Businesses that want to accept payments online through its website will need a shopping cart, merchant account and a payment gateway. A payment processing gateway acts as an intermediary between the shopping cart and the business’s merchant account by transferring customer information from the payment form to the processor of its merchant account.
Even though there are payment processing companies that act as an all-on-one, such as PayPal or Google Checkout, they are often more expensive for businesses to solely use in the long-run. In addition, businesses that use an API gateway generally have more flexibility with customizations and seamless integration to its e-commerce website.
