Looking for an e-commerce solution? Review the free
solutions and premium
packages offered by ThinkHost and our business partners.
Let our partners take the stress and confusion out of e-commerce for you!
If you are new to the world of e-commerce and accepting credit card payments from your web site, the following is a brief description of how it all
works.
Ecommerce transaction flow and description
How E-Commerce Works (Authorize.net example)
- The merchant is running a shopping cart script and a secure server to accept orders. A consumer places an order with the merchant.
- Authorize.Net, a payment gateway service (also known as a credit card processor), detects an order has been placed, securely encrypts and forwards the Authorization request to the Consumer's Credit Card Issuer to verify the consumer's credit card account and funds availability. If the funds are available, a hold is placed for the amount of the order.
- The Authorization (or Decline) Response is returned via Authorize.Net to the Merchant. Round trip this process averages less than 3 seconds.
- Upon approval, the Merchant fulfils the consumer's order.
- Authorize.Net sends the settlement request to the Merchant Account Provider.
- The Merchant Account Provider obtains the funds (which were previously placed on hold) and deposits them into the Merchant's Checking Account.
From this scenario, you can see that the process of accepting online orders and credit card processing is actually fairly complex.
But e-commerce doesn't have to be. ThinkHost offers several different solutions that can greatly simplify the process, while also offering the flexibility to do things your way. We can even point you in the right direction for free e-commerce solutions, where you only pay if you receive sales, no set up costs and no monthly charges!
Looking for a quality e-commerce package? Review the free
solutions and premium
services offered by ThinkHost and our business partners. Questions? Please
don't hesitate in contacting our friendly support team.
