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Pros and Cons of Payment Gateways

by Michelle Newman In this 21st century, the technological marvels of computers and Internet drastically change our way of life, especially how we conduct business. We are no longer bound by geographical boundaries. Internet connects us with anyone anywhere around the globe without leaving the comforts of our home. Internet payment solutions assists in the transfer of funds . For example, a client in Canada can perform regular banking transactions with a bank in New York City. Likewise, a customer in Alaska can purchase products from a San-Francisco based online store and send payment with just a few clicks. Internet payment gateways facilitate all these financial transactions. Advantages of Internet Payment Gateways: <ol><li>SECURE TRANSACTION A payment gateway checks and validates online transactions. It protects merchants and customers from flagrant instances of fraud.</li><li> EASE OF USE Anyone with basic computer knowledge can perform business transactions using payment gateways. No need to go through any costly training or learn elaborate setup. It's simple and easy.. Everybody can use it.</li></ol> 3. RAPID DEPLOYMENT A merchant can immediately utilize payment gateway service for his/her online store. He need not wait for agonizing time to complete the payment gateway setup in his business. He can avail it in the quickest time possible. 4. FEATURE-RICH Internet payment gateways offer lots of customizable features that could greatly benefit merchants and customers alike. There are security features, payment option choices, card features, etc...You may turn on all these features or select only the ones that best serve your type of business.   Contrary to common notion, payment gateways have some drawbacks, too. It can be likened to a double-edge sword that, when mishandled, can do significant financial damage to merchants as well as to customers. Here are the disadvantages of Internet payment gateways: <ol><li>RISK ON SENSITIVE INFORMATION Remember that a payment gateway deals with customers' information. Therefore, a payment gateway company will have files on all sensitive customers' data---- customers' names, banks accounts, credit card numbers, passwords,etc. These are highly valuable data. Crooked and dishonest people will be more than eager to pay huge sums of money just to access these sensitive information. The payment gateway companies can potentially sell these data to interested parties without the customers knowing about it. </li><li>ANY TECHNICAL GLITCH CAN TAKE CONSIDERABLE TROUBLESHOOTING TIME A payment gateway is basically a software. And just like any piece of computer software, it can go awry at times. When it does, it can have deleterious effects. The customers can no longer access or make payments online. On the other hand, the software glitch will render merchants' websites inoperative. It will take time--- maybe weeks or months-- to troubleshoot the problem and bring back merchants websites back to normal functionality. </li><li>CUSTOMERS' UNEASINESS Fraud is widespread in the Net and this fact scares most customers. They tend to stay away from any web-based software when making online transactions that involve disclosing personal information. If a merchant company gets a payment gateway service but the customers will not utilize it for some reasons or another, then the merchant will be at the losing end of the bargain. </li></ol> ( Michelle Newman is the CEO of a leading Fortune 500 company based in San Francisco. She lectures on various business topics like marketing, competitive business strategies, and management-related issues. She does some business writings on her spare time.) <a href="http://www.onlywire.com/submit?u=http://www.securepaymentgateways.com/pros_and_cons_of_payment_gateways.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>

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