Payment gateway overview and setup

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Misty Flowers

A payment gateway connects your Finalsite Forms to a merchant account to securely process credit card payments online. Setup requires an existing merchant account configured for online transactions, a compatible gateway, and submitting your credentials to Finalsite. This article covers how gateways work, which are supported, and international currency options.

đź’ˇQuick answers

  • What is a payment gateway and why is one needed? It is the secure connection between a payment form on your site and your merchant account; it verifies card details, checks available funds, places a hold, and passes the transaction to your bank.
  • Which payment gateways does Finalsite Forms support? Finalsite Payments (BlueSnap), Authorize.net, Network Merchants (NMI), DiamondMind, PayPal Payflow Pro, PayPal Payments Pro, Chase Paymentech, CyberSource, First Data, IATS, and Stripe.
  • How do you submit your payment gateway credentials to Finalsite? After setting up your gateway account, submit credentials at finalsite.com/paymentgatewayrequest; once configured, the gateway can be applied to any payment form.
  • Which gateways support non-USD transactions? Finalsite Payments (BlueSnap), CyberSource, IATS, PayPal, Sage Pay, and Stripe handle multiple currencies.
  • What type of merchant account is needed for online payment forms? A merchant account specifically configured for online (card-not-present) transactions, not a standard in-person "cardholder present" account.

If you’re looking to set up a new form on your site that requires payment and accepts credit cards (i.e., an online donation form) you will need to set up an account with a payment gateway. This article will help you understand how it works!

This article refers to our newest product, Forms, which is available to you in your modules list. You may be a Legacy Forms Manager user which has a different set of help documentation. 

Not sure? Please review "Which forms module do I have: New Forms or Legacy Forms Manager?" 

In this article

What is a payment gateway? 

A payment gateway is how your Finalsite website connects to your merchant account, by receiving credit card information, including: credit card number, expiration date, card holder’s name, and CSC field, from the form on your website via a secure, encrypted connection.

How it works for the purchaser

When a site visitor wishes to make a purchase, they enter their credit card information which results in the payment gateway doing the following to process the payment: 

  1. Verify the card number
  2. Make sure there are enough funds available on the card
  3. Place a hold for the correct amount on the credit card.

If the card is verified, the payment gateway will then pass the information on to your merchant account and the funds will be deposited into your bank account.

Receive funds from the purchaser 

  1. Set up or confirm a Merchant Account
    A payment gateway needs to be connected to a merchant account. If you do not have a merchant account for processing credit cards, you will need to establish one with a bank. If you have a merchant account already set up (i.e., if you are currently processing credit cards), check with your merchant account to make sure they can work with one of the Finalsite-compatible payment gateways below.
  2. Configure your Merchant Account to accept credit cards
    When opening a merchant account, be sure to make it clear you will be accepting credit cards online, as merchant services often have different account types for online vs. “cardholder present” transactions.
  3. Complete payment gateway setup form
    Once you have selected a payment gateway and set up an account, go to https://www.finalsite.com/paymentgatewayrequest to submit your gateway credentials to us for setup. Once the setup is completed, you can easily apply the payment gateway to any number of payment forms or registration events.

Which payment gateways work with Finalsite Forms? 

Here are the payment gateways that Finalsite integrates with:

Important Note

PayPal Payments Standard and Sage Pay are not integrated through HPCI and are not supported by Finalsite Forms (new Forms module).

Payment gateways for non-USD transactions

Some of the gateways listed above are US dollar only, or are limited to certain currencies (commonly USD, CAD, and GBP). Gateways that are capable of handling transactions in other currencies include:

  • Finalsite Payments powered by BlueSnap
  • CyberSource
  • IATS
  • PayPal2
  • Sage Pay
  • Stripe

If you have additional questions about what kind of currencies these can accommodate, please reach out to your Client Success Manager.

1 DiamondMind is a reseller of the Network Merchants platform. As such, it is also supported in Finalsite.

2 The "Pro" versions of these PayPal plans are the only ones capable of processing transactions through a software service like Forms Manager. PayPal's "Payments Standard," "Payments Advanced," and "PayFlow Link" products do not have the required technical capabilities.

3 Payeezy, a First Data subsidiary, uses the same integration process and is also supported.

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