Types of Online Credit Card Processing

There are two different ways in which a business can process credit card transactions. Real time processing occurs when a transaction is processed quickly enough to produce an immediate result  and action. Manual processing is when your sales are not immediately processed but, instead, must wait for you to give the final okay.

While both methods are efficient and quick, there may be one that is a better choice for your business.  For instance, if you own a furniture store, you may want to choose the manual method so you can check your inventory and be sure you have the item in stock before you process the sale.  On the other hand, if you run an online dating service where your main revenue comes from subscriptions, real time processing would accept charges without any involvement from you.

What it really comes down to is control versus convenience.  It would be a disaster resulting in constant chargebacks for a business with very limited inventory and no backorders to accept charges in real time.  They need the option of having control over the purchases being made on their site.  However, for those who can't always be in front of their computer, real time processing will allow sales to take place even when the owner is not present.