South African Internet merchants have access to the same level of security and convenience in the payment arena as their physical world counterparts thanks to the launch of Prism`s Internet Payment Gateway, a service developed and maintained by JSE-listed Prism Holdings.
This Internet-based payment solution harnesses Prism`s current capabilities in the physical EFT payment space - capabilities which are currently used by such retail giants as Pick `n Pay and Shoprite Checkers - to provide a secure, authenticated credit card payment system for Internet merchants.
Now Musica, the national retail music group, has become the first major virtual merchant to use the Prism Internet Payment Gateway to support the sale and distribution of CDs ordered on its Web site.
Musica`s MD, Lara Bryant, says: "In the virtual world the merchant doesn`t know the customer, nor does the customer know the merchant. With trust an essential element of any online transaction, and no way to check the signature on the credit card, Prism`s Internet Payment Gateway effectiveness lies in its ability to perform all necessary verification and electronic funds transfers for us.
"Once the customer has confirmed the order, the authorisation is processed by Prism Internet and communicated back to Musica so that delivery of the order can be executed. Once the order has been dispatched, Musica sends an advice to the bank, again via Prism`s Internet Payment Gateway, and all these advices are automatically settled at the end of each business day," she explains.
Mike Smith, Prism`s executive director: processes and services, explains that at present, credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Diners and Amex) are the accepted payment medium for Prism Internet Payment Gateway. But other payment mediums, in particular mobile, are being pursued and will be implemented as they become available.
Merchants utilising the Internet as a transaction channel for the sale of goods need a Merchant Agreement with an acquiring bank. On signing such an agreement, the bank provides the merchant with Merchant and Terminal numbers that are then used by Prism Internet Payment Gateway to identify the merchant`s transactions to the acquiring bank.
The solution caters for the sale of both digital goods (such as software downloads or account payments) and physical goods, and is fully compliant with the banking MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) rules. Apart from all the standard EFT transactions, Prism Internet Payment Gateway also offers the merchant the ability to perform refunds and to renew expired pre-authorisations.
Prism Internet Payment Gateway can also offer credit card budget facilities to the cardholder, if required by the merchant.
The merchant`s Web application connects to a Java PaymentServlet running on the Internet payment gateway server at Prism. Every Web site has its own dedicated PaymentServlet, which is fully customised by Prism to suit the individual merchants` requirements.
The PaymentServlet in turn communicates with the Prism EFT Switch, which routes the transaction to the appropriate acquiring bank. The communication between the merchant`s Web site and the PaymentServlet is via SSL over the Internet.
With Prism Internet Payment Gateway, merchants need only modify their existing Web pages to call the PaymentServlet and accept responses, but no additional software is required on their Web servers. Neither does the merchant need dedicated communications to Prism, as the Internet can be used as the backbone. Prism maintains all the payment software at source, thus consolidating and simplifying support.
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