We’ve distilled all of our knowledge and recommendations into this short guide on accepting payments, starting with a ‘benefits highlight’ and then detailing how an integrated payments solution can add value to your organisation and your members.

Why do you need a payment gateway? A payment gateway is the technology that allows you to accept debit or credit cards. This can include physical terminals that you use in person, as well as accepting payments on your website or payments over the phone.

Payment gateways should first and foremost offer a seamless, secure, and fast payment journey for your users. Don’t underestimate the importance of a fully branded experience to ensure trust as well as control over the journey you want them to have. A good gateway will also provide an integration that offers detailed financial reporting alongside significantly reduced administrative overheads for your staff.

Why should you have a payment solution on your site? Well, most transactions are now online with credit and debit cards. Accepting card payments means your sales are quick and easy, either taking payment over the phone or directly online. Online transactions are far more secure than taking a wedge of cash to the bank!

Common challenges around payments can include:

• Choice: There are lots of payment gateways and facilitators in the market which can make it difficult to know which is right for your organisation. Some key aspects to consider are security, the payment methods they offer, whether it is hosted or integrated, the support they provide, how you access and reconcile the reports, and whether you need a separate merchant account with a 3rd party bank.
• High level security: Your payment gateway should be PCI DSS Level 1 compliant, use data encryption, SSL, SET and Tokenization.
• Great experience: The checkout experience should be seamless for users. The fields should be clear and easy to use, the branding and UX should be consistent, and it should be quick.
• Helpful support: When you need support you want it to be easy to access and helpful. Make sure you know what the routes are for support with your payment gateway, when they are open and how to contact them.
• Flexibility and growth: Is your payment gateway going to grow with your business? You want a provider that can offer all of the channels you offer now, as well as the ones you want to offer in the future. You should want a provider that can create a seamless experience with every update to their platform. Also consider any contractual commitments – are there minimum fees or long contract lengths that aren’t flexible enough for your business.
• Setup: Make sure you are aware of the setup process and how long it will take. Some payment gateways will require you to have a separate merchant account with a bank in order to receive funds. This can be time consuming as you have to find a bank that offers merchant accounts and apply – this can be time consuming as you need to need to find a bank which offers this and go through the approval process, which varies in length by provider. After this you will need to manage multiple contracts and accounts, and deal with multiple support teams if you have any issues.

Our partner of choice, ClearAccept, provide multi-channel payment solutions which are seamlessly integrated into the software you already use, know and trust! This means you can manage all of your payments needs from within your CRM – the same as the rest of your business. They are also a payment facilitator, meaning you don’t need a merchant account with a 3rd party bank - saving you time and reducing your workload.



Whether you are already working with NetXtra or are considering working with us on your next project, get in touch with our team to find out more about how their integrated payment solutions could help you.