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This article provides an extensive list of payment gateways from various companies and countries around the world. These gateways facilitate online transactions for businesses and consumers, showcasing the diverse landscape of payment processing solutions. The list includes well-known names and lesser-known providers, illustrating the global reach of e-commerce infrastructure.

Merchants need to be PCI compliant to securely handle credit card transactions, with PCI guidelines strongly advising against storing credit card numbers directly. For simple online payments, using a processor's secure hosted payment page ensures PCI compliance by keeping card entry off the merchant's site. For more complex applications needing recurring billing, processors offer tokenization, where a customer ID replaces the actual card number, allowing for rebilling without storing sensitive data and maintaining PCI compliance.

Merchant account fees are diverse and go beyond just percentage-based transaction costs, encompassing various charges like monthly minimums, statement fees, and authorization fees. Additional fees can include AVS, PIN debit, voice authorization, batch, and online reporting fees, impacting the overall cost of payment processing. Merchants should be aware of these potential fees, such as retrieval, chargeback, ACH reject, gateway, and terminal-related costs, to fully understand their payment processing expenses.

Credit card processing fees vary, with discount rates being a key factor determined by transaction type. The lowest 'qualified' rate applies to swiped cards processed promptly, while 'mid-qualified' rates occur for non-swiped, foreign, or business cards, or delayed settlements. The highest 'non-qualified' rate is charged for non-swiped transactions lacking address verification, specific card types without extra details, or untimely batching.

Third-party payment processors like PayPal and Google Checkout offer convenience without requiring a merchant account, but often come with drawbacks compared to traditional merchant accounts. These include higher fees, slower access to funds as they hold the money, and less favorable dispute resolution processes, sometimes freezing accounts with limited customer support. Despite their ease of use, traditional merchant accounts generally offer better financial terms and customer service for businesses processing payments.