A payment gateway is a middleman between your eCommerce store and the customer. The payment gateway collects money from customers and sends it to your bank account or another designated payment processor.
The best way to think about a payment gateway is like a bank account. But it goes beyond that; it’s also an interface with APIs that lets you accept payments via credit card, debit card, or other methods.
Types of Payment Gateways
There are two types of payment gateways:
- Direct
The merchant directly receives the customer’s credit card information from them, typically via email or an online form.
- Indirect (third-party)
The merchant doesn’t capture any credit card information from the customer, but a third party does. There are several different types of indirect gateways that merchants can choose from including PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Authorize.net
What it Means to Use a Payment Gateway
When you use a payment …