Accepting payments online

For many small businesses, selling online provides some major benefits. Customers increasingly expect this type of facility and it can improve your cash flow significantly.

It's easy to accept cheques or invoices for your online sales and to process payments in the traditional way. However, because buyers often use the Internet for a speedy service, most sales are paid for with credit and debit cards. To accept cards online, you will have to make arrangements over and above those already in place for your traditional business banking.

Online payments using cards are "customer not present" transactions. There are higher risks of fraud with this type of payment and banks require you to operate within a well-defined set of rules and accept a higher level of commercial risk than a conventional swiped card transaction in a shop. This guide will help you to understand these requirements in order to take advantage of online payments.