What Is A Credit Card Gateway?

A gateway acts as a bridge between your shopping cart and your merchant account.

When your shopping cart sends a credit card transaction to the gateway, the gateway actually processes that transaction with the credit card companies. If it's successful, the gateway deposits the funds into your merchant account.

Some of the larger gateways are:

• Authorize.net

• Cyber Source

• Go Emerchant

• Verisign

Most shopping carts support several different gateways, but not all. It's important to find a gateway which your shopping cart supports, or find a shopping cart which supports your gateway.

How Do I Get A Gateway?

You can usually get a gateway through your bank when you set up a merchant account.