Six Steps of a Secure Internet Credit Card Payment
In this illustration the consumer is at a merchant's store and has selected an item to purchase using a major credit card.
- Consumer enters the payment and shipping information at the merchant's Web site to initiate the purchase process. (The consumer can either use an SSL-based browser or secure Web Processor's Wallet.) Merchant receives the purchase request and returns a summary of the order including item selected, price, credit card number, shipping address, and order number.
- Consumer verifies the information and clicks the "Pay" Button to send the packet of information back to the merchant.
- Merchant receives the packet of information, strips the order information, and forwards the payment information digitally signed and encrypted to the Web Processor's server. The merchant cannot see the consumer's credit card information.
- Web Processor's server receives the packet, moves the transaction behind its firewall and off the Internet, unwraps the packet within a hardware-based crypto box (the same ones the banks use to handle PINs as they are shipped from an ATM network), reformats the transaction, and forwards it to the merchant's bank over dedicated lines.
- The merchant's bank forwards the authorization request to the issuing bank via the card associations or directly to American Express or Discover. The approval or denial code is sent back to the Web Processor .
- Web Processor's returns the approval or denial code to the merchant, who passes it on to the consumer. Steps 1-6 take approximately 15-20 seconds to complete.
The entire process typically takes 15-20 seconds, and for transactions using the Wallet, no one but you and the banks ever sees your credit card number.