Payment gateway

When a customer pays, the gateway's checkout (a hosted page, a pop-up or a mobile SDK) collects the payment details so they never touch your server. It routes the request through the card network or UPI to the customer's bank, returns success or failure within seconds, and later settles the money, minus its fee, into your bank account, usually one or two working days later (T+1 or T+2).

In India the RBI licenses payment aggregators, companies such as Razorpay, Cashfree and PayU that collect money on a merchant's behalf and must verify every merchant they sign up. A pure payment gateway only provides the technology while a bank handles the funds, but in everyday speech both are called gateways. Most add extras on top: payment links, subscriptions, invoices, split payments for marketplaces and payouts.