If you want to run an e-commerce store, then you will need to have a payment gateway. After all, without a payment gateway, it is going to be impossible to receive an e-commerce payment. On this page, we want to introduce you to the best payment gateways for you (actually, a few of them), as well as give you a few criteria to be on the lookout for when searching for an online payment gateway.
What is an Online Payment Gateway?
Before we dive into our payment gateway list and criteria, let us briefly cover the answer to the question, 'What is a payment gateway?'
To put it simply, a payment gateway is an online payment system. When your customer makes a purchase, they will be then tapping their credit card details into this payment gateway. You then receive the cash and can ship out the product.
The payment gateway will handle everything for you. It will keep your customer's details secure. It will remove the money from the customer's bank account, and it will make sure that you receive the cash.
There are a lot of different payment gateways on the market. Some of them you may have heard of, while others you may not. You will need to choose at least one for e-commerce payment processing, however. As we said, if you do not have one, you cannot sell any product online. There is simply no way to receive your cash!
How to Choose an Online Payment Gateway?
There are a few criteria that you will need to think about when considering a payment gateway for e-commerce payment processing.
In our opinion, one of the biggest considerations is the fact that the online payment gateway needs to be able to work with dropshipping, as well as the products that you are planning on selling.
Some payment gateways are incredibly restrictive on who they let sign up to their platform, so you will need to go through the various terms they have in place to know that they are going to be suitable for your needs.
All of the gateways we talk about on this page are fine as an e-commerce payment for dropshipping.Of course, you will also need to know that your target market can use that payment gateway. Not all of them work with every country around the world. Ideally, you would choose an 'international' payment gateway, because it allows your dropshipping business to expand in the future.
You will also need to check whether the payment solution is compatible with the e-commerce platform that you are using. After all, if it isn't compatible, you won't be able to receive payments! People won't be able to complete the checkout process.
Finally, you will need to think about the processing fee for the gateway You want this to be as low as possible so you can make the maximum amount of profit when you make a sale.
5 Best Payment Gateways & Setup Methods for Dropshipping Business
Based on the criteria listed above, we are going to introduce you to what we believe are the five best payment gateways for e-commerce payment processing if you want to start a dropshipping business. This is our list of top payment gateways:
1. PayPal
2. Skrill
3. Stripe
4. 2CheckOut
5. Apple Pay
For the most part, the set-up process for each of these payment methods is the same. You will need to head to each of these websites, set-up a merchant account, and then obtain the relevant plugin for the e-commerce solution that you are using.
How you go about installing this will differ depending on what platform you are using. If you are selling on Shopify, for instance, it should be a virtually instant process once you have found the plugin, bar changing a couple of settings.
It is important to remember that when you are setting up accounts for these payment gateways, you do so in the name of your business. It will cause a lot less hassle later on. You will also need to attach a business bank account and credit card to your account. Once again, this is something that will cause a lot less hassle for you.
Do bear in mind that these platforms have been selected because they cover the broadest number of countries. Ideally, you would use at least two of these methods to give your customers options.
1. PayPal
PayPal is, of course, the largest payment processor in the world. It covers well over 200 countries, and we can guarantee that your customers will have heard of it. At 3.4% average payment processing fee can a little bit high for some people, but PayPal is probably the quickest system for getting money in and out of your account. It doesn't matter what type of e-commerce site you run, PayPal should be at least one of your payment methods.
You likely have a PayPal account already, but if you wish to use it with your dropshipping business, then you will need to set-up a business account. This will provide you with a few extra protections.
2. Skrill
Skrill mostly focuses on the European market but is also available in the United States. They also tend to be a little bit less-restrictive than PayPal when it comes to the businesses they work with.
For the most part, if your business is legal, then Skrill will work with you. They have 1.9% processing fees on the transaction, but they can be a little bit slower than some of the other payment methods when it comes to getting money from Skrill into your bank account.
3. Stripe
Stripe is available in fewer countries than the other options, so we wouldn't use this as your main payment method. However, some people only use Stripe, so it is worth working with them.
Fees are a little bit cheaper than PayPal at 2.9%, and a lot of people will pair Stripe up with PayPal for the maximum number of options for their payment gateway.
4. 2CheckOut
While 2CheckOut can be used in several countries around the world, this is a payment method used in many countries that PayPal does not support. You will be paying somewhere between 2.9% and 3.9% depending on the place the payment has been received from. Discounts can be had on this fee if you are receiving over $50,000 per month.
5. Apple Pay
Apply Pay should not be your only payment gateway. It is more a supplementary payment method. While it can be used in the US and some European countries, you have to remember that Apple Pay can only be used by people with Apple devices, which cuts out a massive market if you only use Apple Pay. It does have the benefit of zero fees for receiving cash, however. There may be a fee to withdraw to your bank account depending on where you live.
As we said, setting up an account for all of these methods shouldn't be all that difficult. Head to the site and create an account using your business contact details. All of these methods are guaranteed to work with Shopify and WooCommerce, but they should work with pretty much any other e-commerce solution, assuming that there is some sort of plugin functionality.
Conclusion
Take the time to choose the right payment gateway for your business. Any of the five detailed on this page will be a great start, but do go through what each of them offers to ensure that it is right for your business. This is a big decision, so make sure you do things properly.
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