Accepting Credit Cards Online

Do I need a special bank account or facility?

Yes, generally you will need to setup an Online Merchant Bank Account with your bank. The payments made by credit card will be sent to that account. Generally your bank will charge you a setup fee and maybe a monthly or annual fee. Additionally you will pay a percentage of each card transaction, generally between 1% - 2% for MasterCard and Visa. American Express and Diners Club may charge additional fees.

If you use PayPal Standard or Express Checkout then you do not need an Online Merchant Account with your bank and you can send you funds from PayPal to any account.

Each payment provider (or gateway) will have a different fee structure and you can expect to pay either a percentage of each card transaction or a fixed fee for every transaction. A good tip is to check out the rates for volume transactions as often if you pay a little more upfront you can reduce your transaction fees considerably.

Please note that the setup of your merchant account and transaction fees are subject to your agreement with your payment provider and bank.

If you don't need fully automated credit card processing, have a look at the manual payment methods available with all our stores.

Which payment gateways are supported by your bank?

Each payment gateway service will have agreements with different banks and provide different levels of service. So it is best to contact a few and get the most up to date information about their current offers and costs.

Why use a payment gateway or payment service provider?

The key reason that you would use a payment service provider is security and trust. When you accept credit cards online your bank or PayPal will require that your website comply to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS). These are a set of standards that have been defined by the card industry companies like Visa and MasterCard. Failure to comply with these standards may mean that your merchant account facility would be cancelled and that you pay penalty fees. By using a payment provider most (but not all) of the responsibility for the PCI DSS requirements goes to them.

Do I need an SSL Certificate?

eCorner provide a shared SSL certificate through COMODO that is used by all the Cloud Shops that we host as a free service. However if you want to reduce the shopping cart abandonment and also offer a higher level of trust you may need your own SSL Certificate. You can get these from eCorner Store Plus and we can install them on your eCorner hosted eCommerce store.

Your payment provider will also ensure that there is an SSL Certificate covering any pages that are hosted by them and that those pages and servers are PCI DSS compliant.

What about fraud?

Online fraud is inceasing dramatically everywhere. The best protection against online fraud is to enable a payment gateway and validate each order that your receive. Never ship your goods for an order if you are concerned that it might be a fraud. You should always ask for a contact phone number and have it as a mandatory requirement. If in doubt call. If you use PayPal there is a setting in your PayPal control panel that will make a phone number mandatory.

Some payment gateways have fraud checking built in such as eWAY's Beagle and PayPal. Even so you may get some potential fraudulent transactions. So make sure you always check each transactions details. If the sales seems too good to be true it probably is not valid.

PayPal and all the payment gateways come with a management system where you can process refunds to card holders

eWAY special offer for eCorner merchants

• If you are in Australia
• If you are selling in Australian Dollars
• If you want to settle to any major Australian Bank
• If you want to offer deferred payments
• Apply for an eWAY account now
• Quote our Special Offer Code - eCornerOC123

• If you want a simple and affordable solution
• If you don’t have a Merchant Account and want to get started quickly
• If you are selling in many countries and want to accept multiple currencies
• If you want to offer a quick checkout to your buyers
• Apply for a PayPal account now

• If you are international
• If you are selling in many currencies
• If you want to settle to a foreign or local bank account but do not have a Online Merchant Account
• Apply for a WorldPay account now

• If you have (or want) an Online Merchant Account with Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, NAB or ANZ
• If you have more advanced requirements for selling online (B2B, B2C)
• Apply for a TNS account now

• If have (or want) an Online Merchant Account with Advance Bank, Challenge Bank, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, Bank of Melbourne, National Australia Bank, Bank of SA, St George, BankWest, Westpac
• Apply for a SecurePay account now

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