Apple Pay and Authorize.Net

What Is Apple Pay and what does it have to do with Authorize.Net?

Apple Pay, America’s first truly “major” mobile payment service, does 2 things primarily:

1. It allows iPhone users (beginning with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus) to use their phones like credit cards to make purchases at hundreds of thousands of participating retailers via compatible face to face point of sale devices.
2. Via an approved gateway, such as Authorize.Net and a participating payment processor Apple Pay allows the facilitation of “in-app purchases.” This means if you have an e-commerce site you can build an e-commerce app and your customers can use Apple Pay to authorize sales via thumbprint. It’s really cool! Fortunately for many of our existing clients our two premier providers, Authorize.Net, and NMI are on the short list of Apple’s compatible gateways.

How does Apple Pay work?

In simplified terms when a customer makes a purchase from your app using Apple Pay. The Apple Pay application “tokenizes” the credit card information the customer has on file with Apple – that is, instead of passing the actual credit card information over the web directly, it passes a random number to which the credit card information is tied. The application then passes this information along to a payment gateway, such as Authorize.Net, who passes it along to the payment processor.

May I use Apple Pay?

Apple Pay is an option for physical and in-app purchases, but for our clientele, we focus on the latter. “In-app” purchases include anything the customer purchases using a phone application (iOS 8 or later), provided it meets the following qualifications:

• The purchase must be of a good or service
• The good or service must be for use outside of the app
• You must be a U.S.-based merchant selling in U.S. dollars
• You must use a payment gateway that accepts Apple Pay, such as Authorize.Net.
• You must use a payment processor that accepts Apple Pay. (Call us for recommendations)

Why should I use Apple Pay with Authorize.Net?

When you partner with Authorize.Net, you not only obtain the ability to use Apply Pay for free, but you are also supplied with a streamlined, documented process for enacting this feature. Apple Pay transactions will appear on your reports just like all other transactions, so you can easily keep track of all your payments in one place. Furthermore, you retain all the flexibility, comprehensive service, and security of Authorize.Net. This gateway integrates with many popular e-commerce systems, carts, and plugins, such as WooCommerce, so there is no need to change your existing shopping cart in order to add Apple Pay as an option.

If you’re interested in Apple Pay, but need a participating gateway, such as Authorize.Net, or if you already have Authorize.Net and need to make sure you have a qualifying service provider, we invite you to contact us or give us a call at (207) 772-8737. We’re happy to help!