How to connect a payment system: setting up payment on the site

[CarderPlanet]

If an entrepreneur decides to add to his site the ability to pay for a product or service online, then, usually, he has two ways. The first is to connect each payment system (PS) separately, cooperating directly with partner banks. The second option is to work through a payment service provider like Interkassa. This allows you to connect several substations at once without bothering yourself with unnecessary organizational and technical issues.

In this article we will talk about the second option. We will tell you how the payment system is connected to the site, and figure out how to prepare the site for accepting payments. Note that we will primarily refer to our experience here, but in general terms, this information applies to other payment service providers.

Preparing a website for connecting a payment system: general requirements​

Online payment providers do not provide services to everyone. It is important for them that the seller does not violate the law, comply with the requirements of international payment systems and the rules of the service itself. So before connecting payment to the site, you need to carry out preparatory work - to put in order the site itself.

You should start connecting online payments when your resource is completely ready to work with clients: the site is public, all its pages are hosted on the same domain, and links open without a 404 error.

It's also important to take care of content, policies and conventions. This is the information that should be on the site:

• full company name;
• reliable and understandable description of the product / service: a site with text stubs like “details soon” and only one product photo will not pass the check;
• contacts: phone, email, instant messengers;
• terms of delivery and return of goods;
• public offer agreement or user agreement;
• privacy policy and cookie policy.

Stages of connection to the payment acceptance system​

When you are convinced that everything is in order with the site, then it is time to proceed directly to connecting to the payment service. We have conventionally divided the whole process into three main steps.

Registration and creation of cash register​

The first step is to create an account in the Interkassa system. It will be your personal account (LC) of the seller, where you can track all operations, withdraw earned funds, manage project settings.

After registration, you need to create a cashier. Checkout is essentially an online payment acceptance point for your business. It is assigned a unique ID number in the system. One account can have an unlimited number of cash registers, so you can connect several projects to Interkassa at once and work with them through one LC.

You have the ability to manage the following checkout settings:

• General: title, description, notifications;
• Payment settings: currencies, description, payment lifetime, etc .;
• Enable / disable available payment systems (methods), distribute commission;
• Change the security settings of the selected cash register.

It is important to understand that if you have created a cashier, this does not mean that you can immediately accept payments. The activation of the checkout takes place after the seller is moderated.

Moderation​

This is the stage at which the Interkassa team verifies the compliance of your project with the requirements of the payment service and the IPS. How quickly the check goes will depend on three factors - the readiness of the site, the type of business, and the payment methods you need.

Factor 1: site readiness

If the moderation team finds problems on the site or in the documentation, then you will not be activated to accept payments and will be asked to fix the flaws. When everything is ready, you can submit a request to check the resource again through your manager.

Factor 2: type of business

For some types of activities, accepting payments on the site is associated with additional risks for the client and the payment service itself. In this case, checking and agreeing on the working conditions will take a little more time, and the entrepreneur may be asked for additional documents.

Here are some examples of these types of activities and the requirements for them:

• Sale of tickets for events: the seller is asked to send a rental agreement for the premises in which the event will take place, or an agreement with the organizer.
• Sale of vouchers and tours: you need to provide a tour operator license.
• Software distribution (eg Windows, Photoshop): the payment service requests a license.
• Trade in medical equipment: there must be certificates for each item of goods.

Factor 3: Payment Methods Required

A business that wants to accept payments by bank cards takes longer to be moderated. This is due to the fact that the company must obtain approval not only from Interkassa, but also from the payment system itself. Interkassa takes care of all the organizational issues.

Also an obligatory point of moderation for any business is identification of the seller. The process goes online through a special verification service and takes 5-10 minutes. You are asked to follow the link and upload a passport / ID-card photo, selfie.

If all verification steps are passed successfully, the business can accept payments.

Integration​

The previous steps are more of an organizational issue, but there is also a technical stage in connecting a payment to the site - the integration of a payment button and / or payment form on your resource.

You can do this yourself, or with the help of the development team: it all depends on how you decide to integrate. Interkassa offers three connection options. We will talk about each of them in more detail later.

Methods for integrating payment solutions on the site​

There are several options for connecting to a payment acceptance service - using an API, SDK, or a CMS plugin. You can choose a convenient way of integration in advance or do it already during the connection process (after consulting the technical support of the payment service).

Now let's look at each option.

Plugin for CMS​

To simplify the connection, payment providers offer businesses an out-of-the-box solution - a ready-made payment module specially designed for a specific content management system. For example, Interkassa has plugins for 18 CMS.

Modules available at Interkassa

If the online store is based on Wordpress, Opencart or another platform, it is enough to download the extension for this system and simply install it on the site through the admin panel. Installation instructions are usually included with the module.

Even a specialist without technical knowledge can customize the plugin, so this integration is often chosen by small projects that do not have a full-time it team.

API​

This integration method is used in two cases:

• the site is self-written: it was created by a team of developers from scratch, and not based on some CMS;
• the site works on a CMS, but there is no ready-made plugin specifically for this platform.

In this case, the task of the business is to place a special payment button on the site. When the buyer clicks on it, a request for creating a payment and the parameters required for this should be sent to Interkassa. This button can be added to each product card or only to the shopping cart page.

API connection requires more time and resources, so it will be difficult here without an it-specialist. This is a disadvantage, but at the same time, such a solution is more flexible and allows the business to customize some settings. For example, connecting to Interkassa via API, the seller can choose the operating mode - standard or hidden.

Standard operating mode

By clicking on the payment button, the buyer first goes to our Shop Cart Interface (SCI) - a page where all available payment methods are displayed. Chooses how it is more convenient for him to pay for the purchase. And after that, it gets to the payment page of a specific payment system (PS), where it enters its details.

Hidden mode
Allows you to skip the SCI stage: from your site, the client immediately goes to the payment page of the payment system. For example, a customer wants to pay by credit card. At the stage of ordering, he chooses “Pay with Visa / Mastercard” and immediately goes to the page with a form for entering the details.

If this option suits you, then Interkassa has detailed documentation on how to set up API interaction.

SDK​

The SDK is essentially the same API integration, but for it there is already a ready-made code, an assembled set of tools for implementing a particular function. Interkassa also has its own toolkit for developers - SDK for projects on PHP.

By connecting using the SDK, the seller gets all the same payment advantages as thanks to API integration - flexibility of settings, the ability to customize individual functions of the system for himself. But technically, it is easier and faster to accept payments on the site with the SDK, because developers need to write less code.