Adding Credit Card Processing

Businesses that wish to harness the full power of the e-commerce revolution should think carefully about accepting credit cards. In order to accept credit cards on the internet you need to apply to an 'acquiring bank' for a specific 'Internet Merchant Account' - this will be different to any merchant accounts held for 'traditional' retailing and mail order. This page also deals with security issues relating to card processing.

Before you read any more, please be reassured that adding card payments to your shop, or basket only requires you to type in an account number and click "save changes" on a simple web page. No codes, no software - easy and very fast...

Remember - you can always call us to ask questions, or you can contact us and we will call you back/email you an answer.

If you have an existing Merchant Account for your shop and begin using this for internet business, you are breaking the terms and conditions of your original merchant account and your merchant status could be withdrawn. You must obtain a separate merchant number for accepting Internet card payments. In order to be granted an Internet Merchant account, the banks will have a series of questions about your business and the processing methods being adopted by your shop. If asked, you are going to use "SECPay" as your "Payment Solution Provider".

Another alternative is to make use of a 'bureau service'

The CyberShopUK system allows you to choose between 'acquiring bank + payment processing' or 'bureau service'.

A bureau service provides both underwriting and payment processing. WorldPay provides this combined service.

Example Acquiring Bank + Payment Solution Provider

Bureau Service

Approaching an 'acquiring bank' for an Internet Merchant Account

You are of course free to choose any of the following acquiring Banks, regardless of who you use as your current business bankers:

	American Express : In order to accept AMEX Cards, you will require a separate merchant agreement directly with American Express. You may only use this account in conjunction with one of the other Merchant Services. Recruitment line: 0800 339911
	Diners Club International : In order to accept Diners Club Cards, you will require a separate merchant agreement directly with Diners Club International. You may only use this account in conjunction with one of the other Merchant Services. Recruitment line: 0800 389 2224
	Alliance & Leciester : Merchant Services provided by euroConex. Recruitment line: 0845 8500195 option 3
	Bank of Scotland To use this bank, you must be an existing Bank of Scotland Customer. Recruitment line: 0800 652 5808
	Barclays Merchant Services Recruitment line : 0800 616161
	euroConex Recruitment line : 08456 080 120 Primarily for the Euro Zone
	HSBC Recruitment line : 08457 023344
	LloydsTSB Recruitment line : 0870 9017915 (option 1)
	Paymentech Recruitment line : +1 603 896 8530 Primarily for US/Canadian companies
	National Westminster Bank Streamline is a service provided by Natwest, a member of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group. This bank also supports multi-currency processing. Recruitment line : 0800 010166
	Ulster Bank Recruitment line : 028 9027 5824 (N.I) Recruitment line : 0035310025435

In addition to an internet merchant account, you will need some method by which the card transactions are processed (a Payment Solution Provider)

(£50 set-up + £10 p.mth + Bank Merchant ID required - For example, their fees may be £250 + 3.5% per transaction)

To register for either a SECPay or WorldPay account, click here.

Real-time credit card processing system

One of the most important issues for shoppers on the Internet is that of SECURITY...will their credit card numbers be safe.

At CyberShopUK credit card numbers are not made available to the merchant - or indeed ourselves.

E-commerce security is provided by customer details being 'encrypted' during the journey from the shopper's computer to the e-commerce store.

At CyberShopUK we understand the importance of credit card security - which is why we do NOT issue card details to any of our merchants. When you proceed to our checkout, you are moving to a series of pages that are defined as 'secure'. This means that information will be scrambled ('encrypted') before leaving your computer.

One indicator that a page is secure, is the padlock icon that is common to many browsers. The locked padlock icon appears in the browser's status bar at the bottom of your screen on secure webpages. This shows you that data (such as credit card numbers) will be encrypted before it leaves your computer. When you proceed to the checkout after selecting your purchases in our Mall you will be taken to a secure area of our website so that you can enter your personal details and complete the transaction.

Padlock icon
(Internet Explorer)

Padlock icon
(Netscape)

Identifying a secure website
You may receive a warning message from your browser when you enter or leave a secure area of a website. This message can be switched off, so may not appear on your machine. If you see this message when entering a secure webpage it is further confirmation that data will be encrypted. Some e-commerce solutions are so poor that they offer crecit card payments via normal pages NOT even encrypted (look out for the padlock !)

Security certificates
Security certificates are used to confirm the identity of the website's operators. This is normally to provide the shopper with reassurance that the company concerned does exist and are not going to simply collect credit card numbers and run off!

A certificate can be issued by the company creating the web site or by a third party 'certificate authority' such as VeriSign. Companies such as VeriSign seek to establish the identity of the applicant before the certificate is issued.

CyberShopUK have been awarded a VeriSign certificate at https://www.CyberShopUK.com. If you wish to verify our certificate you can double-click on the padlock icon in your browser.

A security certificate can take some time to be awarded, and costs around £500. Using the CyberShopUK system you do not have to incurr this additional delay or up front cost. This makes our system both secure and cost effective.

CyberShopUK Card Processing
All the CyberShopUK merchants use a secure processing system. Card details are processed by a bank approved third party (either WorldPay or SECPay). Their systems decode the card details and process the transaction before taking the details off-line. These real time processing systems provide security that would normally cost a great deal to set-up for yourself. (We can of course provide this if required). Our merchants do not even have to worry about renting a phone based terminal as the details forwarded are simply the delivery address and payment confirmation.

Both the WorldPay and SECPay processing systems keep credit card details secure. In order to reduce administration and enhance security both the WorldPay and SECPay systems do not provide merchants with access to shopper's credit card details. WorldPay have even launched a NEW fraud guarantee scheme that protects the shopper from 3rd party fraud and protects the business from chargebacks !

As you can see - we take credit card security very serously!