Ways to Secure Your Business from Online Payment Fraud

While online businesses are mushrooming day by day, it also is a fact that a lot of them fall prey to online payment fraud, hacking, and phishing. A very secure payment portal that protects the confidential data of the merchant and the customer is therefore essential for the success of your business. Most customers are wary of payment portals that redirect you elsewhere or take time.  They would rather deal with a website where payment is instant. Payment Asia has a team of experts whose mission it is to improve and integrate the different payment solutions almost on a daily basis.

Common Fraudulent Attempts

The most common type of online fraud is account takeover wherein customer accounts with ecommerce stores are hacked into by fraudulently getting usernames and passwords or by using bots. Sometimes hackers get into databases and steal personal information and uses it to make purchases.  It is to prevent such types of fraud that payment solutions providers have to be Payment Card Industry –Data Security Standard Level 1 compliant. This is not an option and has to be strictly adhered to. Payment Asia will help you to comply with this for the protection of your customers.

Look For Red Flags

Through its innovative transaction and reporting, Payment Asia ensures that you are able to monitor transactions and reconcile bank accounts easily. You can thus look for red flags such as a different physical location of your client or inconsistent billing and shipping information. You can also track customer IP addresses and alert them if they are found to be operating from countries known for fraudster activity. Setting limits to the amount of purchases per day can also ensure minimum losses in the event of a hacking episode.

Efficient Support System

As mentioned by Payment Asia’s Kenneth, merchants who use their services also enjoy the support of a 24x7 customer service hotline. The customer service support also helps with fraud monitoring.  They help with AVS or Address Verification System wherein the numeric parts of the billing address on the credit card is compared to the address on file in the credit card company. Customers are also encouraged to use an eight-character alphanumeric password that should also contain one capital letter and one special character to make it difficult for sophisticated hackers to crack it. Payment Asia has a comprehensive technical set-up that ensures they are constantly updating their software with security patches and business-grade anti-malware and anti-spyware software. This ensures you are protected from attacks and are not vulnerable due to outdated software.

Transactions Made Easy Through Mobile Payment Solutions

Technological advancements in the field of finance have resulted in a deluge of digital apps that seek to make financial transactions easier and seamless. With customers looking for easier modes to make financial transactions, digital payment solutions have become the preferred mode of payment for many. Mobile payments are the latest form of digital payments. Companies like Payment Asia are joining in on the action and launching mobile payment apps that enable such transactions.

What Are Mobile Payment Solutions?

Mobile payment solutions have caught on in a big way over the last few years. This payment method is extremely popular as it brings together mobile devices, which almost everyone has, and the need for easy, quick, and secure financial transactions. Simply put, mobile payments are fund transfers or payments made using digital applications on mobile devices like smartphones or tablets. This payment can be used to transfer funds to friends and family, as well as to make payments for purchases online and offline. Payment Asia enables this through its dedicated mobile payment solutions app - PA Pay App.

How Does It Work?

To enable mobile payments, users must download the mobile payment digital app on their smartphone and link their bank accounts to the app. By linking the bank account to the app, the user is effectively authorizing the bank to allow payments made through the mobile payment app. Payments can be made by scanning a QR Code on the app or by entering the phone number of the merchant. The QR Code may be scanned digitally or physically in-store. Many mobile payment service providers use NFC technology to allow the user to simply tap their phone against a payment terminal and complete the transaction.

Most mobile payment service providers like Payment Asia provide digital wallet services to the user. The user may preload an amount of money into the wallet and make payments from the wallet. Alternatively, the transaction can be made from the credit or debit card linked to the app.

Contactless Transactions

Mobile devices are no longer used only for communication but have turned into personal digital assistants designed to assist humans with a whole lot of functions. Mobile devices have become so universal that almost everyone carries one. Mobile payment solutions eliminate the need to carry either a physical wallet or debit or credit cards by using a mobile device to make the transaction. They are completely contactless in nature.

Safer& Secure Payment Solution

As mentioned by Payment Asia’s Kenneth, mobile payment apps offer an additional layer of security and privacy to users as compared to credit or debit card payments. Since payment information is encrypted during the transaction, so mobile payments are considered a safer alternative to payments made with debit or credit cards. These apps use Touch ID in the form of fingerprints or PIN to verify the identity of the user and counter any chances of fraud. Merchants need not verify the identity of the person making the transaction as the mobile payment solution service provider does it for them. Further, individual security codes are generated for each transaction.

Additional Benefits

Mobile payment solution service providers such as Payment Asia offer additional benefits like support for multiple mobile payment apps. Mobile payment solutions offer a lot of privacy as the user does not need to open a wallet which can accidentally display the contents to people standing nearby. Thus, mobile payments offer an additional level of personal privacy.

For more details on how you can integrate mobile solutions into your e-commerce business, contact Payment Asia.

Things to Look Out for in a Payment Gateway

Setting up your e-commerce business can be quite a difficult task. It is very important for you to choose the right payment gateway for this task. A gateway partner is one who would be able to help you enable the entire payment process. There are a lot of payment gateway solutions that you could choose from such as Payment Asia and many more. Here are the most important factors to look for in a payment gateway before you make that leap.

Payment Integration Capabilities and Compatibility

Technology is evolving and new payment methods may come up in the future. Choose a payment gateway solution provider that is flexible and able to adapt to any changes that may arise. Customers love to be able to choose and a good payment gateway solution provider such as Payment Asia and its peers provide multiple options of payments to the customer. Providing a personal checkout experience to the chances increases the conversion rates at checkout. A payment gateway should be compatible with other technologies which in turn help maximize their user bases.

Security Features

One of the most important features that any payment method should have is security. It is very common to have fraudulent activities especially when customers make an online payment. Most payment gateways solutions like Payment Asia are able to identify suspicious activity before it gets into the payment process. A secure payment gateway usually features a P2PE (point-to-point encryption) that protects the data across a secure environment during each step of the transaction and thwart any threats or breaches in the system.

Reporting Features

Once your business is set up and fully running, you might want to review the transactions, chargebacks, or analyze any extra charges that may have been incurred while using the gateway. Hence it is important to find a gateway that provides you with thorough reporting features. Each gateway has its own style and format for reporting and hence it is best to try them out before settling for a particular gateway.

Pricing and the Provider Fees

Another important thing to look out for the payment providers is the pricing structure, especially if your business has a strict budget. Sometimes, the more you pay the better features you get. While some may have zero setup costs, they may have a higher fee on the chargebacks. Some others may offer a flat monthly fee. Although you may see attractive looking discounts and offers advertised by some payment gateway, there is almost always a catch to it. Be it Payment Asia or any other payment gateway provider you choose, the key is to look for one that offers a transparent fee structure so that you are not in for a shock afterward.

Invoicing Capabilities

A payment gateway with built-in invoicing capabilities would help you streamline your payment process and also reduce your dependence on other platforms. This makes it a lot easier for you to raise instant invoices for your customers.

As mentioned by Payment Asia’s Kenneth, the company helps merchants stay compliant with demanding standards and is also able to integrate new payment methods to meet customer demands. It is an important and central part of e-commerce and hence it is important that you choose only the best for your business.   

Topnotch Technical Support Given by Payment Asia

Payment Asia strives to ensure that merchants receive the best payment solution that caters to their needs and their budgetary limitations. The experts at Payment Asia work hard towards ensuring that customers have the best payment experience when they use the merchant’s payment portals. Some of the key features of the technical support offered by Payment Asia include single integration, rich API, reporting systems, customized solutions, and PCI DSS Level 1 compliance.

What is a single integration?

 Single integration, in simple terms, refers to ensuring that the various payment channels offered have one point of control. All of the various modes of payment offered are integrated into one system so that control is easy and transactions can be made without any hassle. This also means that merchants may add payment channels and not have to make changes in the code.

What is API?

An API or an Application Programming Interface can be understood to be a platform where different software interacts. The experts at Payment Asia offer a rich API so that merchants have to do the least amount of work to see the transaction through. The interface is so designed as to bring about an effective interaction between the various intermediaries involved in a payment transaction. This helps automate the transaction and avoid human interference making it secure and transparent.

A reporting system like no other

Payment Asia reviews speak highly of the invoicing system in the payment solutions offered. This ensures that every transaction is recorded and accounted for. The transaction history can be analyzed in order to prepare reports on sales and consumption. The experts at Payment Asia have gone a step further and provided for accessing the transaction history in Excel in order to facilitate easy reporting and analysis.

Customized solutions for every merchant

Merchants have heaped praises in Payment Asia reviews for the manner in which the experts at Payment Asia provide solutions that are tailor-cut to suit their specific needs. Each payment solution depends upon numerous factors like the customer base, the vision for the business, the budget available, the cost of implementation, etc. All of this is given due consideration by Payment Asia experts when designing payment solutions for merchants.

PCI DSS Level 1 Compliance

As the name suggests, this refers to a set of standards that must be complied with in order to ensure that the sensitive information entered by the customers are secure as they are stored, transmitted and processed. This level of compliance is the highest standard there is when it comes to credit card transactions. At Payment Asia, no stone is left unturned in ensuring the safety of the customer and merchant data.

How to Understand Payment Flow

Payment flow refers to all of the steps involved in the execution of a monetary transaction. The key players in a payment flow are the customers, merchants, the payment service providers, and the banks. A payment flow can be broken down into 4 simple steps namely initiation of a transaction, acquiring of information, verification of information entered, and completion of a transaction.

In the first step, the key players are the customer and the merchant. The key players in the second step include the merchant website and the payment service provider. The payment service provider and the banks involved are the key players in the third step and the transaction is completed right where it began, between the customer and the merchant. Payment Asia reviews record the help merchants receive from Payment Asia in securing payment flow.

Initiation of transaction

Every transaction is initiated by the customer upon choosing the “pay” option on the merchant’s website. This sets in motion the payment flow. As in an offline purchase, the first step is to go through all of the products offered by the merchant and to arrive upon the desired product. The product(s) are loaded onto the shopping cart and taken to the cashier to make payments.

Similarly, every product that the customer desires to purchase from the merchant’s website is added to a cart following which the customer proceeds to check out, thereby kick-starting the second step of the payment flow.

Acquiring information

Once the customer proceeds to check out of the merchant’s e-store with the desired products, the merchant collects information relevant to the payment and conveys them to the payment service providers. Conversely, some merchants opt for payment channels wherein right after check out, the customer is redirected to the payment service provider who collects the information and conveys it directly to the banks.

The experts at Payment Asia help merchants choose the payment channel that best suits their needs and requirements and budgetary limits. This is often mentioned in Payment Asia reviews.

Verification of information

This is the decisive step in every payment flow. It determines the outcome of the transaction. The information regarding the cost of the entire purchase is conveyed to the bank whose details are acquired from the customer.

The bank verifies if such a transaction can be made and relays the information to the payment service provider who in turn informs the customer via the merchant’s website. The information from the bank post-verification of the details acquired from the customer kick-starts the final step in a payment flow.

Completion of transaction

The Payment flow is completed when the information conveyed by the bank post-verification reaches the customers. If the bank responds in the affirmative, the amount due is deducted from the customer’s account and deposited in the merchant’s account and this information is conveyed to the customer indicating a successful transaction. If the bank responds in the negative, the transaction fails and the customer is informed of the same. This could be due to insufficient funds or entering incorrect details.

The Advantages of Offering E-Payments

E-payments, the name itself refers to the making of payments online. This has proven to be extremely convenient for customers to make transactions and has hence become a service offered by almost every merchant on the e-commerce front. Offering e-payment to customers is advantageous to the merchants in a host of ways and this is why Payment Asia offers e-commerce payment solutions to merchants. From securing a payment gateway to setting up an omnichannel to diagnosing and resolving any issues that may come up as e-payment is offered.

Payments Made Easy!

The biggest selling point of e-payments is the ease in which online payment gateways facilitate transactions. E-payments are not bound by geographical boundaries. A person can order and make payments that are instantly reflected from any corner of the world. Additionally, the cost of the set-up of an e-payment platform is very less and it can be used immediately after its installation. Interestingly, with the leaps made in technological advancements, service providers are now offering to set up payment gateways for free.

Do Away with Cumbersome Book-Keeping

Payment Asia reviews record merchants who are ecstatic about not having to maintain accounts physically ever since e-payment was set up on their sites. Every transaction will be reflected in the merchant’s bank statements doing away with the need to write down the details about every transaction. This allows merchants to easily analyze their profit margins and take action to further their business.

Increases the Influx of Customers

The success of any merchant with an e-commerce platform lies in the customer traffic that is experienced. The experts at Payment Asia will inform you at customer traffic hinges on ease of transactions, security and quality of the products and services offered. If the merchant offers a payment gateway that seamlessly coordinates the communication of customer data with the bank and card companies, customers are bound to be back. Payment Asia reviews boast of the added feature of the payment gateways to remember recurring information allowing customers to make repeated transactions without having to enter all the data over and over again.

Payments Made Online are More Reliable

As far as merchants are concerned, the faster the money reaches their hands or banks, the better. Payments made offline can be done through cash or cheques. Now paying through cash is cumbersome as it requires the merchant to have adequate change for every customer all the time. Cheques help avoid this dilemma. However, they present a risk of not being realized. With e-payments, none of these issues will crop up as the transaction is made directly by facilitating communication between the customer’s card and the banks involved.

Mobile Payment Solutions: Payment Asia as Service Provider

For any business you run in an online platform, be it a fashion eCommerce website or a travel app, you will need the service of a payment service provider to facilitate transactions. With the rise in the number of smartphone users, the trend of purchases done through mobile devices is popular. For an online merchant in Mainland China and Hong Kong, Payment Asia provides its services to facilitates cashless transactions.

Mobile Payment Gateway

The mobile payment gateway is a safe and secure way to process the transaction between a mobile user and the merchant. The user will be able to wire the money to your account in exchange for your service or product. As the customer moves the selected items to the shopping cart as he/ she decides to purchase the item. 

The cart is linked to a payment gateway service in which the user is required to enter the card details. As the user checks out, the payment gateway sends the information to the issuing bank to get approval for the transaction. The approval is then communicated to the merchant account.

Benefits of Mobile Payment Solutions

Convenience is the best feature of mobile payments. A considerable percentage of people own a smartphone and it has become a part of their daily tasks from checking time, weather conditions to reading the current news. 

As an online merchant, you can now reach the palm of a customer through mobile payment solutions. These solutions eliminate the requirement of carrying cards or cash for the customer. Additionally, it provides security measures like biometric authentication making it safe to use. It provides a quicker and user-friendly experience to the customer as the transactions are fast and easy.

PA Pay App

To serve the ever-increasing demands from customers, Payment Asia has launched a mobile application payment gateway called PA Pay app. The application currently supports Alipay, WeChat Pay, and Union Pay which are very popular among the users of Mainland China and Hong Kong. 

The app offers shorter settlement periods compared to credit cards which result in cost-effective operations. PA Pay App makes use of QR  codes, which ensures the security of the payment transaction with its encryption. PaymentAsia reviews suggest an excellent service available across Hong Kong – China border which benefits the merchants. The realtime payment notification and transaction reports can aid the customers to keep track of transactions. It supports offline payment too.

Payment Process through Mobile App with POS

When using a POS (Point-of-Sale) machine, the merchant can log into the PA Pay Appand enter the transaction amount. The customer can show his/ her QR code which can be scanned using the smart POS terminal provided by Payment Asia. This completes the transaction. If the customer is using Alipay, WebChat Pay or Union Pay QR Code, the merchant’s QR code can be scanned using the mobile device. The transaction is completed as the customer enters the amount. 

Payment Asia Reviews highlight a feature of availability of comprehensive reporting to the merchants which help them to maintain transparent and efficient data with analysis-friendly transactions records.