Do customers get taken off your site to make the payment?

[JacobR]

Hi!

I have noticed from the showcase sites that customers stay on the shops site all the way through to the point of payment, at this point I am not able to see what happens unless I was to go ahead and buy the item.

When is the customer taken to the page of the payment processor?

Some carts take the customers away to a page hosted on the cart's servers after the first click of the buy now button (or alike) to finish the order, why is this? I think the customer would be more comfortable to stay on the original site that they now trust, to make the payment.

I hope you understand me

[fairestcape]

Payment systems are various, and different...

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When you use a PAYMENT GATEWAY, customers LEAVE your site temporarily to go to the payment processing site (PayPal, Nochex, Protex, HSBC...) where the payment is concluded.

When the payment (financial transaction) is concluded, a bit of clever code returns the shopper to your site - normally to a CHECKOUT SUCCESS section. What happens in the background is that the PAYMENT GATEWAY takes the money and puts it into your bank, and if all goes well, it returns the customer to your site, telling your site: "Payment went through OK, so record this as a successful sale". (Naturally, if there's a payment problem and no payment was made, it send a message "Hold on, this guy's card is a dud... don't process his payment" - and the PAYMENT GATEWAY returns him to the shopping cart page - or a "Payment Error" page. - So your webshop DOES NOT record this as a successful sale.)

If all is OK, your site then records this as "successful", and processes and records the order.

Payment Gateway systems are called ONLINE PAYMENT PROCESSING - because they happen in real time.

To use a GATEWAY, you need to arrange an account with the provider, and you then configure a PAYMENT MODULE in yoiur webshop, for that provider, to process payments.

The point at which the customer is taken off your site depends on which gateway you use, and HOW it is set up.

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Other payment systems are OFFLINE, and these include allowing customers to pay by cheque/money order, or COD, or offline Card Processing. Offline Card Processing is when YOU collect the card details and RE-ENTER them in an EPOS machine in your traditional shop.

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ZC has a variety of modules that allow for both ONLINE (Payment Gateway) and OFFLINE payment processing.

[kobra]

When you use a PAYMENT GATEWAY, customers LEAVE your site temporarily to go to the payment processing site (PayPal, Nochex, Protex, HSBC...) where the payment is concluded.

Only for some & some have this mode and a mode where by the customer never leaves your site - only their information is transmitted via SSL for validation and then returns an acceptable communication to your site - all in the background.

Customer does not see this nor leave your site at all.

AuthorizeNet - AIM mode
LinkPoint
and others
Most have an alternative mode where all details are entered at their secure site and when complete returned to your site.

[JacobR]

Thank you for your replies!!

So I am not a high st shop, I run classes and wish to give students the choice to pay for them online and hope that more visitors to the site, sign up. I will also start selling some merchandise. I have no plans (as yet ) to sell vast quantities and will be dealing with people that I know most of the time in a local vicinity.

Only for some & some have this mode and a mode where by the customer never leaves your site - only their information is transmitted via SSL for validation and then returns an acceptable communication to your site - all in the background.

Customer does not see this nor leave your site at all.

I like the sound of these types of payment processing sites, are any of them free or low cost?

The point at which the customer is taken off your site depends on which gateway you use, and HOW it is set up.

ok!

Hey I looked at this cart partly because of it's name and it's open sauce, PAY PAL does seem very good at what it does but it's not very ZEN is it ? can you recommend one that is? just a thought

[kobra]

Pay Pal has more than one method

IPN is the easiest but customers are taken to the Pay Pal site to pay
Pay-Pro-Flow(I think that is the name) is Pay Pal but customers never leave your site - about $30 per month + fees

AuthorizeNet
LinkPoint
Etc

All have a mode where you stay on the site and are about $30/month + fees for the service.

The default Zen Cart CC module can be used if you have arranged with your bank to be able to process CC's offline & usually means having a terminal from them that connects to their facilities. Prices for this vary with the bank.

[JacobR]

So if you want customers to stay on your site there is a charge included by all payment gate ways. I suppose I don't mind having customers taken off temporarily to pay, do you know of an ethical/open sauce/Zen style I can use?


Cheers

[JacobR]

To use a GATEWAY, you need to arrange an account with the provider, and you then configure a PAYMENT MODULE in your webshop, for that provider, to process payments.

Sorry is this a Merchant Account?

[fairestcape]

Before you can take credit card payments, you need to have some agreement with a bank (or payment gateway company) to PROCESS those payments for you.

The bank (or payment gateway company) sets up an account for you (often called a Merchant Account), which then FACILITATES the processing of payment cards, so that money can be taken OFF the customers card account, and transferred to YOUR account.

When you have this "agreement" in place with your bank (or payment gateway company), you then configure your online shop to perform the transactions, according to the system used by your bank (or payment gateway company).

All charge FEES for these services.