What happens when my credit card is charged?

Did you know that all online payments use a payment gateway to process your credit card? Blue Sombrero uses one of the largest payment gateway systems called Authorize.net.

Once a charge is made on one of our sites it automatically gets sent to Authorize.net. Authorize.net then passes the transaction over a secure network to the processor. Then it is sent to the credit card interchange system.

From there it is routed to the credit card issuer. Here is where the transaction is either approved or declined. If it is approved the funds go back to the credit card interchange system to the Processor. The Processor sends the information to Authorize.net who notifies the customer and us. This whole process can take under a couple of seconds. I’d say that is pretty efficient!

Authorize.net has a full diagram to show each step of the process if you want more details.