In today’s digital age, online presence is crucial for business growth and success. To enable your customers to make easy purchases and payments anywhere and anytime on your web shop, you need to implement various payment methods, including card payments. This is where the Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) comes into play, serving as a crucial component for secure and fast processing of card transactions on your web shop.
The Internet Payment Gateway (IPG) acts as an intermediary between your web shop and the bank that accepts card transactions (acquiring bank or acquirer). Its primary role is to facilitate the processing of card transactions and ensure a secure data transfer. As it is not a bank and does not provide banking services, the IPG does not have access to or control over any accounts, nor does it handle the transfer of funds between accounts.
For acquiring, the IPG must be connected to one or more domestic or foreign card-acquiring banks. Not all banks accept card transactions through the eCommerce channel. In Croatia, card acquiring can be arranged with seven local banks, and CorvusPay is connected to all seven. A similar situation exists in Serbia, where CorvusPay is connected to five banks. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is connected to three banks, while in Slovenia, Macedonia, and Kosovo, it is connected to one. It is also connected to two European banks through which acquiring can be arranged in various world currencies, totalling over 40. Why is it important for the IPG to be connected to as many banks as possible? Because through the same system and one integration, you have payment solutions for different markets, and by sending transactions to different banks, you save on acquiring fees, as acquiring banks offer a lower percentage for the cards they have issued.
Customers using CorvusPay and all banks to which CorvusPay is connected can make payments with Mastercard, Maestro, and Visa cards, regardless of which bank issued the card (issuing bank or issuer). Some banks accept transactions with Diners, Discover, and American Express cards. If you want to enable payments with these cards in your web shop, you need to arrange acquiring with a bank that supports them. In Serbia, all local banks accept the Dina card, the national card of the country.
Popular instalment payments in web shops are possible only for cards issued by banks that support instalment sales through online channels. For instalment payments, the same bank must be both the issuer and acquirer of the card used for instalment purchases. If you want to enable instalment payments for cards from a specific bank or banks, and it is usually in your interest if the bank has issued a significant number of cards in the market, you need to arrange acquiring with that bank.
You decide which bank or banks you want to contract for card acquiring. Although you prepare forms and documentation related to card acquiring in collaboration with CorvusPay, the terms for acceptance you negotiate directly with the bank or banks that accept payments, and they are the subject of an agreement between your web shop and the bank. The transfer of funds from the customer’s account to your web shop’s account and vice versa is carried out through card schemes involving issuing banks and acquiring banks of payment cards. The deadlines and conditions for fund disbursement are regulated by agreements you make with the acquiring banks. For the acquiring service, you pay a fee to the acquiring bank, and for the processing service, you pay a fee to the IPG.
With quality tools, a strategy, and partners, you can achieve successful online business on a global scale. It is crucial to connect and rely on those who specialize in areas where you lack knowledge and resources. Therefore, when choosing an IPG partner and banks, it’s important to understand if they have everything you need for your requirements. Always look at the bigger picture, especially if you plan to expand your business to additional markets.
Wishing you an exciting and secure flight!
Edgar