Accepting Credit Card Payments

I am extremely new to all of this let me say first off. I have installed everything and I understand how it all works. I ran a test payment through with a credit card and I see all of the information in my database. Of course the credit card number is processed with X's for instance (1234XXXXXXXX1234). That is all fine and dandy.

What I don't understand is how to actually process the credit card payment after I gather that information. How do merchant accounts work? How do they gather the credit card information if it is stored with X's?

I understand how the software all works, but basically I just don't know where to go from here. Needless to say I am just a programmer with no experience in processing credit card payments. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

What I don't understand is how to actually process the credit card payment after I gather that information. How do merchant accounts work? How do they gather the credit card information if it is stored with X's?
One only uses that method if and only if they are usually a brick and mortar shop and online also.
They would have a CC terminal that they could process them through

The best and secure way to do this is to use a "Gateway" processor and one can be found in the recommended services link
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=27

kobra:

One only uses that method if and only if they are usually a brick and mortar shop and online also.
They would have a CC terminal that they could process them through

The best and secure way to do this is to use a "Gateway" processor and one can be found in the recommended services link
http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=27

Thank you for this. However, what I really want to know is how the Gateway processor gets the credit card number. Is there a piece of code that will be inserted somewhere in the zen-cart files that allows for the Gateway processor to pick up the credit card information in order to process the payment?

The payment processors that are built in to Zencart can be seen and activated in Admin - Modules - Payment. Others can be installed as mods from the Payment Modules section of Free Software Add Ons (above).

what I really want to know is how the Gateway processor gets the credit card number
In addendum to what stevesh posted -
The gateways have the cc# communicated DIRECTLY to them over/using a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encrypted connection

So you need a SSL Certisicate for your Site - Shared or Private

i think what he means is, how does the processor see the XXXXXXX coded part
basically if you set up the email part, then part of the email has part of the credit card details and rest is on your admin page

If you are using a gateway, you don't need the credit card module installed. You only need the credit card module if you are planning to process those payments outside of Zen Cart. If you are using a gateway, the gateway and Zen Cart will communicate the details of the payment.