Understanding Credit Card Processing

Understanding Credit Card Processing

Understanding Credit Card Processing

First here is some terminology:

Cart or Shopping Cart = any code on any site that simply collects information about what you wish to order and the cost. This code DOES NOT process any actual payment!

Merchant Accounts & CC Processors = an online company that COLLECTS the total only from your cart. They only collect the total because they do not need to know what your customer is buying, they only need to know how much to deduct from their account.

Here is how it works:

1. I create a system (this is known as the Cart) where it collects the items desired by the client and the total cost.

2. Once the client sees the total and agrees they THEN select the CC Processor that will take the payment.

3. Once the payment is made, you know you can send the items the Cart has collected to the client.

Notes:

A system like 'Mals Cart' just acts as a Cart and nothing more... like any other Cart system the client still has to decide which CC Processor they wish to use. As an example: PayPal, Authorize.net, etc.

So basically any script or any piece of code can collect the items and total cost needed to be processed. People refer to this as a Cart. Once the total of the items to be purchased is known THEN the figure can be sent to the CC Processor.

So what does the CC Processor need to complete the purchase? Basically each CC processor will have a code or ID system that they will ask you to insert into your site. This ID system will allow the CC Processor to know which seller and the amount of money the client is purchasing is to be processed - the rest is handled by the CC Processor and NOT the Cart.

Recommeded CC Processor: www.2Checkout.com