The Benefits of On-Site and Hosted Checkout

by Je Yaranon on February 2021

The checkout page is an essential part any ecommerce website. Its importance goes beyond the interface, so don't get swayed by how basic or interactive the graphics are.

While it can be very pleasing, the overall quality of online stores should ultimately come down to the speed and security of the checkout process. After all, as a business owner, you and your customer's data are practically at stake. It's also the last step before you can officially add a stack into the profit bin.

There are two kinds of checkout pages, on-site and hosted, and as always, there are pros and cons on both sides that are worth considering. It can be tough to ponder, but we'll help you weigh the factors. Read on.

What is an on-site checkout page?

As the term suggests, on-site checkout is when your customer submits a payment and doesn’t get redirected to a different domain. The customer will be in your website for the entire process, and as such, the necessary transaction details will be entered in your page.

What are the benefits of an onsite checkout page?

Added branding and more seamless payment

Design-wise, it will look just like a page on your website since the color schemes and interface are consistent with your webpage’s overall theme.

With that, you’ll be able to continue your branding. It also avoids any potential concerns when you suddenly redirect a new or extra cautious customer to enter his/her financial information on an unfamiliar window.

Wider Customizations

It's under your own roof, so you’ll have free reign of how it will look like - fields, texts, images, and other elements. Through all that, you can extend your marketing campaign and/or customer studies as you’ll be able to add particular questions during at any part of the process.

Compliance to security standards

When installing onsite checkouts, you’ll be required to have an enhanced encryption in your payment gateway, like SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and compliance to PCI, which then assures that you are protecting everyone’s sensitive data. It can be a selling point as it promises a safe and reliable environment, shielded from the various cyber-attacks.

Faster purchases

This goes back to the customization. Among the long list of changes you can apply are one-click transactions, where customers will be able to submit a purchase without going through the normal process. It’s a feature in Amazon and it’s becoming one of the growing trends in e-commerce.

What is a hosted checkout page?

Hosted checkout is when your checkout page is located on a different website, provided by your payment processor, thus the term “hosted.” It begins as soon as the customer checks the items out for payment.

Most providers’ process automatically redirects the customer back into your website. They then generate an email-based receipt to you.

What are the benefits of an onsite checkout page?

Quick and simple setup

While you can’t change the layout and fields since it’s up to your provider, availing a hosted checkout page will free you from a bevy of setup procedures. You may need to copy some API keys, but there’s not much responsibilities in setting up after that.

Security

Each party involved in the transaction increases the risk of data breaches. Ideally, you want as few data transfers as possible. Since the processor takes payments directly, your website isn’t part of the transaction, thus reducing the likelihood of stolen data.

Lesser risk and liability

This is not to say that onsite checkouts have security issues, but because you are not receiving any payment information since the hosted checkout is handling it for you, you cannot be liable for any potential security breach. It’s one less thing to worry about.

Multiple payment options

Unlike onsite checkouts, hosted checkout pages already have many payment channels in place, mostly due to existing partnerships and whatnot. It’s likely that your preferred alternative payment methods (QR codes, e-wallet, mobile wallet, etc.) will be available.

Here at VeritasPay, our online payment solutions can come with key functionalities, and all promise top performance and thorough security. Learn more here

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