Getting Started
Before you can start accepting payments online there are a number of decisions you will need to make and some actions you must undertake. Broadly speaking they are (in order):
- Obtain an Internet Merchant Account
- Select your Payment Service Provider (PayPoint.net)
- Set-up your PayPoint.net account
- Integrate the payment gateway into your shopping cart or website
- Undertake test transactions
- Set your account live
Internet Merchant Account
Before you can start accepting credit and debit cards online you’ll need to get an internet merchant account. This will allow you to accept and hold payments from payment card transactions. An Internet Merchant Account is very similar to the merchant accounts used for mail order and telephone orders because the cardholder is not present in both cases. These are referred to as CNP (cardholder not present) transactions. Most high street banks in the UK offer Internet merchant accounts but they can be quite selective, sometimes preferring business and store owners to have a proven track record of at least two years of trading. There are also specialist companies offering merchant accounts.
If you have trouble obtaining an Internet Merchant Account, consider one of our Complete Solutions, which include the necessary merchant account.
Payment Service Provider
A Payment Service Provider (PSP), such as PayPoint.net, is a separate service to that of the acquiring banks, and acts as an intermediary between the merchant’s website or shopping cart and all the financial networks involved with the transaction including the customer’s credit (or debit) card issuer and your merchant account. The payment gateway checks for card validity; encrypts the transaction and card details; ensures they are sent to the correct destination; and then decrypts the responses, which are returned back to your website or shopping cart either as an authorised or declined transaction.
This is a seamless process and your customer does not directly interact with the gateway, since data is forwarded to the gateway via your shopping cart or our online payment page through a secure (SSL) connection. Whilst we, of course, would want you to choose PayPoint.net to handle your payment processing requirements, we recognise that most merchants will want to consider a few alternative suppliers. To help you, we’ve broken down the key industry terms and our solutions so that you can compare openly and fairly to make the right decision for your business.
Set up your Payment Gateway account
Setting-up a PayPoint.net account. All you have to do is chose a package and complete the registration form and pay the set-up fee online using your credit or debit card. Your account will be set up within a few hours and you will receive an e-mail providing your PayPoint.net ID along with links, username and password to the PayPoint.net merchant gateway extranet area.
Integrate with the Payment Gateway
There are a range of integration options available to clients using our payment gateway solutions; please refer to the online integration guide as a first step. You can use a simple payment page incorporated into your website, right the way through to a SOAP or XMLRPC interface to our API (Application Programming Interface). If all that’s a bit too technical don’t worry, your web developers will not only understand but be pleased you picked PayPoint.net due to the integration support and options that we offer.
Test Transactions
Once you have integrated your website with the PayPoint.net payment processing service (using one of the interfaces mentioned here) you will be able to conduct test transactions using test payment card details. You can enable test mode by setting a test status switch in SECnet or on a per transaction basis by passing a test status parameter with each transaction request. You can perform as many test transactions as you wish, using a mixture of both valid and invalid card data. This will help you understand how the authorisation process works, and how to start managing the potential risks for your business.
Don’t forget to remove the test_status parameter or switch back to live mode before your customers start placing orders!
PayPoint.net offer the facility of a ’sandbox’ test account: it is available before you set-up your PayPoint.net account. The test account enables you to better understand how the PayPoint.net system works. You can request .
Set your account live
Once you’ve tested the payment facilities and are happy that you’re ready to take payments online, all you need to do is email us at and request that we set your account live. Within two to three days (it’s dependent on the banks clearing the connections to your merchant account) you’ll be live, and able to take payments online.
