How Does an Online Store Handle Credit Card Orders?

If you want to open an online store, you'll need a way to accept credit card orders. That's easier said than done — credit card transactions are a complex process, and scores of companies offer products

that claim to handle the details for you. No matter what you do, however, you'll need three basic things to accept credit cards: a secure way to transmit the card number from the user's browser to your Web server, a merchant account with a bank, and payment processing software to link your Web server to the bank.

Security. The most popular way to transmit credit card data securely over the Web is with the secure socket layer (SSL) protocol. You (or your Web hosting provider) will need to use a Web server that supports SSL, and your customers' Web browser must also support SSL (most, if not all, do). You'll also need a digital certificate that identifies you as a legitimate business — these are available for a fee from companies such as VeriSign and Thawte, and many hosting providers will handle this for you for a small fee.