Taking payments online

The ability to take payments online is essential in converting people browsing your website into customers. GemaPark offers a couple of different ways to approach this requirement:

1. Completing live authorisation at the time of the website visit.
2. Taking card details for processing later.

Which of these methods you want to use depends on the number of online bookings you’re expecting to take and what you’re currently set up to do at the moment.

There are three services you need to be able to take online payments straight from your website:

• A business bank account
• A Merchant account
• A Payment Services Provider (PSP)

The last item is only needed if you want to take money directly during the online booking process. This is approach 1. above.

Starting from scratch

If you don’t currently take card payments of any sort you probably just have a standard business bank account. To enable your business to take payments online, or using a card machine you need to get a Merchant Account set up. This is the ‘machinery’ which processes the card details collected by your business.

What account do I need?

The first facility you need is some form of a Merchant Account, connected to your business account. This connects your account with the credit card authorising banks. You will need to ensure your Merchant Account is the right sort for your requirements.

The most common account provides the ability to take payment when the customer is on your premises, using a conventional machine into which the card is inserted. This on-site equipment is either purchased by you, or leased from the service provider.

Some accounts accept mail order/telephone order (MOTO) in addition to payments take when the cardholder is present. You may find there is an increased charge for such transactions, as they are judged riskier than transactions when the cardholder is physically there. You may also find for online trading you need a second Merchant ID. If you already have a Merchant Account, speak to your current provider to confirm what their stance is on this.

An Internet Merchant Account is the type required, where the cardholder enters their own details into a payment gateway page during their purchase process.

Many accounts also have ‘virtual terminal’ facilities, where you can enter cardholder details into a secure website, which is provided by the merchant account company. This avoids the need to buy on-site equipment, keeps your phone line free or avoids the need to rent a second phone line on which to run the card machine.

Live authorisation – Payment Service Providers (PSP)

If you want to take payments live online the final piece of this jigsaw, to deliver income from GemaPark online bookings directly to your bank account is a Payment Service Provider. It’s often possible to subscribe to these services as part of your Merchant Account package.

The PSP provides a secure, encrypted connection from your website, to your Merchant Account, managing the transmission of card data to ensure the security of the transaction. It is not possible to complete live card authorisation without a PSP.

There are a couple of different way of buying these services on the market, one is going with a provider like SagePay, who we’ve integrated with a lot. Sagepay is part of the organisation that provides the Sage accounts package and they deliver an excellent service.

The second route is to use a bureau service, such as Cardsave, with whom we’ve done a number of integrations. Cardsave use their buying power to deliver reduced cost for transactions for businesses, integrating with leading providers and managing the delivery of their services into the SMB sector.

How much does all of this cost?

Monthly fees to access the services vary, but a reasonable current benchmark is around £20 per month for a Payment Services Provider. As a small business, booking holidays you are unlikely to exceed the number of inclusive transactions with the account.

Merchant Accounts are charged at varying rates, depending upon the risk to the bank, deemed by the application process. Sometimes there is a set up fee and there is normally a transaction charge, which depends on the card type being used.

Applications for Merchant Accounts can be completed in 10 days, but can take as long as 3-6 months, depending on the amount of validation the bank feels is necessary. If you don’t currently have a Merchant Account of any type once you’ve reviewed and confirmed that the costs are reasonable it’s worth getting your application in as soon as possible!

You will need to have your Internet Merchant Account prior to completing your application with a Payment Services Provider. Depending on your approach you may be able to apply for both at one time.

What’s the best way of buying these services?

The first port of call is your business banking provider, to find out what services they offer as an extension to your existing business account. Be sure to use these costs as a benchmark and review what the costs are from other service providers.

Depending upon who you bank with there will be group deals available.

The Federation of Small Businesses offers a good deal with Streamline:

http://www.fsb.org.uk/benefits/merchant-service

It’s also worth checking your local Chamber of Commerce to see what deals they have available. Find your local Chamber here:

http://www.britishchambers.org.uk/find-your-local-chambers

When considering your options there are normally a couple of elements to bear in mind:

Monthly cost – most services have a fixed monthly cost, but check for any set up costs.

Transaction charge – check to see how many transactions are included in your monthly subscription, as this varies between service providers, some giving monthly allowances, some quarterly figures. You need to consider carefully the cost for transactions above this level. Debit cards normally have a fixed fee on them and credit cards most often attract a percentage charge

Length of contract – check the minimum length of tie-in to a particular service. You need to know how long you’re locked in if it turns out the service isn’t right for you.

How does GemaPark integrate for card payments?

We recognise people want choice in taking payments and different methods will suit different businesses, which is why we are happy to offer two different methods of integration.

Live authorisation method requires an Internet Merchant Account and a Payment Services Provider (PSP) so money is debited directly the booking is placed. No cardholder data is collected by us on your behalf during the process, it is managed by the PSP.

Using PSP services adds an additional cost into your system, but the benefits are that you have instant authorisation on the card, less administration is required by your staff (no card data handling) and it is the most secure model, as no card data is held by us, or you.

Off-line authorisation is where card details are collected and stored in GemaPark. The card details are held in our secure, encrypted database. You are responsible for deleting the CVV number once you have completed the transaction.

If you already have a card machine in your office, you may want to use this method of taking payments for bookings, as it avoids any further service cost to your business. Obviously there is a staff cost of entering the card details into your card machine and you don’t have the reassurance of instant authorisation, where the booking is confirmed or declined during the customer’s visit to your site.

Generally the larger the number of bookings you are expecting to take through the system, the more worthwhile it is using a PSP to limit your administration costs and financial risk.

Download our PDF information sheets:

GemaPark Benefits
GemaPark Features
GemaPark Architecture
Perfect Park Website Package