Setting of your payment processors.
When you purchase a product from a website, it will need to come through one of the many payment processors that are available. Some companies process the transactions themselves and then pay their supplier. Other companies use an intermediary to process the transaction for them. The reason they use an intermediary is typically because the suppliers don't have their own merchant account or the company wants to offer different payment options. Larger companies with established credit histories might just use normal bank payments, but smaller companies or newer companies will often use a payment processor. I currently work for a company that uses Adyen (formerly GlobalCollect) and they've been very good so far. Visa and Mastercard are two of the biggest processors for credit cards, American Express is in there too, PayPal also offers some forms of payment processing. Many small businesses will use something called "Payment Pro" or "Payment Gateway", this means you're using your website provider's system to accept credit card payments.
So now you want to know what type of payment processor you'll be using, what to look for instead, and how to start the process of setting up your carrier account. I've done this myself, so I know exactly what steps to take as well as the usual hoops that can be jumped through (I'll go through those steps below).
Firstly, when buying a product or service from a website it needs to come through your chosen payment processor. Some websites have forms on their site for you to fill out and submit with the relevant merchant services provider where you will then be assigned an account number. While this is the old way to setup these payment processors, there is a better way now. I'll say more about that later.
Secondly, you will need to apply for a merchant account from your chosen carrier ahead of time if you aren't already in the system. Here's how to go about doing that for Adyen:
To get an account number or activate payments on your website (where it's offered) please complete this form: https://www.adyen.com/parent-website/q/create-a-payment-gateway
To get an account number or activate payments on your website (where it's not offered) please complete this form: https://www.adyen.com/parent-website/q/activate-payments-on-my-website
If you're using PayPal, you'll need to read through their article here . You will need to read the notes in that article before starting the setup process as they have specific instructions for Adyen: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-for-merchants
You will need to read the notes in that article before starting the setup process as they have specific instructions for Adyen: https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-for-merchants If you're using Visa, Mastercard or American Express you can follow their setup process here: http://pos.americanexpress.com/solution_provider_search_results.do
You should read the notes in the linked documentation before starting on your setup as you will need to set things up slightly differently: https://www.adyen.com/faq/how-to-setup-your-paypal-payment-gateway-for-your-easea
You can look at the settings for your chosen processor here: https://www.adyen.com/processor/q/manage
Essentially, I've used Adyen's system for about two years now and have been very happy with it. If you want a quick overview of how to navigate around their setup process: http://andyelonwhite.co.uk/wordpress/?page_id=118
Thirdly, you will need to find a secure way of sending credit card details from your customers to the payment processor. This is called "Encryption". The guys at Kreate are very knowledgeable on this stuff and have written a lot of useful information on how you can encrypt your customer's details and also keep track of what transactions are successful or failed: http://kreate.works/blog/ahoy-paypal-and-adyen-users-heres-how-to-accepting/
Firstly, I want to give a disclaimer that I am not an expert in this area. This is just my experience setting up and using payment processors for my own website over the last two years.
Secondly, I want to say that I believe there is little point in having more than one of the same payment processor on your site. Each processor will have its own website that you can login into and it's very rare to find them sharing login information with each other for you to access both. In fact, it's almost always the case that you will need a separate account number for each processor on your site. So if you want to use Adyen on your website, there is little point applying for and getting an account with PayPal as well because they'll never share your data between their two systems. I'd say the same about Visa, Mastercard and American Express.
I will use Adyen as an example throughout this article. The process is similar for PayPal, but you will need to find the relevant documentation for them in each section.
Applying for a merchant account with Adyen (or using one that's already set up on your website) is simple. Once you have applied for an account number, you will receive a confirmation email with your account reference. If you apply through their website, it should be instant but if you need to apply through the form I linked above then it can take 48 hours or so to receive your confirmation email. Once you have your account number, you will need to login into your new Adyen account and fill in the necessary details like name, address and tax number.
Then it's time to add a new payment method on your website. If you've already got a payment processor setup for your website then you can edit this payment method directly from Adyen. If not, then you will need to navigate to your website and add the payment method from there (maybe through PayPal if it isn't already).
Once this is done, go ahead and test your site now that it is accepting payments from customers.
Conclusion
So there you have it. If you've bought something from a website and want to send them a payment using PayPal, then you will need to setup your own merchant account with Adyen. It's incredibly easy and once you have got that done, everything else is just as easy. I'd recommend reading through the links above for more information about this process before you go ahead and apply for your account because it's not always straightforward and there are some things that I've missed (like some extra steps that I didn't understand).