Unlock Growth with Secure & Efficient eCommerce Payments: Podcast Episode 21

Running an eCommerce business? Then you know that online payments are absolutely critical. In Episode 21, we're diving deep into the world of eCommerce payments, a topic that can quickly become complex and overwhelming. Choosing the right online payment gateway can significantly impact your business, and understanding the nuances is essential for success. Tune in to learn how to enhance security, improve customer experience, and ultimately, drive growth for your eCommerce business.

All right, hey everyone, running an e-commerce business out there. Yeah. But you're all thinking about this. It's kind of a big deal.

Picking the right online payment gateway for your setup right. Absolutely, yeah. We're going to like really dig deep into this whole world of e-commerce payments. Yeah.

I mean, it can be complicated. There's a lot to it. It really is, yeah. And then figuring out how a good payment provider can really change your business.

That's a huge piece of the puzzle too. It's kind of amazing how many different ways people can pay online now. Right. It seems like every day there's something new.

Definitely. And for anyone shopping online, it's all about convenience and security. Yes. Yes.

Those are the things that really matter. Absolutely. So we've got like a great guest with us today, someone from Verestro. That's us.

Yeah, a real Fintech innovator. And they're going to walk us through their Paytool payment gateway, which I'm really excited to learn about. Yeah. So today we're basically going to try and break down like all the essential parts of e-commerce payment gateways.

Yeah. What are they really all about? And then we're going to look at how something like pay tool can actually make things easier for like both your customers when they're checking out. Right. And of course, for you as a business owner, trying to make this whole thing work.

For sure. So let's just start with the basics. Yeah. What exactly is an e-commerce payment? I mean, in the simplest terms.

Yeah. So basically an e-commerce payment is anytime someone goes online and buys something through the internet. Okay. That exchange of money is an e-commerce payment.

Right. It's like the digital version of handing over cash at a store. Exactly. Makes sense.

Yeah. So we know people are buying stuff online like all the time now. Oh, yeah. But there are so many different ways to pay right.

Like what are the most common methods we see out there today? Yeah. You're right. There are a lot of options these days. But you know, good old credit and debit cards.

They're still super popular. Oh, yeah. Those never go away. I've used Mastercard.

You know, those are the big names. And people just feel really comfortable using them online. Yeah. They've been around forever, so they trust them.

But then you also have these electronic wallets, you know, Apple pay, Google Pay. Those are becoming huge. And they've got some really cool security features. Yeah.

I was just thinking about that. Like how does the security work with those? Yeah. So a lot of times they use this thing called tokenization. Tokenization? Yeah.

Instead of sending your actual card details every time you buy something, they just send this like unique digital token. It's like a stand in for your real information. So that's way more secure than that? Way more secure. Yeah.

Even if someone got a hold of that token, it wouldn't be useful because it's only good for that one transaction. Oh, I see. And it can't be traced back to your actual card. Gotcha.

So it's like a one time use code almost. Exactly. Wow. That's really smart.

Yeah. So there. Let's see. You've got open banking, which is pretty interesting.

I've heard of that. Yeah. People are starting to use that more and more. It lets you pay directly from your bank account.

Oh, interesting. Yeah. And then of course, there's crypto. Oh, yeah.

Got a mention crypto. Crypto, right? I mean, it's not as common as some of these other ways to pay. Right. But it's definitely becoming more popular all the time.

Yeah, for sure. You know, you got Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, all sorts of different cryptocurrencies. Okay. I've got all these options, but like at the end of the day, the most important things for like any e-commerce business are security.

Absolutely. And a smooth, easy experience for the customer. Right. Yeah.

You got it. Like if it's not secure or it's a pain to use, people are just going to give up and leave their card full of stuff. 100%. Yeah.

I mean, security has to be like the number one priority. Yeah. And that often means using things like SSL encryption, you know? SSL. And that little padlock icon on websites.

Exactly. But I don't really know what it means. So SSL basically creates the secure connection. Okay.

It's like a tunnel between your website and the customer's browser. Gotcha. So all that sensitive payment info is protected as it's traveling over the internet. So hackers can't see it.

Exactly. They can't just grab it. Right. But then you also have to think about convenience, right? Yeah.

For sure. The whole checkout process needs to be super smooth and intuitive. If it's not, people are going to get frustrated. Yeah.

They'll just click away. They'll abandon their card and you'll lose the sale. So when you have all these different payment options and all these security concerns, that's where providers like for extra Paytool come in. Yeah.

That's where we come in. You act as like this aggregator, right? Exactly. We bring it all together. Can you explain what that means, especially for businesses that don't want to mess around with PCI DSS compliance? Oh, yeah.

PCI DSS. That's a big one. It can be a real headache for merchants. Yeah.

It sounds intimidating. It is. So how does Verestro help with that? So basically for businesses that don't want to handle all that sensitive card data themselves, which is what PCI DSS is all about, they can use a payment service provider like Verestro Paytool. We become like their central hub for payments.

So instead of setting up a separate system for every single payment type, you guys handle it all in one place. Yeah. Gotcha. We take care of all the security, all the connections to different payment processors and real simplifies things for merchants.

That's a huge time saver, I bet. Oh, yeah. And a lot less stress. And just so you know, pay tool specifically supports a bunch of different options, you know? Like what? We've got credit and debit cards, obviously.

It makes sense. Popular e-wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay. And then we also support Blik. Blik, haven't heard of that one.

It's really popular in certain parts of the world, particularly Europe. And it's a super convenient way for people to pay using their mobile banking apps. Interesting. Yeah.

So we try to cover all the bases. That's great. That makes a lot of sense. Okay.

So I think our listeners were probably getting a good grasp on the different ways people can pay online. But can you kind of walk us through what the actual payment process looks like from the customer's point of view? Yeah, absolutely. So imagine you're a customer. You go to an e-commerce website, you're browsing, you find some things you like, you abimmed to your cart.

Right. Exactly. Shopping. That's step one, right? You got your cart full of goodies.

And then you're ready to buy. Then you hit that checkout button that's step two. This is where you usually put in all your contact info, shipping, address, all that stuff. The boring, but necessary detail.

Right. You got to get the stuff to the right place. And then you get to choose how you want to pay. Okay.

So this is where those different payment methods come in. Exactly. You'll see a bunch of options, you know. You see the familiar Visa Mastercard logos for credit and debit cards.

You might see buttons for Apple Pay, Google Pay. Maybe there's an option to do a direct bank transfer through open banking. And you know, some sites even let you pay with crypto now. So that's step three choosing your weapon.

Yeah. Picking your payment method exactly. Okay. What happens next? So then comes the actual payment authorization.

The moment of truth. Exactly. And this is where things get a little bit different depending on what you chose back in step three. Right.

Because every method is going to work a little differently, I guess. Yeah. Okay. So let's say I choose to pay with my credit card.

Okay. So if you go with the card payment, you'll usually have to enter your card number that long string of digits, the expiration date and the CVV code that little three or four digit number on the back of your card. Yeah. Yeah.

And once you hit submit the payment gateway, and that could be us or another provider, like Stripe or PayPal, if the merchant is working directly with them, takes all that info and sends it securely to your bank to get authorization. Gotcha. So that's how they make sure I actually have the money to pay. Exactly.

They're checking your balance, making sure everything's legit. So what about if I choose to do an online bank transfer? What does that look like on my end? So with an online transfer, you usually get redirected from the website you're shopping on to your bank's own online banking system. So I'm leaving the store's website for a minute. Yeah.

So you'll log in to your bank's website like you normally would, you know, with your username and password. And then you authorize the payment right there within your banking portal. Okay. Makes sense.

And then what about those digital wallets like PayPal? How does that work? So with a digital wallet, once you pick it as your payment method, you'll usually have to log in to your wallet account. Like with PayPal, you just need your email and password. And then you confirm the payment details right there in the PayPal app or website. Okay.

Really simple. Gotcha. So you can go to the other side of the account, the different methods, but I'm assuming there's a lot of security stuff going on behind the scenes with all of this, right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. That's got to be like step five in the process.

You got it. Transaction security. Yeah. Security is baked into every step of the way.

And that's why things like SSL encryption are so important. Right. That tunnel thing you were talking about. Exactly.

SSL protects all that payment data as it's moving around online. Okay. So no one can snoop on it and steal it. Makes sense.

Is there anything else besides SSL that keeps things secure? Oh, yeah, for sure. Especially for card payments, you'll often run into something called 3D Secure. 3D Secure. Yeah, you might have seen it before.

Maybe. Sometimes it's called verified by Visa or Mastercard Secure Code. Oh, okay. Yeah, that rings a bell.

So basically 3D Secure adds this extra layer of authentication to make sure the person using the card is actually the real owner of the card. So it's like a double check. Exactly. It usually work.

Lots of different ways, but usually you'll get like a text message with a special code that you have to enter to confirm the purchase. Right. Or sometimes you might have to approve the transaction through your banking app. Okay.

It just depends. That's cool. It's kind of like using a PIN in ATM, I guess. Yeah, very similar.

All right. So we've gone through security and all that. What's the last step in this whole customer journey? The final step is getting the money to you, the seller. Yeah.

That's the important part. You know, the customer has to move up to 6, right? Right. The transfer of funds. Okay.

But it's worth noting that the time it actually takes for that money to show up in your account can vary quite a bit. Oh, really? Yeah, it depends on the payment method they used. Makes sense. And also the payment processor that's involved.

Okay. So sometimes it's pretty quick. Sometimes it takes a few days. So patience is key.

Yeah. Sometimes. All right. So we've got a pretty clear picture now of how the payment process works from the customer's side.

So we want to focus specifically on how things work with Verestro Paytool. Yeah. Let's talk about that. We mentioned earlier that the transaction kind of kicks off within the merchant's application.

Right. Can you explain what you meant by that? Yeah. So let's say you're a merchant. You have your online store setup and you've integrated Verestro Paytool as one of your payment options.

Okay. So when a customer is checking out on your site and they choose to pay with Paytool, we redirect them to our own secure web view. It's a seamless transition. It just happens in the background.

But basically the customer is now interacting with Verestro System. Gotcha. And this is where things get really interesting. Once they're on our Paytool interface, we handle the entire rest of the transaction no matter what payment method they ultimately choose.

So doesn't matter if they use a credit card or Apple Pay or Blik. Doesn't matter. We take care of it all. That sounds like a huge weight off the merchant's shoulders.

It really is. Once the customer is in your hands, so to speak, what exactly is Verestro responsible for? Okay. So a lot of things. First, we let the customer securely enter their payment details, like their card number, whatever.

Or if they want to use a mobile wallet like Google Pay or Apple Pay or Click to Pay, we can grab that info securely too. Then we do some checks to make sure everything's accurate. They entered the right numbers and all that. Right.

Going to make sure those details are correct. Exactly. We care of all the authentication stuff, like 3D Secure if it's needed for that particular transaction. Yep.

And finally, we actually execute the payment itself. Okay. We talk to the banks and all the different payment networks to make sure the money gets where it needs to go. Wow.

So you're really handling everything? Yeah. We try to make it as smooth and painless as possible for everyone involved. I bet the merchants really appreciate that. They do.

Yeah. It takes a lot of the complexity and risk off their plate. I'm sure. Okay.

So let's say I'm a business owner listening to this and I'm like, okay. I need Paytool in my life. How do I actually integrate it into my e-commerce platform? What's that process like? That's a great question. And honestly, we've tried to make it super straight forward.

So if you want to learn all about the technical details and how to actually do the integration, you can head over to our Verestro Developer Zone. Developer Zone sounds techy. It is. But important.

But it's really well laid out. It's easy to find what you need. Let's do a quick search for how to integrate Verestro Developer Zone. How to integrate Verestro Developer Zone.

Okay. I'll make a note of that. We'll put a link in the show notes too so people can find it easily. Awesome.

So the Developer Zone has got all the instructions and stuff. But is there anything a business needs to do before they even start looking at that technical stuff? Yeah. So before you get into the nitty gritty of integrating Paytool, you'll need to go through our onboarding process and create a Paytool account. Okay.

So there's some setup involved. Yeah. Just basic stuff like providing your business information and getting everything set up on our platform. Right.

Got to tell you who we are. Exactly. And then once that's all done, you're good to go. You can dive into the developer zone and start the technical integration.

Awesome. So that's pretty simple. We try to make it as easy as possible. I like it.

Okay. So let's do a quick recap for our listeners. What are like the top three benefits for an e-commerce business if they're thinking about using a modern payment gateway like a Verestro Paytool. All right.

Top three. Hit me with them. Okay. So first pay tool supports like a ton of different payment methods.

Right. We talked about that. Yeah. So your customers can choose whatever works best for them.

And more options probably means more sales. Right. Exactly. It can really help boost your conversion rates.

Makes sense. What's number two? Number two, security like we were talking about before is super important to us. We have all these really robust security measures in place. Okay.

So using Paytool, you benefit from all that. You don't have to worry about it yourself. That's a big one. Yeah.

And then the third big benefit is that Paytool just makes the whole transaction process way smoother and more efficient for everyone. For everyone, yeah. Customers and the business. Yep.

Okay. So if you're listening to this and you're ready to like jump in and start using Paytool, how do you do it? What's the next step? Well, the best place to start is our website. You can find all the info about Paytool there. And if you want to chat with someone about your specific needs, you know, see how Paytool can actually work for your business, you can always reach out to us directly.

We've got a great team that's ready to answer all your questions. Fantastic. And we'll make sure to include a link to the Verestro website in our show notes so everyone can find it. Perfect.

Thank you so much for coming on the show today. This has been super helpful. I feel like I've learned a lot about payment gateways and about Paytool specifically. Oh, you're welcome.

I'm glad I could help. All right. So for everyone listening, here's a final thought to chew on. The online world is constantly changing, right? New payment methods are popping up all the time.

Customer expectations are always evolving. So how is your business going to keep up? How are you going to make sure your payment gateway can handle all that? Because that's what's going to determine your success in the long run. Think about it. Thanks for joining us for this deep dive.

Thanks for having me.