1. Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Online
2. Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Shopping
3. Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Free

What is a payment gateway? A payment gateway is the middleman between your online store and the payment processor that receives the payment from your customer. In other words, once a customer enters their payment details on your site, the payment gateway takes care of sending that data securely to the payment processor. Different Woocommerce Payment Gateway for your online store 1. PayPal (Woocommerce Payment Gateway) Paypal is one of the most trusted and widely known online payment gateways with more than 200 million customers around the world. Merchant Account and Payment Gateway for your Online Store Payment Gateways and Internet Merchant Account Vendors Most of our clients that are enabling their online stores ask us for information and a recommendation regarding taking credit cards on the Internet with their e-commerce or BigCommerce Store.

02 May Which Payment Gateway Is Best For Your E-Commerce Store?

Most retail businesses are rapidly moving towards e-commerce, that is, conducting business over the internet. This is due to the growing online presence, which has created a niche. People these days need products at their comfort. As a new or existing store, you have probably considered taking your business online. While there are structured means to brand, design, advertise and sell products on the internet, payment gateways are still a challenge. How do get payments products offered? How do you also make payments for services or products you have acquired? As a retail store or any type of store in South Africa, the most important tool is an e-commerce website. This is the governing point of your e-commerce store. Before you acquire a payment gateway, you need to put into consideration two things.

Security and Integration

Security; all transactions generated by an e-commerce website are captured far away from the real business, by a service provider. You need to consider how to secure the connection between your website and the service provider is. This protects your retail store from hacking cases. Integration; Most payment gateways have requirements that need to be fulfilled, in order to fully integrate with any website. You have to make sure your e-commerce website is compatible with the payment gateway you are picking. In South Africa, many payment options can suit your e-commerce website. Every payment gateway is best suited for specific websites. The most predominant requirement for any gateway is the need for an internet merchant account. This is an account that links your e-commerce website to your bank. However, most payment gateways have scrapped off this requirement, allowing the start-up to register accounts for free.

PayFast

Are you an e-commerce startup? Are you looking for a quick payment option that doesn’t require a long process to create? PayFast is the way to go. It does not need an internet merchant account. As soon as you set it up, you can start receiving payments from banks. It also has a wide variety of app and platform integration tools. You can request for payment directly through email from the PayFast PLATFORM.

PayGate is an old South African payment gateway that was initially meant to serve the needs of big e-commerce industry players. You needed to have a merchant account in order to enlist the services of PayGate. However, through the introduction of PayCollect, a sub-system of PayGate, small startups have been able to acquire their services. Small startups do not need an internet merchant account with PayCollect.

MyGate

This is another of South Africa’s most popular payment gateways. The unique attribute of this gateway is that it offers a range or e-commerce payment services such as global credit card payments, recurring billing and manual payment processing for mail orders. It also has an additional mobile platform with fraud prevention capabilities.

iPay

This is a recently introduced gateway. However, it is not to be undermined. iPay is a fast payment processing platforms that also support mobile platforms. Companies that want to make payments directly from their invoices are seeking it. The most outstanding feature of iPay is faster transaction processing. In addition, the charges are relatively low compared to other payment gateways in South Africa.

PayU boasts of a soaring 1500 e-commerce websites that form their customer base. It has over 25 payment methods, which is quite a lot. It is the largest payment gateway in South Africa with an annual transaction volume of R9billion. It supports payment to and from all South African banks. Additionally, it also accepts Visa and MasterCard.

This is more of a packaged payment option. If you are already conversant with Sage online tools like Sage 1, Sage X3 and Sage Live, then Sage Pay should be no stranger. It offers a bundled approach for e-commerce websites. If you want to encapsulate all the services you require, so that they come from one specific vendor, Sage Pay would be the way to go.

Peach Payments

This is another of the most recent payment gateways. The main advantage of Peach is that they have a very easy to use the platform, which is an added advantage to the operability of your website. The only downside is that they require internet merchant accounts for any business to use.

Undoubtedly the world’s most common payment gateway, PayPal support payments all over the internet. Be it local or international payments, PayPal will effectively handle the transaction. It is accessible by e-commerce stores in South Africa. It has no monthly charges and has a fairly low transaction charge.

Conclusion

For the best payment gateway, you need to first compare the options based on the following factors, ease of use, charges, number of services, mobile support alongside other factors. A good payment gateway for any South African business will incorporate well with the e-commerce website.

If you want to chat more about payment gateways then please email me on themba[at]bwd.co.za

[Guest post by Sophia Phillips from Wordprax]

No matter how great your e-commerce store may look and function, achieving success in your online endeavor majorly depends on how well your products are being sold to your customers. And to sell products, you’ll first have to win the trust of your site visitors. A payment gateway is a powerful tool that helps to reassure visitors of your store about your trustworthiness.

In essence, a payment gateway is an e-commerce service that allows merchants to accept credit card and other forms of Internet transactions securely via your website. Remember, if the payment options on your e-store aren’t set up in the right manner, you could suffer loss of orders placed on your store. This means you’ll experience a significant drop in sales, because of unsatisfied customers. Implementing the right payment gateways, however, can prove a key ensuring long-term success of your online business.

Since not all the payment gateways functions in the same manner, it’s crucial to make the right choice. Below are a few factors you should consider, while figuring out which payment gateway you can use:

• Check out the transition fees associated with a payment gateway. Make sure that it falls withing your budget.
• Evaluate whether the payment gateway require you to go through a sign-up process. If yes, then it’s better to avoid such payment gateways.
• Look out for payment gateway comes with multi-currency support, especially when you want to expand your online business globally.
• In order to know what products (digital or physical) you can sell, check out the terms and conditions of the payment gateways. That’s because, some may only allow selling physical goods.
• Check out whether your payment gateway accept credit card, debit card and PayPal payments.
• Make sure that the payment gateway does not require your users to fill up unnecessary fields and so on.

To help you out, I’ve compiled a list of 10 of the best payment gateways among which you can choose one that best suits your needs.

1. Authorize.Net

Founded in 1996, Authorize.Net has come a long way to being known as one of the most sought-after payment gateways. More than 400,000 merchants worldwide use Authorize.Net payment gateway – that accepts online payments through credit cards and electronic checks. You need to pay $49 as setup fees and $29 as montly gateway fees. Experts say that Authorize.Net is a good match for Magento stores and shopping carts such as osCommerce.

2. PayPal

Though, PayPal was incepted in December 1998, but it was developed and launched in 1999. It’s one of the most widely-used payment gateways that accepts both credit card or debit card payments. It’s free to use for buyers. However store owners will have to pay a simple transition fees of “3.4% + $0.30 USD”, when using PayPal for credit card payments. The best part is that you only need to pay after making a sale. This payment gateway does not require any setup fees, gateway fees, or monthly fees. Around 341,497 Internet sites use PayPal payment gateway.

3. SecurePay.com

This payment gateway began operating in August 1997. SecurePay.com offers online shopping cart, electronic check services (called as SecurePay), accepts mobile payments, and so on. In order to process credit card payments, you will first have to sign up as a user on SecurePay.com. It charges “.25%-1%” plus “$0.25” per transaction. You will also have to pay $400 for terminating your services, prior to the expiration of the service agreement with SecurePay.com payment gateway.

4. 2Checkout.com, Inc

2Checkout.com has been in business for 15 years, and was founded in 1999. It offer services in 196 countries and accept payments in the form of: credit cards, PayPal, and debit cards. It has a low-cost fee structure and requires you to pay only “2.9% + 30¢” per successful transaction. And, the best part! It doesn’t require you to pay any monthly and setup fees.

5. First Data Corporation

This is one of the most oldest payment gateways having 30 years of payments industry experience globally. It was initially incepted in 1969, but started providing its transaction processing services in 1998 in US and markets worldwide. It includes credit card, debit card, gift card, and many other prepaid card offerings. First Data Corporation is used by around 6 million merchant locations around the world. However, this payment gateway has a pretty transition fees. So, if you’re ready to invest, then First Data Corporation is worth a try – considering the high-quality services it provides.

Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Online

6. BluePay Processing LLC

Although, BluePay Processing is a new payment gateway and started operating in 2002, but within a short span of time has earned good reputation among merchants. BluePay accepts payments via credit card and e-checks. It claims to provide highest level of data security in the payment gateway industry, and charges $15 monthly service fees.

7. PaySimple

Accepting all major credit cards and e-checks payments on your iPhone or iPad, PaySimple can rightly be called the new-age payment gateway. It’s basic plan starts from $34.95/mo. According to experts, PaySimple is a great payment gateway for small-and mid-size online stores.

8. Fastcharge.com

If you’re a start-up firm and have a tight budget, then Fastcharge.com is the perfect payment gateway for you. It doesn’t require any setup fee, and only requires you to pay a nominal fee of $10 as monthly gateway fee. It takes less than an hour to set up. Fastcharge.com was established in 2003, and serves more than 5200 shopping carts. It only offers credit card processing.

9. Paynova

Paynova is a Swedish payment processing service, offering e-retailers with 21 payment options. However, you’ll have to sign-up to access its services. It best suits the need of small-size online businesses.

10. ChronoPay

Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Shopping

Last on our list is ChronoPay, an ideal payment gateway for merchants, accepting payments via bank cards (like VISA, American Express, JCB etc.). You can connect to ChronoPay for free, however you will have to pay a commission based on your monthly turnover.

Wrapping Up!

Payment Gateways For Your Online Store Free

Don’t let payment gateways acts as a roadblock to setting up a successful online business, make sure to choose the suitable option for your online store. However, it’s too easy to become overwhelmed by the plethora of payment gateways online. Hopefully, reading this post will give you a good idea of 10 of the best payment gateways to choose from, for your e-store.