Processing payment issues holding back your business ops? Learn how to choose the right payment gateway for smoother business deals.
Online payment gateways have become very popular in the last few years. Instead of dealing with several payment processors and platforms, they enable you to accept multiple types of payments simultaneously. When you make it easier for customers to buy, it also makes your job as a business owner easier.
As the need for payment gateways increased, so did the number of people competing for them. So, how do you pick one that fits your business? Here are some valuable tips.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Payment Gateway
It’s important to select the right payment gateway for your business. Otherwise, you might lose a lot of money and clients in the long run. You can click here to learn more about one of the experienced and reliable gateways.
To keep you from falling into that mess, consider some important factors before choosing a payment gateway.
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Cost
Price is one of the first things you think about when buying anything. With payment gateways, the price depends on several factors. For example, your business model, the types of payments you accept, how much money you make each month and year, etc.
Before choosing a payment gateway, figure out how much money you’re taking in regularly and do your research before asking for a quote. For example, if you are starting up a non-profit organisation and therefore looking to take money for a charity, then a good place to start is to check out the stripe fees for nonprofits.
People who start a new business often have to pay a fee to set up their business. These are set prices, so you can’t save much money here. But it’s a good way to start comparing different providers.
When choosing a payment gateway, you should also check the pricing scheme. Choosing one with tiered fixed pricing and no additional processing fees is highly recommended. Even small fees or charges can be a burden over time. For instance, Rotessa offers tiered fixed pricing, which starts at USD$16 monthly and to as low as 35¢ per transaction. The payment processor doesn’t also charge additional processing fees.
In addition, you also have to consider the size of your business and the type of bills and invoices you manage when choosing a payment processor. By doing so and comparing the pricing terms of payment providers, you can understand and choose the best one for your business. This step can help save you money in the long run.
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Security
When it comes to accepting online payments, the security of your payment gateway should be a top consideration since you will be receiving sensitive financial information.
Different payment gateways have different security standards. Remember that the gateway you choose must be level-1 PCI DSS compliant before buying it.
Some gateways have fraud detection features and other safety tools to keep your business safe from scams.
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Limits
Some payment gateways have a maximum limit on how much money you can make in a given month. Depending on the size of your business, this might not be a big deal. Then again, if your business deals with high-priced products, you need to know about any limits that might apply. Otherwise, you might lose out on potential customers.
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Integrations
A payment gateway can never work on its own. Instead, it’s a component of infrastructure, and it’s your responsibility to determine how effectively your selected gateway integrates with your website platform.
If an integration fails, your payment process will be sluggish, and customers may leave. So, to ensure a proper user experience, the integration process should be perfect.
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Hosted vs. Non-hosted
A payment gateway can either be hosted or non-hosted
- Hosted: The consumer is transported directly to the payment processor’s website to input their information.
- Non-hosted: There is no need for consumers to leave your site to provide their information when using a non-hosted payment processor.
One benefit of using hosted gateways is that storing sensitive information on your site is less risky. As a significant advantage, diverting clients to another site adds a step to the payment process, making it lengthier than expected.
If customers have to go through this long process and the transaction doesn’t work out because of a glitch or other error, they can get frustrated and not want to try again. Businesses that make a lot of money prefer to use non-hosted payment gateways with their stores.
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Types of Cards Allowed
Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are the most frequently used credit cards. As a result, most payment gateways accept all of these cards.
However, if your consumers often pay you with another card, such as a debit card or a premium reward card, you must ensure that your payment gateways support them.
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Holding Time
Generally, payments are accepted instantly; however, the funds are held for a few days before being deposited into your account. This enables the processing of refunds and charge-backs. Depending on the payment service provider, these hold times might range between one and seven days.
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Multiple Currency Support
You must check if your payment gateway can process payments in several currencies if you do business globally. Allowing clients to pay in their local currency is important. Additionally, you’ll want to check the foreign currency transaction costs.
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Recurring Billing
Payment gateways are increasingly being used in software-as-a-service businesses. While the SaaS platform is effective, it is dependent on one critical characteristic of transactions: recurring billing. Your clients are invoiced the same amount for a subscription service each month.
A reliable payment gateway automates the collection of payments each month and resolves various other concerns. For instance, it can assist you in resolving failed credit card payments.
You must choose a payment gateway capable of managing all the moving components associated with recurring payments (best for subscription-based companies). Any provider you pick must be able to do the following:
- Record and preserve customer information for future transactions;
- Charge credit cards automatically according to predefined subscription schedules; and
- Give retry options for unsuccessful transactions.
With others, you have to do all of this extra work manually. This being said, many of the mainstream payment gateways can manage recurring payments pretty easily. Stripe and PayPal are two of the biggest payment gateways, but can venmo do recurring payments? To find this out, it’s best to do plenty of online research until you have a good understanding of each option.
While there are a few other aspects you have to check too, the mentioned ones should be your primary concern. Carefully considering all these factors will help you choose the right gateway for your business.
Conclusion
Once you understand your business’s demands, choosing and integrating the right payment gateway provider is not difficult. You can quickly and favorably improve your brand’s customer experience and revenue by executing it correctly.
However, before selecting and implementing the appropriate payment gateway provider, you must evaluate the above-mentioned aspects. Therefore, another practical idea is to hire an expert and delegate all technical parts of payment gateway integration to them.
So. pick the right payment gateway for your business and expand. Best of luck with your ventures!