What is a payment gateway?
Most traditional businesses are in a major transaction towards digitalization. First, they need to create a website that gives them visibility and the next step would be to ask themselves how to process payments over the internet. Well, the first thing you need is a payment gateway.
A payment gateway is the tool that connects the payment processor with your bank account, which allows you to receive money in a digital way and without any effort or bureaucracy. Its operation is quite simple: the buyer enters their credit card details, the payment gateway checks that there is no risk of fraud and that the connection is secure and sends the purchase order. Finally, the money enters the seller's account without them having to do anything.
A payment gateway is not a payment processor
Payment processors go hand in hand with payment gateways. They are complementary and do not work without each other. Moreover, they are indispensable to make the transaction effective. A payment processor is the tool that allows information to flow along a payment channel consisting of a buyer, an issuing bank, a receiving bank and a seller. A payment processor works both with the payment terminal in a physical business and with a payment gateway on an online business.
Advantages of using a payment processor
Having a payment gateway offers you many possibilities that go beyond processing payments for your products and services. Among the many advantages of transacting through a payment gateway, we highlight the following:
- Your customers can pay you at any time and from almost anywhere. Setting up a payment gateway on your online business allows you to charge for your services at any time and from almost anywhere in the world. Online commerce does not limit your business to the physical place where you are operating, but it opens the geographical borders to the whole world. However, payment gateways cannot always operate in all countries, as there are regulatory limitations in some places.
- You can process recurring payments. This is undoubtedly one of the best advantages. Being able to automate charges that are made every certain period (weekly, monthly, biweekly, quarterly, annual...) is a great time and money saver for businesses. This is perfect for those businesses that operate with subscriptions (like Netflix) or with monthly fees like private lessons, gyms, sports clubs, etc.
- Improve the consumer's shopping experience. If there is one thing that most payment gateways have in common is that they are very easy to use for business users. They are designed to make transactions quick and easy, despite the complexity of the process and the number of agents involved. Simplifying the payment process gives your business two great advantages: 1. a satisfactory shopping experience for the customer, which increases the likelihood that they will purchase your service or product again in the future, and 2. a lower cart abandonment rate, i.e., completing the entire purchase.
- Maximum security in transactions. There are many sites that allow online transactions but not all of them ensure secure payments, as some don't comply with the legality and ethical practices on data protection and security. For a user, it is very important that when you enter your data when paying for a service (and data as sensitive as payment data) there is security involved. If you have a payment gateway, you are protecting your business and your users from fraud.
- Real-time payment validation. Payment gateways will give you information on whether or not a transaction can be completed and, if not, why, almost as soon as it is completed. This will allow you to take action on those unsuccessful charges and fix them.
Disadvantages of payment gateways
On the other hand, payment gateways also have some disadvantages:
- Implementation is not always easy. As a general rule, payment gateways are designed to be implemented by a programmer or a person with technical knowledge. The big disadvantage of this is that you depend on a third party when it comes to implementing any change or any mismatch.
- Each payment gateway has its own limitations. There are many payment gateways available and not all of them are the same, so it is very common that what one can offer you, another cannot and vice versa. For example, some are more focused on security, others are easier to install, others have lower commissions, others operate in more geographical locations...
- Fees for each transaction. Card processing fees are usually higher than other payment methods, so sometimes it is a disadvantage for users. Even so, this fee is compensated by the agility and speed of the charges and also because you save other fees, such as the return fee.
Uelz: a payment management platform that goes beyond a payment gateway
We understand there will be uncertainty regarding the question "What is Uelz" and "How is it different from a payment gateway". At a first glance both have many similarities.
The first detail to keep in mind is that Uelz is a payment management platform, that is, it complements the payment gateway to offer a more complete service for the charge management of a business.
Working with a payment management tool such as Uelz differs from a payment gateway in 3 points:
- Configuration without code or technical knowledge: Uelz is designed to have an easy and quick setup as it is on other popular platforms such as Facebook. No technical or programming knowledge is required, as it works with simple integrations through secure payment links. You will be able to accept credit card payments in less than 10 minutes.
- You have several payment gateways in one place: When a payment is made through Uelz, the platform selects among several payment gateways , the one that has the best conditions (such as lower commission, operation in some countries, speed of money transfer to the seller's account) to make the transaction effective. This allows you to enjoy all the payment gateways from a single place, making a single configuration and registration, and taking advantage of the best benefits of each one.
- A clear visual of your business data: Although there are already payment gateways that offer some data about your business, with Uelz, you can customize the graphs that best suit your project and design the control panel to your liking with just a couple of clicks.
What is possible with Uelz? Here are some of our best advantages
Payment management support
When we talk about Uelz as a payment management platform, it is because its function is none other than to help companies manage the payments they receive for offering a good or service. Uelzs' management goes far beyond allowing the flow of money from one bank to another, by complementing everything that a payment gateway already knows how to do, such as: clear visualization of a business, being able to take actions on payments made, allowing customers to choose how they want to pay you, automating charges, automating the payment gateway that will perform each transaction for the benefit of the business and the customer, ease of use for the business owner and for its own customers etc.
Quick setup of your platform
You can start using Uelz and enjoy all its advantages by simply entering your email address and password. All other payment gateways ask for a lot of data before you can know if their features are perfect for you. With Uelz, you will be able to investigate its functionalities and test for free how they work and we will only ask you to finalize the configuration when you are sure you want to operate with our tool. You will be able to receive secure payments within minutes. Even so, the setup process has been simplified compared to other payment gateways so that it can be done in minutes.
Complete control of your business
Uelz allows you to have more control of your business as it offers you a very clear visual of your data. You can customize a control panel with the information you consider relevant to take into account. In addition, with respect to charges, you have updated listings of all contracted services, products sold and payments made. If at any time there is a problem with a transaction, the system continues to try to charge automatically, although it is possible to take instant action on that customer or payment (inform the customer of the problem, interrupt the customer's service...). This helps to reduce the failure rate and the time and money spent reissuing those charges .
Improve your customers' shopping experience
With Uelz, customers make their payments in a very comfortable and simple way. In addition, they only have to enter data the first time they are going to purchase the product or service, then the data is stored securely so they can make recurring payments or for when they want to return to enjoy what your business offers. In addition, the customer has access to their own control panel where they can view their purchases, download their invoices, activate or pause subscriptions...
Security in all your transactions
In addition to payment management, having a tool like Uelz protects your business and your customers since you are operating under GDPR data protection regulations and we are certified with the PCI DSS seal, which allows you to store, process and transmit customer data securely, as required by current regulations to operate with credit cards.
Multiple payment methods on one platform
Being able to offer your users the full range of payment methods available gives you a great advantage over your competitors. With Uelz, your customers can pay you with a variety of payment methods:
- Single credit card payment: the easiest transaction is the customer who has to enter their credit card details to make it effective. Uelz simplifies the action of processing payments for both the customer and the seller.
- Payment by subscription: that is, automate charges . Payment is made automatically on a regular basis without anyone having to do anything. The customer will be able to activate, pause or cancel their subscription when they stop enjoying the service or product.
- Payment in installments by Klarna: Klarna allows the customer to pay in 3 interest-free installments, while the seller gets the full amount of the purchase at the time of purchase.
- SEPA Direct Debit: with Uelz, you can streamline the administrative process to charge by direct debit. The database of customers and payments to be made is kept up to date automatically. You only have to download the file and send it to your bank.
Uelz unifies everything offering flexibility and ease of use to all users
