What is a payment gateway service?

If you own a business and intend to sell goods or services online, then you need (or might already be using!) a payment gateway. 

If you’ve never heard of a payment gateway before, don’t worry. You’re not alone. 

It may sound like a heavily complicated technical term, however, it’s much simpler than it seems.

A payment gateway is a piece of software that acts as a conduit between your business and the bank that processes your customer’s purchases. When a customer makes a purchase, the software sends the transaction to the bank. When the transaction is authorised the software sends the money to your merchant account and tells the customer and the business the purchase was successful. The best way to think about a payment gateway is that it represents the final step of a customer’s purchase on your website.

With the rise of eCommerce and digital sales, it has become important for businesses to process payments online. However, security concerns and the need to protect people’s banking details makes the process complicated and inaccessible to just anyone.

Payment gateways reduce the complexity of compliance and make taking payments online accessible to any business.

It’s a similar process that takes place at a brick and mortar store, only completely digital. Without a payment gateway, you wouldn’t have any of your sales approved and would not be able to process any transactions. If your small business is run predominantly online then it’s imperative that you have a payment gateway. There is no alternative to processing payments online without one.

At PayAdvantage we are helping Australian businesses access the latest and most used payment methods with no red-tape or hidden costs. 

Using PayAdvantage you can let your customers pay by Credit Card, Direct Debit and BPAY online. Our service is designed to make getting paid accessible and effortless for small and medium businesses. You can take payments through the virtual terminal, let your customers pay from their own devices, or set-up automated recurring payments.

While online transactions appear seamless, there are cogs turning and processes working behind the scenes to authorise all transactions that occur. This is why payment gateways are so important and why your online business couldn’t operate without one. At PayAdvantage, our mission is to provide you the latest payment options and to make it as simple as possible. A payment gateway service is part of this process to help us provide you peace of mind that all transactions for your business are authorised and fraud-free.