Find a suitable Payment Gateway for you
A payment Gateway is an e-commerce service that authorizes payments for e-businesses and online retailers. An anecdote to a normal brick and mortar shop would be, it is the equivalent of a physical POS (Point-of-sale) terminal. Payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant. Credit card details are not stored on your servers, hence eliminating the financial risk of the credit cards being stolen, as the payment gateway assumes all liability for the transactions.
How payment gateways work
A payment gateway works concurrently with your online store. When a customer goes to pay for goods he/she has selected on your website, they are brought automatically to the payment gateway website. Here is the transaction is carried out and the payment gateway then sends all the relevant information to you. The customer is also sent automatically back to your website to an order successful page. For these services, the payment gateway issues a small charge to you depending on the plan you go for. A typical cost would be 10 pence per transaction.