<p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Abigail Morrison</font></font><br /> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Ms. Chona Hawkins was an office worker who enjoys browsing online catalogues and purchasing from web-based stores. One day, she hit on an idea. Why not put up her very own online garment shop? Well,she did. And she was very excited about it. Almost a month after the website was uploaded, her online store had not yet received a single product order. She soon realized the reason behind it. It was not because no one likes the product she was selling. Her web stats indicated large traffic. It was because she forgot to incorporate a payment gateway service into her site. As such, customers could only browse her excellent catalog. They could not make any purchase since there was no provision in her site of any online order form where a prospective buyer could fill up with credit card payment information.</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">For the sake of those ecommerce newbies, a payment gateway is a web-based application software that allows customers to buy products from online stores using credit cards. Payment gateway service usually comes bundled with a virtual shopping cart. But why payment gateway? you may ask. The answer is simple. Payment gateway offers several far-reaching benefits for merchants and customers alike.</font></font><br /> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Benefits of Payment Gateway</font></font><br /> </p> <ol><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">CONVENIENCE</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">In a brick-and-mortar shop, customers must make the exhausting trip, compete with parking space, elbow their way to to isle, and then stand in long lines at the cash register. But at online shop with payment gateway, customers sit back at the comfort of their homes, browse leisurely at the items, and simply fill up the secure online order form for their credit card payments. It's very easy and convenient.</font></font></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">QUICK PURCHASE TRANSACTIONS</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">No more long lines at the counter. A customer needs only to enter his/her credit card number and other card data and the purchase transaction and it's done.</font></font></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">INSTANT NOTIFICATION</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Unlike any other payment system, payment gateway service gives customers instant notification on whether their credit card transaction was successfully completed or not. On malls, customers using credit cards will have to for some time before they can be notified on the status of their card transaction. This saves customers precious time.</font></font></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">UNLIMITED SHOPPING HOURS</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Malls open at 9am and close at 10pm. You can not conduct any purchase transaction after these working hours. But on online stores with payment gateway service, customers can continue to shop even long after the brick-and-mortar stores' shopping hours. </font></font> </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">GLOBAL REACH</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">On a store with physical, established location, only a limited customers within the vicinity of the business store can shop. But an online store with payment gateway, practically anyone around the globe with an Internet-connection can become a potential customer.</font></font></p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">SECURE TRANSACTION </font></font> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Using industry strength encryption protocol, payment gateway service assures merchants and customers secure, hack-free transactions. </font></font> </p> </li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">ANTI-FRAUD PROTECTION</font></font></p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">Payment gateway service protects merchants from fraudulent credit card transactions. It minimized the incidence of chargebacks. It also protects the customers by assuring them that they get the purchased items in excellent condition.</font></font><br /><br /> </p> </li></ol> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><br /> </p> <p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><font face="Arial, sans-serif"><font size="2">( Abigail Morrison is a Harvard University graduate who works as financial consultant to small and medium business companies throughout the US and CANADA.)</font></font></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> </p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <a href="http://www.onlywire.com/submit?u=http://www.securepaymentgateways.com/7_money_saving_benefits_of_payment_gateway.html;t=payment%20gateway;tags=Payment%20gateway" target="_blank" title="Add this Article to Onlywire"><img src="http://www.onlywire.com/i/onlywire.ico" alt="" />Add to Onlywire!</a></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"> </p>