Live credit card processing is the capacity for a website to interact with a payment gateway service to automatically authorize and process credit card transactions in response to orders placed through a website in real-time. In order to achieve live credit card processing, you must already have the ability to accept credit cards through your website (see our Merchant Account services).

Live credit card processing is an effective way to greatly reduce overhead and add functionality to your site. You are notified of an order only after a client's credit card has been approved and charged (for certain industries, such as software retail, the order can even be fulfilled automatically). As well, the client gains the immediate assurance that their order will be processed and receives a receipt for their purchase instantly. The money is then automatically deposited directly into your business checking account shortly thereafter.

Payment Gateway Services

Live credit card processing requires an additional service called a Payment Gateway Service, which interacts, on one end, with the ordering facilities at your website and, on the other end, with your credit card Merchant Account to process the transaction "behind-the-scenes". The ordering facility on your website can either be a simple order form or a shopping cart.

LFC supports payment gateway services for clients in the United States, Canada, Europe, and many other countries. All customers who have a merchant account with LFC have a payment gateway included free-of-charge with our MultiPay service through our partnerships with Plug'n Pay (United States and Europe only), a leading payment processor, and others for Canadian and international customers.

Please contact us for information on live credit card processing support in your country, or visit the Plug'n Pay website for more information. However keep in mind that a live credit card processing account through LFC is free-of-charge for merchant account owners, as opposed to the standard rates advertised on their website for direct customers. We are able to offer this special deal to customers of LFC through our special partnership.

Live Credit Card Processing with an Online Shopping Cart

A shopping cart allows your website visitors to travel through your site adding products to a shopping basket and then complete the order upon "check out". The shopping cart keeps track of the items ordered, automatically calculates shipping, tax, etc., and is the standard way of interfacing a website with a credit card payment gateway to achieve live credit card processing.

Included free-of-charge with all of our business-oriented hosting packages (starting at only $9.95/month) is the versatile, innovative online storefront builder and shopping cart software, Zen Cart™. Unlike most other software, which supports a limited number of gateways, Zen Cart's versatility and large user community allows it to be interfaced with virtually any payment gateway.

Click here for a complete list of payment gateways supported by Zen Cart™. If your payment gateway of choice is not supported, LFC Hosting can build a payment module for your payment gateway as part of our Shopping Cart Design Service.

PCI Compliance Reporting

PCI (Payment Card Industry) Compliance involves adhering to the established security standards put forward by major credit card providers (including VISA and MasterCard), which since 2005, have included a quarterly network scan and an annual compliance questionnaire to be completed by all online merchants. Click here to learn about LFC Hosting's quarterly network PCI compliance reporting service, included free-of-charge with all of our business-oriented hosting packages.