Online Reporting provides for all credit card sales reports, check sales reports, banking and settlement reports, and returned item reports to be automated and available over the internet 24 hours a day. Online Reporting is one feature that the Third Party Secure Payment Gateway companies sell to merchants. Companies that have their own proprietary Secure Payment Gateway typically provide Online Reporting at no extra cost to the merchant.
The Third Party Secure Gateway Provider typically charges a Software License Fee or “sells” the Software Module through ISO’s, ISPs, Agents, and Banks. These Secure Gateway Providers also typically charge a Monthly Access Fee for the Secure Gateway. The ISO, Agent or Bank that brings in the clients usually marks up this fee. Some Secure Payment Gateway Providers also charge an additional Transaction Fee. Because the Secure Payment Gateway Provider generates their income by linking a Processor to a Merchant, they must charge fees above and beyond what a store front merchant would pay for the same transaction processing services; Processors that have their own Secure Payment Gateway can often provide a more cost effective internet processing service because they do not have to pay a Third Party Processor for this service, and consequently, they often do not charge the merchant additional fees for the Secure Payment Gateway, Software Module, or Online Host Software.
Internet Processors and Secure Payment Gateways usually provide a “virtual terminal” that allows merchants to log on to the processing center and hand-key in new transactions. Some also provide a means of issuing credit transactions to the merchant’s clients. The Virtual Terminal is a large selling point for third party Secure Payment Gateways, but is a common element of Internet credit card and check processing that you should not have to pay for. Look for the Processor that has their own gateway and that does not charge extra for Real Time Processing, Online Reporting and Virtual Terminals.
