To accept payment from your customers, you need to integrate a payment gateway with your eCommerce platform. Discover how Authorize.net supports seamless eCommerce integration with leading platforms, offering secure payments and a smoother checkout experience.
Among the key decisions you need to make when you launch your eCommerce business are:
- How will you design, build, and manage your website?
- How will you accept payments from your online customers?
You can simplify the building and running of your online store by using an eCommerce platform. A great eCommerce platform will help you design a unique website for your business and handle aspects like product listings, marketing, and inventory and order management. The platform should be easy to use when you start out, with scope to expand as your business takes off.
Why you need to integrate a payment gateway with your eCommerce platform
Every online business needs a payment gateway to process incoming payments. For every payment transaction, your payment gateway:
- Checks if the customer has sufficient funds in their account
- Authorizes the purchase if there’s enough money in the customer's account to pay for it
- Puts a hold on the money while you deliver the goods or services to the customer
- Moves the money from the customer's account into your merchant account once the goods or services are received
To simplify operations, you'll want to choose a payment gateway that's built for eCommerce integration so you can start accepting online payments fast. Your payment gateway should offer security features to help keep payments and payment data safe. And like your eCommerce platform, it should combine simplicity with more advanced tools and features that will support your online business as it grows.
How to choose a payment gateway for your online store
When choosing a payment gateway, look for one that’s easy to use and works smoothly with your eCommerce platform. Even if you start simple, it’s smart to pick a gateway that offers tools to support future growth. But what’s the difference between a payment gateway versus an eCommerce platform?
An eCommerce platform helps you build and manage your online store, while a payment gateway lets you accept payments from customers. The gateway acts as a secure link between your store, the customer, and the bank or payment processor to complete each transaction.
Let's take a quick tour of some of the key features of Authorize.net to help you understand how to choose a payment gateway for your online store.
| FEATURE | WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR BUSINESS |
|---|---|
Payment options |
The payment gateway you choose should give your customers choice about how to pay, so they can use their preferred payment method. With Authorize.net as your payment gateway for eCommerce, your customers can use traditional payment methods such as debit and credit cards, convenient eChecks, and modern digital wallet options like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. |
Fraud prevention and detection |
Fraudulent transactions can cost you and your customers dearly. With Authorize.net as your payment gateway, you benefit from its built-in Advanced Fraud Detection Suite (AFDS). AFDS works quietly in the background to help you identify, manage, and prevent potentially fraudulent transactions. |
Streamlined checkout for returning customers |
Make it easy for repeat customers to check out without re-entering their payment details, to help them feel valued and build loyalty. Authorize.net offers Customer Information Management (CIM), which stores your customers' payment information on our secure servers—helping simplify your PCI DSS compliance as well as streamlining the checkout experience. |
Subscriptions and recurring billing |
If you offer (or plan to offer) subscriptions, memberships or other recurring billing option for your goods or services, check that the payment gateway you choose incorporates this capability. Authorize.net lets you accept and submit monthly recurring or installment payments with Automated Recurring Billing without any development or customization. Customers have a flexible way to pay by card or via their bank account, while you improve billing efficiency and eliminate the hassle of manually re-entering billing or payment details at every transaction. |
Automatic card updates |
If you plan to store customers' payment data to enable subscription services or smoother checkouts for returning customers, look for a payment gateway that automatically updates stored card information. As well as removing the need for manual updates, keeping card information up to date with a service like Authorize.net's Account Updater helps avoid unnecessary payment declines and disruptions that can lead to customer friction and lost sales. |
Digital invoicing |
If you want to speed up the invoicing and payment process, look for a payment gateway that lets you create and send invoices digitally. With the Authorize.net Digital Invoicing feature, you can send invoices out by email securely for faster, easier processing, and manage them through Authorize.net alongside other payment methods. |
Optimized management dashboard |
To help you work more efficiently and support your day-to-day decision-making, look for a payment gateway that gives you quick access to key business tasks and metrics. Authorize.net comes with a modern dashboard that: • Shows you priority tasks at a glance, so you know what needs your attention first
• Provides quick links to key actions
• Groups related actions into workspaces
• Displays insights into business performance and trends to help you see where to focus your growth efforts
|
How to ensure Authorize.net and eCommerce platform integration
We know there's a lot to take care of when you set up your online business, so we've made sure it's straightforward to integrate Authorize.net into your eCommerce platform and start accepting payments quickly and securely.
Sign up for Authorize.net. As a first step, we make it easy to sign up for Authorize.net. Our All-in-one plan includes everything you need to accept payments, including:
- Payment gateway: enabling you to accept payments from your customers
- Merchant account: for receiving payments and transferring them to your business account (if you already have a merchant account, choose our Gateway only option)
- Multiple payment types: accept cards, eChecks, digital wallets
- Customer Information Management: enable smoother checkouts for returning customers
- Automated Recurring Billing: start billing subscriptions without any development or customization
- Digital Invoicing: no integration needed
- Advanced Fraud Detection Suite: our award-winning fraud protection tool
- Reporting and analytics: to help you drive business performance
Integrate Authorize.net payment gateway with your eCommerce platform
Authorize.net integrates with many popular eCommerce platforms via APIs that help make the process quick, efficient and hassle free. Our Developer Hub offers lots of helpful resources, including guides and video tutorials to get you set for a successful integration. Best of all, we have humans ready to support you round the clock. Just call 1-888-323-4289.
The benefits of using a trusted payment gateway like Authorize.net
A trusted payment gateway like Authorize.net offers lots of benefits to your business and your customers.
Easy to get started. It's easy to get started with Authorize.net as your payment gateway for eCommerce platform integration. Our All-in-one plan, complete with merchant account, provides everything you need to start accepting payments. The fee structure is straightforward with no hidden extras.
Simplified integration. We offer a winning combination of online resources and human help to integrate the Authorize.net payment gateway with your chosen eCommerce platform, helping you get ready to accept payments quickly and easily.
Streamlined management. The Authorize.net dashboard is designed to help you run your business efficiently, with rapid access to key tasks and actions, and insights to help power growth.
Secure, simple checkout. Our payment gateway helps you offer customers a great checkout experience, with a choice of payment methods and secure storage of returning customers' data to save them time on future purchases.
Peace of mind. Alongside ease of use, we prioritize security, storing your customers' sensitive payment data on our secure servers and providing you with integrated tools for fraud detection and prevention.
Options to help you grow your business. You can start out simple and use additional Authorize.net features, such as Digital Invoicing or Automated Recurring Billing, to meet evolving business needs.
Payment gateway and eCommerce platform integration: FAQs
An eCommerce platform is software that helps you design, build and run your eCommerce website. It helps you with related tasks such as marketing, product listings, and inventory management. On the other hand, a payment gateway is what you need to be able to accept payments from your customers. A payment gateway acts as an intermediary for online transactions. It connects customers and businesses with banks and payment processors to capture and transmit payment data.
To accept and process customer payments to your online store, you need to integrate your payment gateway with your eCommerce platform. A payment gateway like Authorize.net simplifies integration with leading eCommerce platforms to help you open your online store for business as quickly as possible.
When you're ready to set up Authorize.net on your eCommerce website, you can consult the guides and video tutorials on our Developer Hub or call our customer service team on 1-888-323-4289 at any time, day or night.
Authorize.net is a payment gateway that integrates with many popular and leading eCommerce platforms. By ensuring Authorize.net is compatible with a range of eCommerce platforms, we aim to help you start accepting payments quickly and securely, without needing to spend lots of time and effort on integration.
Authorize.net supports the payment needs of small and medium businesses, enabling a range of payment options for customers, including international transactions. For smaller businesses or those just starting up, Authorize.net offers all the basic features you need to accept payments securely and offer customers a smooth checkout experience.
For larger businesses, or as your business grows or diversifies, Authorize.net keeps pace with a range of features that let you accept payments in more ways, including subscriptions and installments. And if you have a physical as well as an online store, Authorize.net has you covered with in-person and mobile payment options in addition to online payment acceptance, and the ability to manage all your transactions in one place—our modern, user-friendly dashboard.
Authorize.net helps you safely accept payments from customers online and in person. The system is built with strong, built-in security that protects every transaction from the start. Our Advanced Fraud Detection Suite uses 13 simple filters to help you spot and stop possible fraud before it happens. And when you use tools like Customer Information Management or Automated Recurring Billing, your customers’ payment details are stored on our protected servers. This keeps their information safe and makes it easier for you to meet PCI DSS compliance.
Accept payments quickly and securely
Picking the right payment gateway is a key step when starting your online business. Learn more about integrating the Authorize.net payment gateway with your eCommerce platform to start accepting payments quickly and securely.
