Payment Gateways are a layer of software that sit between your software / website and the credit card processor.

Q: Why can’t I integrate directly into the processor?

A: In some cases you can, but the processing networks are really old, have difficult APIs and are private networks not exposed to the internet.   Therefore, integrating into a processor directly is quite cost prohibitive (imagine requiring a leased line).  The gateway providers, and there are many of them, have developed that software already, have much easier APIs and provide the service at a very reasonable cost on a hosted, per-transaction basis.

We recommend using the Samurai gateway – you get a merchant account and gateway in one, plus it’s easy to integrate. If you have a merchant account already, you can use it with Samurai, as Samurai integrates with all the merchant accounts available on the FeeFighters marketplace.

The top 10 payment gateways in the US in popularity are:

• Authorize.net
• Cybersource
• Chase Paymentech Orbital (only works with Chase Paymentech processing network)
• First Data Global Gateway (only works on First Data’s various processing networks) – this used to be called Linkpoint, EFSNet and Yourpay, at various points in time
• Plug N Pay
• Beanstream
• Paypal Payflow
• ViaKlix / Virtual Merchant (only works with Nova/ Elavon)
• SecurePay
• USAePay
• TrustCommerce

Keep in mind that most of the gateway companies are not credit card processors / merchant acquirers.  Many, especially the largest, such as authorize.net, are independent companies that work with a many processors. So you have lots of choice, don’t be fooled into thinking you need to sign up with one particular processor because of its gateway compatibility.

Even the gateways that are owned by a processor, such as First Data Global Gateway, work with a few different processors, so you always have choice, even if you don’t want to switch your gateway.  FeeFighters can help you determine which processors are compatible with your required gateway and automatically help you negotiate the best rate.