toll-free at 866-438-8767.

About EasyPay123

EasyPay123 is a leading supplier of payment processing solutions to businesses across North America. Offering world-class solutions at affordable prices, EasyPay123 helps merchants simplifyrepparttar 108955 process of acquiring, launching and using payment applications to improverepparttar 108956 way they do business. Visit us at www.EasyPay123.com.

For a description of some ofrepparttar 108957 e-commerce terms used in this article, please visit our online glossary at www.EasyPay123.com.

If you found this article helpful, you may wish to request one or more ofrepparttar 108958 other articles inrepparttar 108959 EasyPay123 series by visiting our website. Articles in this series include:

Understanding E-commerce Transactions How Transactions are Processed Getting Merchant Accounts How to Design and Build Payment Applications How to Choose a Payment Gateway How to Pick a Shopping Cart Preventing Online Fraud Gaining Visibility for Your Website Understanding Wireless Payments

© 2003 EasyPay123 All Rights Reserved. This article may not be copied, reprinted, published, translated, hosted, or otherwise distributed by any means without explicit written permission from EasyPay123.



Robert Levings is President of EasyPay123, a leading North American provider of online payment solutions.


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