Universal merchant platform for payment authentication

1. A method for supporting processing of a transaction conducted between a first party and a second party, wherein the first party accepts payment via a plurality of different payment options selectable by the second party, said plurality of different payment options being associated with a plurality of different authentication protocols prescribed therefor, said method comprising:

(a) receiving payment information over a communications network at a server operatively connected to the communications network, said payment information identifying a particular payment option used by the second party for the transaction, and said server being equipped to format and route messages over the communications network in different manners to accommodate the plurality of different authentication protocols;

(b) determining from the payment information received at the server which of the different authentication protocols is prescribed for the type of payment option identified in the payment information;

(c) selecting, in accordance with the determination of step (b), a particular authentication protocol from the plurality of different authentication protocols supported by the server; and,

(d) obtaining an authentication determination for the transaction in accordance with the selected authentication protocol, including formatting messages and routing the formatted messages over the communications network in accordance with one or more mandates of the selected authentication protocol.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

(e) returning the obtained authentication determination over the communications network to a designated entity.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the designated entity is the first party.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the designated entity is at least one of a payment gateway, an acquiring bank, a payment network or an issuing bank that processes the transaction.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transaction is conducted between the first party and the second party over the communications network, and step (a) comprises:

receiving the payment information from the first party, said first party having obtained the payment information from the second party over the communications network.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the payment information is received by the server in one of extensible markup language (XML) format, simple object access protocol (SOAP) format, or comma separated value (CSV) format.

7. A system for supporting processing of a transaction conducted between a first party and a second party, wherein the first party accepts payment via a plurality of different payment options selectable by the second party, said plurality of different payment options being associated with a plurality of different authentication protocols prescribed therefor, said system comprising:

means for receiving payment information over a communications network at a server operatively connected to the communications network, said payment information identifying a particular payment option used by the second party for the transaction, and said server being equipped to format and route messages over the communications network in different manners to accommodate the plurality of different authentication protocols;

means for determining from the payment information received at the server which of the different authentication protocols is prescribed for the type of payment option identified in the payment information;

means for selecting, in accordance with the determination made by the means for determining, a particular authentication protocol from the plurality of different authentication protocols supported by the server; and,

means for obtaining an authentication determination for the transaction in accordance with the selected authentication protocol, including means for formatting messages and routing the formatted messages over the communications network in accordance with one or more mandates of the selected authentication protocol.

8. The system of claim 7 , further comprising:

means for returning the obtained authentication determination over the communications network to a designated entity.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the designated entity is the first party.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the designated entity is at least one of a payment gateway, an acquiring bank, a payment network or an issuing bank that processes the transaction.

11. The system of claim 7 , wherein the transaction is conducted between the first party and the second party over the communications network, and the means for receiving receives the payment information from the first party, said first party having obtained the payment information from the second party over the communications network.

12. The system of claim 7 , wherein the payment information is received by the server in one of extensible markup language (XML) format, simple object access protocol (SOAP) format, or comma separated value (CSV) format.