How To Choose The Best Payment Gateways For Your Online Business
As an online business owner, one of the things you should be concerned about is your cash transactions. You’re expected to provide a safe, quick, and easy to use payment platform for your customers. The payment system has to work well for your business and must be simple enough for your customers to use.
Online transactions today are more than just bank wires and bank transfers. Customers should be able to make payments easily on your e-commerce store or website when purchasing your products or services. This is possible through the use of a payment gateway.
What Is A Payment Gateway?
A Payment Gateway is a third-party between merchants and customers that allows customers to make payments to merchants and allows merchants to receive these payments in their bank accounts. These payments can be made through direct payments or prepaid cards.
The system makes use of security protocols and encryption to keep the transaction safe for the customers and the business.
List Of Popular Gateways In India
Skrill
Skrill is a well-known e-commerce platform that allows the making of payments and transfers through the internet. You can create an account on Skrill with any of the supported currencies. Luckily for businesses in India, the Indian Rupees is supported on Skrill. After creating the account, you can add more currencies later.
You can use Skrill with all major Indian banks. It allows payment from any part of the world. It does not require you to pay to sign up or receive funds but you will have to pay if you need to transfer from the wallet into your local bank account. You can check out this article to see how your customers can use Skrill in India with the fees and charges.
Neteller
Neteller is an e-money transfer platform that aids transfer from customers to merchants. The platform operates in more than 200 countries and allows users to set up an account in over 26 supported currencies. It is one of the safest and trusted platforms in India.
It allows your customers to fund their account easily through credit cards, debit cards, and bank transfers. The money is kept safe and can be used anytime for online payments and other transfers. After receiving money in your Neteller account, you can withdraw by requesting a cheque, bank transfer or wire.
Neteller also supports INR, which is a big advantage for businesses in India. With this, Indians are not forced to exchange currency while making transactions. This has made it have a high success rate in India.
However, there are some fees attached to funding Neteller accounts, depending on the method of funding. It charges 1.75% for using VISA and Mastercard while nothing is charged for Maestro and bank transfer. Transferring funds from one Neteller account to another is also free while making payment to a website could be free or not, depending on the site. Withdrawing from Neteller attracts 7.5 EUR.
Paypal
Paypal is a payment platform available in over 200 countries of the world. The platform supports more than 100 currencies and allows withdrawal in 57 currencies. Businesses in India use Paypal primarily to receive funds from International customers as banking regulations do not allow Indian companies to accept Indian credit cards via Paypal.
When using Paypal to receive payments from foreign customers, you will have to choose an international currency as Paypal does not support the Indian Rupees. It means you will have to always pay conversion charges when using Paypal.
Apart from the conversion charge, Paypal includes no additional withdrawal fee for merchants. You can receive money regularly through CitiBank, you will only need to have a Foreign Inward Remittance Certificate.
Paypal also charges no fee for annual maintenance but takes 4.4%+ US$ 0.30 + charges for currency conversion. This is for transactions lower than $3,000 USD. The percentage charge reduces to 3.9% for above 3,000USD and keeps reducing as the money increases.
Astropay
Astropay is designed to help users perform safe and fast shopping. It makes use of a virtual prepaid card that helps customers make payments at websites without disclosing banking or personal information. Astropay is used well in India and allows funding of accounts in Indian Rupees.
Users will have to purchase an Astropay card to make use of the payment platform. The card value ranges between 1,700 to 34,600 Indian Rupees. After that, a preferable funding method is chosen. It allows Indian users to fund accounts through Bank Transfer, Neteller, and other Indian methods.
There are no charges or transaction fees for customers but cards will only be valid for a twelve-month duration.
PayU
This was formerly known as PayU Money. It is one of the best payment gateways to accept online payments from customers. You can register for free and integrate it with your online platform or app.
PayU allows for International payment and also domestic payments using Visa/Mastercard. It supports multiple currencies including the Indian Rupees and the website offers 24/7 support for merchants. It only charges 2% + GST on transactions and does not charge for annual maintenance.
PayTM
PayTM is the leading payment payment in India. It supports eleven Indian languages and allows domestic and international payments. With Paytm, people can make payments for mobile recharges, utility bills, travel, events bookings, online platform products, and many more.
PayTM allows free set up and requires no annual maintenance fee. The company charges a very low fee like 0% for most payments lower than 2,000 Indian Rupees. Charges could range from 0.4% to 1.99% +GST.
Tips To Choose The Best Payment Gateway
Now that you have been presented with different payment platforms to incorporate for your business, here are tips to choose the best one for your business.
Consider The Safety
Most payment gateways we’ve included in our list are safe. But if you’re not selecting one on the list, make sure you find out about how safe the platform is. Ensure your customers’ details and accounts are safe after transaction and also make sure you can safely access and transfer funds.
Study The Pricing System
Before choosing an option, make sure you are certain about the charges and fees attached to using that option. Take time to read the pricing information of all different platforms and choose one that will be affordable for your business.
Consider The Platform Options
It is important that you make sure the options made available by the Payment gateway system will be usable by your customers. Study your customers and decide what best option will work for them.
Also, make sure the payment gateway can be accessed from the locations where you have your customers and clients. Customers can easily be lost when they find it difficult to make payments for your products and services. They will always like to choose easy payment methods. You can consider using multiple platforms to receive payments.
Consider The Currency Supported
Another way to make customers comfortable with making payments for your products and services is by offering a currency they know. Preferably, ensure the customers can pay in their local currency. Some of them may find it difficult to calculate using conversion rates and may end up not paying or move to the next available business that offers the same service.
Allowing payments in currencies known by customers is good but payments in local currency will give you an advantage. It is better to go for platforms that support multiple currencies, especially if you run an international business.
Ensure Your Business Is Permitted By The Provider
The kind of products or services you render should be considered in choosing a platform. These could be physical or digital. Before choosing a payment platform, make sure it supports payments for the kind of products and services you render. Most of the options on our list support payment for all types of business.