Why do it?

Paying online by credit cards allows the company to take benefit of the mentioned types of customers:

International
Customers: Accepting credit cards online is an incredible convenience,
if the customers are overseas. Online credit card payments ensure and
take care of various issues related to currency differences and the time
that it takes for a cheque to reach the vendor. Your business shall
lose number of overseas customers, if the traditional payment is the
sole way of accepting payments.Impulse buyers: Buyers will be allured
towards your product, following your advertisement and hype on the
website. If these customers have a source by which they can make
immediate purchase and order the product, it will help you in securing
that sale. They might get second thoughts if you accept only traditional
modes of payment. However if you offer them the online payment
services, they will purchase and pay for that instantly.

Methods of accepting online credit card payments:

There are basically two ways by which you can accept credit card on your site:

Use
your own Merchant Account: For this, you shall require a bank which
will facilitate you in opening a merchant account. Requirements for this
might differentiate from nation to nation, and you ought to verify with
the local banks for more details on this.Through a 3rd Party Merchant:
An assortment of companies can be found which are willing for accepting
the payments through credit cards on your behalf. They accept in
exchange for a particular fees and percentages. These are also called
payment gateways.

Credit card payment processing account will
help your business in giving the customers the streamlined and quick
payment procedure that they are looking forward to. These accounts can
be simply maintained and used for automated processing of site orders as
well as the manual orders through e-mail, fax and phone. Gone are those
days when these payment alternatives for small and medium business were
stuck to either cash or check. In this modern world, accepting payments
through credit cards has turned out to be an essential thing. Hence the
credit card services must be offered by almost every business for their
success, as these are secure and adaptable, which allow every business
to cater to the needs of various customers.