In today's online retailing world, most purchasers use credit cards (or debit cards) as payment currency. Nothing new there. However, the process of taking someone's credit card online, verifying the card for available purchasing limit, and drawing the amount of the purchase from the buyer's account and into your bank account is one that remains a mystery to many. Of all the components that comprise online commerce, the process of moving money – in this case from the credit card account of the buyer to your bank account – remains one of the most complex of them all.

Without the ease of credit cards, online e-commerce might well be growing at a much slower pace. However, the use of credit cards – and the potential for misuse – concerns your shoppers, particularly when the press relates stories of hackers breaking into retailer databases. What is important is that online purchases have never been "hacked." That is, no one has been prosecuted for stealing credit card information...