12-07-2016, 02:38 PM
The credit card processing system is confusing. The players are numerous and the process is complex. To understand how it all works, it helps to grasp the types of companies that are involved, and how much money they typically charge for processing a transaction.
David Schwartz is director of marketing at a leading payment gateway, Authorize.Net. He says, “This is by far the most complex industry I have ever been associated with. I always tell new employees to give themselves six to nine months to become comfortable with the lingo and to understand how the payment processing system works.” Diagrams of the process can also help. Schwartz continues, “We added a detailed ‘how it works’ diagram to our new corporate website in March 2005. It has since become one of the most visited pages, proving that people want to better understand how a payment is processed.”
To understand the payment process, Schwartz suggests a working knowledge of the participants and the services they provide along the way. He also suggests tracking a hypothetical transaction through the entire payment processing system. In that way, Schwartz says, ecommerce operators can understand not only what services these participating firms provide, but also what fees they charge for processing a transaction.
David Schwartz is director of marketing at a leading payment gateway, Authorize.Net. He says, “This is by far the most complex industry I have ever been associated with. I always tell new employees to give themselves six to nine months to become comfortable with the lingo and to understand how the payment processing system works.” Diagrams of the process can also help. Schwartz continues, “We added a detailed ‘how it works’ diagram to our new corporate website in March 2005. It has since become one of the most visited pages, proving that people want to better understand how a payment is processed.”
To understand the payment process, Schwartz suggests a working knowledge of the participants and the services they provide along the way. He also suggests tracking a hypothetical transaction through the entire payment processing system. In that way, Schwartz says, ecommerce operators can understand not only what services these participating firms provide, but also what fees they charge for processing a transaction.