Merchant Accounts and Payment Gateways

What is a merchant account?

A merchant account a contract between a merchant (that's probably you if you're interested in Merchant for Android) and a financial institution called an acquirer. The acquirer accepts payments on your behalf from various types of credit cards and transfers the money to you, usually electronically.

What is a payment gateway?

A payment gateway is a service that connects the merchant to the merchant account, allowing them to submit transactions and recieve a result. In the case of Merchant for Android, the gateway is a web site that connects from the internet, where you submit your transactions using your phone or other Android device, and the secure network used by the card processor.

Do I need a merchant account and a payment gateway?

Yes. Merchant for Android only connects to the payment gateway to submit transactions. As part of the setup process of your payment gateway account, it will be connected to your merchant account.

If you don't have either one, it's easiest to purchase both together, and most resellers sell them this way.

Will my existing merchant account work?

If you already access your merchant account through one of the supported gateways, it should work with Merchant for Android.

If you have an existing merchant account, you maybe able to access it by signing up with one of the supported payment gateways, as most "retail" merchant accounts go through one of several clearing houses that are also accessible via these gateways. You'll have to pay for the gateway account only, since you already have a merchant account.

Which is the best / cheapest / fastest payment gateway?

The answer really depends almost entirely on your needs. Fees usually vary based on your volume or line of business. Some gateways have low or free monthly rates, but higher per transaction rates, a good fit for a casual user. Other gateways have higher monthly fees, but cheap transaction rates, making them better for high volume customers. Still others have fixed transactions rates, a real bargain if you're charging high value items.

Finally, advanced features such as fraud detection, recurring billing and storing credit card numbers differ between gateways and may factor into your decision, especially as support for these features is added to Merchant for Android.

Having said that, Merchant Plus (NaviGate) and CDG Commerce (Quantum)

would be my recommendations for most users.

Most gateways can be up and running in 24-48 hours.

The only gateway provider that I don't recommend is PayPal.

When will Google Checkout be supported?

I looked into adding support for Google Checkout, but it isn't really like the other supported gateways. The credit card part of the transaction happens on Google's web site, so there's really no advantage to using that in conjunction with this application versus just using your browser. So unless someone can convince me otherwise, it's unlikely I'll ever add support for Google Checkout.

If I use PayPal, do my customers need to have a PayPal account?

No, you can accept credit card payments where the customer does not use a paypal account. This is what paypal calls Direct Payment, and it is how I recommend using paypal with either of the supported APIs (Payflow Pro or Website Payments Pro, which must be configured in your paypal account).

How do I use my PayPal account?

PayPal has about 8 different APIs that work in basically two different ways.

Direct Payment works like a traditional gateway. You submit the card holder, credit card information and payment information and get a response, accepted or an error message.

Express Payment works by allowing a PayPal user to pay for a transaction using information stored at PayPal's site. The transaction is started on a merchants "web site" (or Android device, in this case) and completed on PayPal's web site. Express Payment makes a lot of sense in a web based shopping cart. It makes very little sense for use in Merchant for Android, since most of the transaction happens in a browser.

Direct Payment is only possible via Website Payments Pro and Payflow Pro, so those are the two APIs that are implemented in Merchant for Android.

All of the other PayPal APIs, such as Website Payments Standard or "Regular" PayPal, support only Express Payment.

But you already implemented PayPal Express Payment!

I only implemented it because it's required by PayPal's business rules for implementation of Website Payments Pro. As stated in the previous question, I don't envision anyone actually using it.

Where do I get the Signature, required for PayPal

The Signature must be generated using the API Access link on your PayPal Profile. A unique API username, API Password and Signature will be generated, or if you already use some type of web based shopping cart, you can view the current API username, API password and Signature. Note that the username and password is not the same as the information you use to login to paypal's web site. The signature is quite long, so please be careful when entering it into your phone.

I get an error message "invalid security header" when using PayPal

This error message means that the API username, API password or Signature is incorrect. The Signature is especially error prone, since it is so long.

What does PayPal error "Invalid Merchant Configuration" mean?

This means that either your PayPal account is not configured for Website Payments Pro, or the setup process is not yet complete. It can take several days for PayPal to approve you as a new Website Payments Pro merchant.

As discussed in the question When will PayPal API XYZ Standard be supported? above, a "regular" PayPal account is not sufficient to use this program, as it will not allow Direct Payment.

PayPal keeps saying "Incomplete Billing Address".

PayPal keeps saying "Incomplete Billing Address", but I'm passing a complete billing address.

If you receive this message when you are sure the billing address is complete, it may be due to an invalid merchant configuration (see What does PayPal error "Invalid Merchant Configuration" mean?). Sometimes PayPal is displaying the wrong error message. PayPal is aware of the issue. Please contact PayPal Support and reference Incident: 090526-000109 if this problem is affecting you.

Test mode isn't working for Paypal.

Paypal's test mode is a little different than other gateways. There's no way to tag a specific transaction as a test using their API, so test mode uses the developer sandbox, which requires a completly seperate gateway login.

I am totally lost. HELP!

The interaction between customers, merchants, cards, gateways, merchant accounts and actual money can be confusing. I can try to help, but honestly the best people to answer specific questions are going to be the sales reps at the merchant account providers listed on the Merchant for Android page

.