IPG

Hmmm.. So today IPG is the newest term to me which I will be explaining here. IPG stands for Internet Payment Gateway; The term actually explains it all. IPG is used to facilitate the credit/debit card transactions happening through the web between a consumer and and all the financial networks involved in the transaction. These financial networks include the credit card issuer of the consumer and the account of the merchant.

The IPG captures the credit card transaction, encrypts the transaction information, routes it to the credit card processor and then returns either an approval or a decline notice.

The consumer does not interact with the payment gate way directly though. It will be done via the web portal which interacts with the consumer. So what happens when the consumer makes a payment request?

This process consists of 3 important steps.

 

First comes the Authorization part. Here the credit/debit card used by the consumer in the payment is being authorized by the credit card issuer; The payment gateway checks that the credit card is acceptable. The gateway provides a secure link between the customer and the credit card processor. The transaction processing happens very fast and efficiently with an average response time of 2 seconds.

The second step covers the settling part where the IPG groups all of the transactions together and sends them off to the bank in a single batch at the end of the day. This process passes the transaction to the bank so that the merchant receives payment.

Reporting happens in the third step. This process records the transactions and allows the merchant to view them using the payment gateway report facilities.

So are there any major benefits from IPGs to the users?; The answer is 'YES, there are lots'!!

 

With an Internet payment gateway, an unlimited number of users can use the gateway at the same time. This differs from any terminal or software solution where only one customer is able to checkout at a time, or one operator can enter transactions at a time. In addition, IPG offers consumers to do transactions from any location as well.

IPGs also offer fraud screening tools; This reduces the probability of fraudulent transactions.Address verification and card code value (CVV) verification happens through an IPG to ensure that the payments made via the Internet payment gateway are legitimate orders. Moreover, storing the credit card transactions in the IPG rather than on the website helps the merchant to be free from the worries of any fraud happening through his/her website .  

Fourthly, the virtual terminal provided with such payment gateways gives the merchant the opportunity of manually entering the transactions they receive via other methods other than your website. (E.g.:- phone, email)

Many Internet payment gateways offer a SSL checkout page so the merchants don't need to spend extra money for their own secure certificates. this is another benefit.

And finally, all good Internet payment gateways offer 24 hour email support and toll free technical support, which allows the merchant to get in touch with someone should the need arise.