Whether you’re involved in the ecommerce industry, asset recovery and B2B services, auctions, or any other type of business that can be conducted online, you will need a good payment system. Ideally, you should offer consumers and business partners more than one payment option. Not everyone uses PayPal.
What are some of the benefits of using the ideal payment portal for your internet business?
Errors are easy to fix – The less-than-ideal payment platforms aren’t designed to display an error message properly. When you’re using a well-designed system, the error message will appear in the field in which the problem occurred, making it easier for buyers to fix.
Transactions are faster – As long as you choose a system that makes the checkout process simple and smooth. There’s no need to force buyers to fill out multiple pages of information. They can fill out the essential information and submit the payment within minutes.
No need to create a merchant account – According to the WooCommerce Payment Gateway Guide, payment portals used to require online store owners (including eBay sellers) to apply for a merchant account, which would include a special bank account for the credit card transactions. Today, there are some payment gateways that do not have such requirements.
Consumers have security reassurances – Whenever there is private information involved, you must showcase the security measures you have in place. One way to do this is to NOT redirect users to a third party checkout page. Also, you’ll want your business to be PCI-compliant and your website to have SSL certificate technology.
Which online payment system is best for you?
While you should accept PayPal due to its sheer popularity, it shouldn’t be the only option you provide customers. Here is an overview of the other top systems and their benefits and and potential fallbacks:
Authorize.net
This is one of the oldest payment gateway providers for ecommerce, as it has been around since 1996.
Why use it?
The great thing about Authorize.net is that it is NOT a merchant account provider. What it does do is provide a gateway and multiple ancillary services and products that integrate with it. It’s a one-stop solution that processes cards from major credit providers, PayPal, echecks, Apple Pay, etc…
What are some of the cons?
The downside is that some of the features (particularly Apple Pay) will only work within iOS 8 apps. Plus, there is no shortage of fees to worry about: startup, monthly, transactions, and so forth.
2Checkout
Why use it?
This payment system accepts payments globally; the methods include all credit and debit cards and PayPal. You’re not just limited to selling in certain countries. You get to choose from nearly 90 currencies and 15 languages. The system’s advanced fraud protection goes through 300+ security rules for each and every transaction. If you need mobile optimization, it’s available with 2Checkout.
What are some of the cons?
Cons include currency conversion fees, a 1% fee for every payment you accept from outside of the US and a $20 charge on your account for chargebacks.
Stripe
This is the most popular “alternative to PayPal”. Squarespace is one of the many ecommerce platforms that prefer Stripe as their payment processor.
Why use it? It eliminates the need for a merchant account, and automatically puts money from transactions into a bank account.
What are some of the cons?
The downside is that you have to wait for several days for the money to finally be accessible in the bank account. The interface may require a bit of programming knowledge.
It’s important to consider your own SPECIFIC needs when deciding which payment system would be right for you. You might also want to look into virtual credits and corporate trader solutions.
