When you’re launching an eCommerce store with Adobe Commerce (Magento), one of the first steps you’ll need to take is choosing and setting up a payment gateway.
This is a service that accepts, processes, and deposits payments on your behalf when customers shop at your store – if you want more information about the basics, click here to view a blog the team at 121eCommerce wrote about the basics.
But if you already know a little bit about payment gateways and how they work, you still may have some questions about them and how to implement a payment gateway into your Adobe Commerce store.
We’re here with the answers you need. Read on and get answers to 7 of the most frequently asked questions about Adobe Commerce payment gateways.
→ Related: 8 Things to Consider Before Choosing an Adobe Commerce (Magento) Payment Gateway ←
1. Do I Really Need To Use A Payment Gateway On My Site?
Yes. Using a payment gateway on your Adobe Commerce site is the best way to collect funds from customers using debit and credit cards. They are really important for a lot of different reasons – but first and foremost, they protect you from fraud and protect customer payment card data.
This is because payment gateways are responsible for handling pretty much every part of a credit or debit card transaction. They check the card numbers and information, verify the transaction, pull the funds, and perform a lot of other functions.
This means that they can catch fraudulent transactions easily, which reduces costs associated with chargebacks and order cancellations. But more importantly, it means that customer payment card data is not stored on your Magento website – which ensures you’re protected if your store is hacked or breached.
2. Does A Payment Gateway Help With PCI Compliance?
Yes. In order to be compliant with PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards, there are a lot of different steps you have to take – and one of the most important ones is to partner with a payment gateway that is PCI-compliant.
Choosing a PCI-compliant gateway is essential for this. There are more than 300+ different security controls that must be implemented for businesses that handle payment card information directly – such as payment gateways – and a lot of other rules and regulations that these businesses must follow.
Using a payment gateway lets you skip all of this. Because you’re not directly interacting with credit card data or storing it on your servers, you can use your payment gateway provider’s PCI compliance as part of proving your store’s own compliance with PCI standards.
→ Related: How Adobe Commerce (Magento) Payment Gateways Ensure PCI Compliance ←
3. What Payment Gateways Does Adobe Commerce (Magento) Support By Default?
By default, Adobe Commerce supports Braintree, Authorize.net, and PayPal, so integrating these payment gateways into your store is simple.
Once you’ve signed up for an account, you’ll just need to connect your preferred payment gateway to your Adobe Commerce installation. You can even find a full guide to the process from Adobe Commerce at this link.
Not sure which payment gateway to choose? Here’s a comparison of Adobe Commerce (Magento) default payment gateways
4. Can I Use A Non-Default Payment Gateway On Adobe Commerce (Magento)?
Yes. Although Braintree, Authorize.net, and PayPal are supported “out of the box,” you can use almost any payment gateway on Adobe Commerce.
Depending on the payment gateway you want to use, this may be as easy as adding a module from the Adobe Commerce store, or adding a little bit of pre-built custom code. Stripe, a very popular payment gateway, has a dedicated Adobe Commerce module that allows you to add it to your Adobe Commerce store very easily.
However, some other payment gateways may require some custom code and development work. You may want to keep this in mind when choosing a payment gateway – unless there’s a specific reason you need to use a particular gateway, it may be cheaper, faster, and easier to choose one of the default gateways supported by Adobe Commerce.
5. What Fraud Protections Do Payment Gateways Offer?
This depends on the payment gateway you’re using, so we recommend checking their documentation and marketing materials to learn more about their specific tools and how they prevent fraud. However, most payment gateways offer the following fraud protection tools:
- Flagging large transactions – Most payment gateways allow large transactions to be flagged based on a flat dollar amount. Fraudsters may try to make big purchases with stolen credit cards to resell merchandise, so this is a good way to fight back against fraud.
- Address Verification Service (AVS) – AVS is a check done by the payment gateway to check the billing address a customer provides with the address the bank has on file. If the billing address does not match, the payment gateway may decline the transaction.
- CVV (Card Verification Value) – The CVV is a 3 or 4-digit code on the back of most credit and debit cards. It is never stored in merchant databases. In other words, to know the CVV, a person must have physical access to the credit or debit card. Requiring a CVV on checkout helps dramatically reduce fraudulent transactions.
- Device identification – Some payment gateways use information like IP addresses, internet connection, and device type (tablet, smartphone, laptop, desktop), web browser, and other information to check for fraudulent activity. These identifiers can be used to identify individuals who have repeatedly made suspicious transactions.
- Additional protection from high-risk countries – Payment gateways may require additional verification before approving a transaction from certain high-risk countries with high fraud rates, like Israel, Egypt, Romania, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa, to name a few.
6. How Much Will I Pay In Fees?
This depends on the payment gateway you use. Most payment gateways charge a flat fee for each transaction – 2.9% of the transaction plus 30 cents is the most common as of publication time. Beyond this, though, fees can vary quite a bit. Some payment gateways may have fees such as:
- Chargeback fees – Banks will impose their own fees and penalties for chargebacks, and some payment processors charge fees, too. Braintree charges a $15 fee for every single chargeback.
- Initial setup fee – Depending on your payment processor, you may be required to pay an initial setup fee when you’re first implementing their services.
- Monthly fee – A flat monthly fee may be charged by your payment gateway. Most companies don’t do this, but a few like Authorize.net do charge a monthly fee of $25.
7. Do Adobe Commerce (Magento) Payment Gateways Support International Transactions?
Yes. However, the supported countries will vary depending on the payment gateway you choose. We recommend doing a bit of research about each gateway and their supported countries, particularly if you sell a lot of products internationally.
Got Questions? Need Help With Payment Gateway Integrations? Turn To 121eCommerce!
As experts in Adobe Commerce, 121eCommerce is here to help you with every aspect of launching your store. Whether you’re migrating from another eCommerce platform or you’re starting a brand new venture, our team is standing by to assist you.
To learn more about our services and get started with 121eCommerce, just contact us online to schedule a quick chat. We can discuss your eCommerce store, your goals, and how we can help. Whether you just need a little bit of assistance setting up your payment gateway or you need developers for a full-scale platform migration, we’re up for the job.
