If you want to be able to take credit/debit card payments online, then you will need an Online Payment Solution. Whether you are selling online or simply wish to take payments or donations, Red Rhino can set-up a payment solution to suit your needs.
If you take payments offline currently by credit card, you are prohibited from taking payments online to process offline, unless you have such an agreement in place with your credit card provider.
There two different types of payment providers for online payments – Payment Service Providers (those which require a an Internet Merchant Account) and the All-in-One full service (where no Internet Merchant Account is required).
Internet Merchant Account (IMA)
An Internet Merchant Account is a type of bank account that allows businesses to accept payments online by debit or credit cards. You can obtain an Internet Merchant Account from your current bank or Red Rhino can help you acquire one. If you are unable to obtain an Internet Merchant Account, you can opt for a ‘All-in-One’ provider which does not require an IMA – see below.
Payment Service Provider with IMA
A Payment Service Provider (PSP) offers merchants online services for accepting electronic payments by a variety of payment methods including credit cards & debit cards. Once a payment is required, the user is taken to a secure payment page on the Payment Provider’s web site (on a page customised into your web site’s style) where they enter their credit/debit card details and then the user is returned to your site once payment has been made. Money is transferred into your normal bank account in a few days.
Red Rhino has selected SagePay as our preferred provider of secure credit and debit card payments and we have been approved as a SagePay partner. While there are a number of reputable payment providers, we believe that SagePay offers the best value for money for the majority of small and medium sized companies.
Having achieved the highest level of compliance under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI), SagePay adhere to the most stringent levels of fraud screening, ensuring that your customer’s personal details remain secure throughout every stage of the transaction process.
By using SagePay, neither Red Rhino nor you, the client, ever sees the payer’s credit card details, which protects us and you from any possible claims of the credit card details being compromised via your web site. Credit/debit card details are never, ever stored on your web site or on our web server. Therefore, we do not take on web design projects where the client wishes to take credit card details online for processing offline via their credit/debit card terminal.
Payment Service Provider without IMA
The only option to accept online payments without an Internet Merchant Account is by using a third-party provider like PayPal or 2Checkout.
Summary
For all ecommerce and shopping cart projects, we would recommend using a Payment Service Provider with an IMA.
Due to user restrictions and trading terms placed by the likes of PayPal or 2Checkout, we would only use PayPal or 2Checkout for payment of infrequent and ad-hoc payments, invoices or donations.
A word of warning…
If you require an online payment solution to be set-up, be very careful about who you chose to be responsible for setting-up this very important part of your online presence. You should be sure that the person or organisation is fully aware of the options available and isn’t simply suggesting a payment method for ease of set-up or perhaps because that is the only route they understand or know how to set-up.
If your customer’s credit/debit card details are compromised due to mis-management or mis-configuration by your web designer in setting up the payment provision, your corporate credibility and business relationships could be severely damaged, which could ultimately mean an end to your business.
Red Rhino has a proven track record in creating and managing various payment solutions for wide range of clients, from SME’s through to corporations in the public and private sectors.
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