What is Payment Gateway?

A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorizes credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar. The payment gateway may be provided by a bank to its customers, but can be provided by a specialised financial service provider as a separate service, such as a payment service provider. A payment gateway facilitates a payment transaction by the transfer of information between a payment portal (such as a website, mobile phone or interactive voice response service) and the front end processor or acquiring bank. Build unique branded payment experiences, reward loyal shoppers, and increase conversions. We offer a full range of payment options, for any business and industry, so you can give shoppers the experiences they expect.

The key players in online payment:

The Merchant : This is you, i.e an online business operating in any vertical (travel, retail, eCommerce, gaming, Forex, etc), offering a product or service to customers.
The Customer : The customer, also called a cardholder, who wants to access the products or services that the merchant is selling, and initiates the transaction.
The Issuing Bank : The issuing bank is the customer’s bank that issues the cardholder’s credit or debit card on behalf of the card schemes (Visa, Mastercard).
The Acquirer: Also known as the acquiring bank, the acquirer is the financial institution that maintains the merchant’s bank account (known as the merchant's account). The acquiring bank passes the merchant's transactions to the issuing bank to receive payment.