An exemplary method is implemented by a payment gateway for processing electronic transactions. A token-ID that is unique to each transaction is generated, and on receiving a request to initiate an electronic transaction from a merchant server, a first message is transmitted to the merchant server that includes a first token-ID. A communication is received from an electronic device of a cardholder that contains information about the cardholder's credit card account and the first token-ID. A record is stored that includes the first token-ID and information enabling the credit card account of the cardholder to be identified. On receiving a second request, that includes the first token-ID, from the merchant server for payment of a specified amount, the credit card account of the cardholder to be debited for the requested payment is identified based on the token-ID. A determination is made if the cardholder's credit card account was successfully debited for the requested payment, and a second message is transmitted to the merchant server that specifies if the requested payment transaction was successfully completed.