A payment solution enables your business to accept online payments through your webshop. It consists of two essential components: a payment gateway and an acquiring agreement.
At pensopay, we offer a unified, complete payment solution where the payment gateway and acquiring agreement are bundled into one package, so you only have to deal with a single provider.
An online payment is completed in just a few seconds through a secure, encrypted process between the customer, the payment gateway, the acquirer, and the bank.
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Customer's Payment Method
1➔
Step 1: The customer completes a payment on a webshop.
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Webshop
2➔
➔7
Step 2: The payment gateway sends encrypted card data to the acquiring bank.
Step 7: The funds are transferred to the webshop owner.
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Acquiring Bank
3➔
➔6
Step 3: The acquiring bank clears the payment – verifying that card details are valid and sufficient funds are available.
Step 6: The funds are sent to the acquiring bank.
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Visa & Mastercard
4➔
➔5
Step 4: The payment amount is reserved.
Step 5: The payment amount is captured.
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Customer's Bank
Step 4-5: The customer's bank handles the reservation and withdrawal of the amount.
Did you know? With an all-in-one payment solution from pensopay, we handle this entire process for you, so you don't have to worry about the technical details and can focus solely on growing your business.
What is a Payment Gateway?
A payment gateway is the software that allows your customers to pay on your webshop by securely transferring customer and payment data from the shopping cart to the payment window.
A good payment gateway can handle multiple payment methods, support stable operations, and connect with multiple acquirers. This ensures a fast purchase experience for customers while maintaining high security throughout the transaction.
Recognizable and seamless payment options remove checkout friction and minimize the risk of abandoned carts.
Visible security standards like PSD2 and 3D Secure validation give customers complete peace of mind during purchase.
A smooth, professional payment experience builds lasting brand trust and significantly boosts your conversion rate.
What should you check when choosing a payment gateway?
When selecting a gateway, you should evaluate the provider's technical compatibility with your store system as well as access to comprehensive API documentation.
It is crucial that the gateway is natively supported by your e-commerce platform to ensure a stable and secure integration.
Custom-built shop
If you use a custom-built system, make sure the provider's API documentation is thorough and easily accessible for your developers.
Standard shop system
Always make sure to check whether the payment gateway is supported by the specific shop system you use.
A card acquirer (or acquirer bank) is a financial institution regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority that is authorized and responsible for moving money between the customer's bank account and the webshop's business account.
When the customer enters their card data in the payment window, the information is encrypted and sent directly to the acquirer. To accept card payments, your webshop must have an acquiring agreement. This agreement can be made either directly with a bank or through a unified provider like pensopay.
With pensopay, you get a complete, ready-to-use payment solution, including both the gateway and the acquirer. in a single agreement.
This makes the process both easy and straightforward for you as a customer.
What should you consider when choosing a payment solution?
When choosing the right payment gateway and overall payment solution for your business, there are four key factors to consider:
Operational stability: Choose providers with high uptime and proven reliability for card payments to avoid technical downtime in the payment window.
Support and guidance: Choose a partner that is accessible and can help quickly if urgent problems arise. Check candidates' reviews on platforms like Trustpilot.
Multi-currency: If you sell internationally, the payment gateway should efficiently handle multiple European currencies with low exchange fees.
Integrations: Ensure the payment solution integrates seamlessly with your existing webshop system and accounting software.
How does the choice of payment solution affect conversion rates and customer trust?
Selecting the right payment solution increases your webshop's conversion rate by eliminating friction at checkout and creating a familiar, safe payment environment for your customers.
When customers see recognizable payment options, the risk of abandoned carts drops significantly. At the same time, the visual payment window plays a major role. A clean, responsive setup with visible security standards like PSD2 and 3D Secure validation gives customers the necessary peace of mind. Consumers quickly assess a webshop's security and standards based on the payment experience, and a smooth payment window builds lasting trust in your brand.
How to choose the right payment solution for your webshop
When choosing the right payment solution, focus primarily on the provider's credibility, available support, and range of relevant payment methods. The optimal solution aligns with your customers' preferred payment habits and ensures fast assistance if technical issues occur.
Consider the following three factors to make the best choice for your business:
1
Reliability and reputation
Choose a supplier you can trust that offers quick support during outages or questions. Check potential candidates' reviews and satisfaction scores on Trustpilot and social media.
2
The right payment options
Ensure you offer the exact payment methods your customers expect (e.g., Swish, Vipps, MobilePay, and international credit cards). This increases checkout completion rates.
3
Transparent terms
Choose an all-in-one solution where the payment gateway and acquiring service are offered on clear, transparent terms with no hidden fees.
Want to dive deeper into payment solutions and e-commerce? We encourage you to explore our other articles to ensure your business is prepared for the future of online trade.
Team pensopay
Why Choose Pensopay?
Accept payments on your webshop with an all-in-one solution: paymentgateway and merchant agreement in one package.
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