So you want to sell a product or service on your website, and you want to reap the benefits of accepting credit cards? First of all, congratulations on taking a big step. Accepting credit cards increases your credibility, is often a safer way to buy, and takes advantage of the "impulse buy" mechanism we all seem to have.

In times of fast paced business solutions, the concept of E-Commerce is fast gaining momentum. The term basically refers to conducting and accepting payments online through the Internet. Even if you do not have an online store, you can increase your business sales by accepting credit card payments. This is because you may have customers who prefer making their payments by credit cards. To accept payments through credit cards, you will need a merchant account in any financial institution and the services of an Internet gateway provider organization. Processed payments will be deposited in your merchant account.

Whenever you read about an internet venture, you see phrases like "e-commerce payment processing" and "payment gateway". If you are just getting into the field, you should know a bit about the differences between a merchant account and a payment gateway - sometimes called an "e-commerce" payment processor.

Once you decide which products you are planning to sell on the Internet, and what type of web store you are going to use in order to display your products, next vital decision that you have to take is to figure out how your customers are going to pay you. Whatever you plan to sell online, accepting credit card transaction is a must! A full 90 percent of all online sales occur through credit card payments.

There are two ways you can add e-commerce capabilities to your website:

1. Having your own merchant account

2. Using third party processors