If you have an online business, you probably have paid attention to the numerous payment gateways that have cropped up in recent years. But how many of these gateways can you use? How do you know whether a particular one meets your business’s needs?
The short answer is all of them.
Seriously, nowadays, there are a myriad of payment options for merchants to choose from. Here is a list of the top six providers as decided by online payments with PaymentCloud experts:
Square
Square is a mobile payment processing service that allows individuals and businesses to accept credit card payments with no monthly fees. It’s simple to set up and free for businesses with less than $250,000 in gross sales annually.
PayPal
An online payment solution that allows you to receive payments for your business through credit or debit cards. To use PayPal, you’ll need to sign up for both a business and personal account. With PayPal, you can also accept alternative payments like checks and bank transfers, which allows you to reach customers who don’t have a credit or debit card.
Authorize.
Authorize.net is a payment gateway that supports credit cards, debit cards, checks, and ACH. It enables users to set up online transactions, recurring process payments, and transfer money online. Online businesses can use Authorize.net to sell their products through its network of merchants.
Authorize.net’s features include customizable payment pages, gateway interfaces for different ecommerce platforms, gateway extensions for different ecommerce platforms, inventory management, support for customer loyalty programs, flexible reporting, and detailed transaction analytics. Authroize.net is a merchant account provider that simplifies credit card processing for web stores by issuing credit cards on behalf of businesses.
Sales transaction data is stored in Authorize.net’s secure data environment, where it can be used for reporting or tax calculation. The platform allows businesses to view detailed reporting on their transactions by date, type of merchandise sold, or auction-style listings.
Stripe
Stripe is one of the easiest and most popular payment gateways for new online merchants. Stripe charges 2.9% + .30 per transaction and doesn’t require a contract. The only downside with Stripe is that it doesn’t support recurring billing, unlike the other payment gateways on this list.
AfterPay
AfterPay is a payment gateway that allows shoppers to purchase your goods with no upfront cost and then pay you in 4 installment payments over the following two weeks. The company also offers a Buy Now, Pay Later option that functions like a traditional layaway plan where shoppers can buy a product in installments and own it immediately. AfterPay is a great way to allow shoppers to purchase an expensive product over time if they don’t have the cash in hand or want to surprise a friend or family member with a thoughtful gift.
Bizrate Insights:
AfterPay has been very successful in Australia, helping retailers rake in more than $2 billion in sales from its payment option.
In the US, AfterPay partnered with New York-based startup, Affirm, to grow its presence throughout the country.
Amazon Pay
One of the biggest online retailers globally, Amazon has long been known for its digital commerce platform. As it goes with most large companies, they have their payment gateway solution in Amazon Pay. Anyone who wants to sell their products on Amazon will need to use their payment system, Amazon Pay. This may be scary for some merchants who are not already verified or signed up with Amazon. However, using a payment gateway for a company like Amazon is a plus because customers will already be familiar with how it works and what to expect from their shopping experience.
