You click on that ad that caught your attention. Maybe it’s a great software deal or a piece of clothing in your favorite color. Everything goes well until you realize that you have to fill several fields with your banking information, without any type of security or encryption; You would certainly never complete such a purchase. Now think about your online store: do you have the right tool or are your customers in a similar situation? Ultimately, you need a payment gateway.
Its importance is increasing, so much so that this market is expected to grow 21.7% each year . If your company does not yet have one, you are in time to increase your sales, take advantage of the opportunities of the digital market and give your customers an unparalleled experience.
Here you will learn what a payment gateway is and the best options.
What is a payment gateway?
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A payment gateway is a vital tool for authorizing payments that businesses implement on their website. They maintain the security of e-commerce transactions and ensure communication between the business and the banking centers, as well as providing a secure service for customers.
Advantages of using a payment gateway
- Your store is available at any time for when your customers prefer to visit and make purchases.
- It also opens the opportunity to new buyers, who previously did not visit your website due to the absence of secure transactions.
- It is ideal for any business, so there is no need to worry about the size of the company. There is always a service that fits perfectly.
- Payment validation is done in real time, securely and directly to the bank account you choose. If it is necessary to make a refund, it is easy to do it for the good service of your customers.
How much do payment gateways cost?
The price depends on the model with which you hire the catwalk.
- aggregator model. It works like this when the gateway collects the money and makes a deposit, on agreed days, to the merchants’ accounts. Payments can be daily, weekly or monthly. That will depend on the collection of the catwalk commission, in addition to the money that is collected.
- getaway model. This model allows the money to arrive directly to the merchant’s bank account, without deferrals.
Now that you know that a payment gateway is the one that performs the function of processing and authorizing the payment or transactions between the clients and the company, it is time for you to find out how it works.
How does a payment gateway work?
- The customer enters your company’s website , sees the catalogue, chooses the product(s) of his/her preference and places the order.
- Your company , through its website, transfers the customer’s order information to the payment gateway. The customer chooses the payment method they prefer. Following this, the transaction is sent to the bank previously chosen by your company to request the authentication of the transaction. An SSL or TLS system is used for data encryption.
- The bank, after confirming the transaction, forwards the information to the selling company to deliver the customer’s details. Immediately after this, those same data arrive at your website to verify that their data is correct and the purchase is finally authorized.
- Once the process is authorized by the company , it is the turn of the consumer’s bank to verify the information and, if it is correct, will give the authorization and display an approval message on the website. In case the transaction is not approved by the customer’s bank, a message will appear with the reason.
- Finally, in case both banks have authorized the transaction , the bank settles the money with the payment gateway and, correspondingly, the payment gateway settles the money to your company.
Had you imagined that in just a few seconds all these steps are carried out? This is the magic of payment gateways, since they facilitate communication between banks to make the process agile and efficient; in a short time you can know if your transaction is approved or rejected.
Integrating your own payment gateway from scratch can also be an option if you want to give it other settings or customize it. But the configurations are more complicated and if you are not an experienced programmer, you will have to go to a professional. We recommend that you use one of the list that we share below, as it is faster.
Look at them.
Top 15 Payment Gateways in 2022
1. PayPal
PayPal is a brand that no longer needs an introduction. Its years of experience in the market have positioned it as one of the most reliable and secure payment gateways for companies. Its presence is practically worldwide and it accepts payments from all kinds of industries.
Among its great advantages is that it handles the main credit and debit cards, in addition to offering low interest rates and incremental sales growth. The payment stream is only $0.10 per transaction and has no cancellation fees or monthly minimums.
2. Stripe
The platform for managing internet sales develops powerful and flexible tools for electronic commerce. It is ideal if you have subscription services, marketplace or demand. One of its keys is that it has eliminated the complexities in its system, so its use will require only a few minutes.
In addition, it offers you constant updates to have the most advanced tools for your business. Its large-scale technology has a presence in more than 100 countries and its rates depend on the age and size of the organizations.
3. Authorize.Net
Accept your payments anytime, anywhere through online payments, retail stores or mobile devices. Its 20 years of experience have made it one of the most popular payment gateways and a great advantage is that you do not need any SSL certificate or PCI compliance to use it. As a great benefit for small and medium businesses, the system also transfers funds from bank accounts to save time and money.
4. 2checkout
It is the payment platform that maximizes income and facilitates global digital sales. Scale with your business, in case you want to enter international trades to increase conversion rates. Its modular design offers: global payments, digital commerce, subscription billing, global financial and tax services, as well as risk and compliance management and partner sales.
The platform also integrates the different areas of the company such as management, finance, sales and marketing, electronic commerce and information technology.
5. Amazon Pay
Amazon’s payment service has earned a high degree of user trust and confidence, backed by Amazon’s technology, innovation, and robust risk management services. It is ideal for all types of industry and business size to boost service with flexible online payment that adapts to personalized environments. Similarly, it serves as a friendly system for non-profit organizations and accepts donations through the website and by voice commands.
6. Payline Data
Its main function is to offer an easy and hassle-free payment experience for customers. One of its advantages is that it eradicates complexities when working with a payment provider.
Among its features you will find: Payline Connect, which provides merchants and applications with a very secure payment gateway with anti-fraud protection; subscription billing, designed for companies that offer memberships, products and services that are delivered on a regular basis. The best of all? Is free. Provides protection against fraud, it has services from iSpyFraud, Ethoca and Verifi that keep payments safe against fraudulent threats.
7. Braintree
Deliver higher conversions by accepting, sending, processing, and splitting customer payments to streamline business opportunities. It is backed by the Braintree partnership with PayPal, and is known as the payment gateway with the fewest interruptions, giving users security and confidence. In addition, it is also integrated with anti-fraud tools to combat fraudsters.
8. FUNDS
It consists of credit card payments directly to your site. Its main function is to provide internet acquisition. What do we mean by this? Process payments online through websites, mobile apps, and other devices. In addition, it offers you cloud solutions for IPSPs, banks and processing centers. Among its payment options are: partial payments, credit and debit and with European banks.
9. BlueSnap
It brings together everything you need in a payment gateway: business account and advanced features that increase results. In addition to the already general payment functions for businesses, it has a module dedicated to retailers. You can also use it to create desktop and mobile apps for SaaS, billing, and more. It supports more than 110 payment types, 100 currencies and 29 different languages. Best of all, it automatically connects to a global network of acquiring banks ensuring a better conversion rate per user.
10. Market Payment
If you sell in Latin America, Mercado Pago is a good option. It has an anti-fraud monitor. It does not charge for withdrawals, technical or commercial support, only the commission on each approved transaction. The account is easy to open, free of charge and you can take advantage of their plugin for Vtex, Magento, Total Code, Prestashop, Shopify, Woocommerce, Wix.
11. Niubiz
Niubiz was born in Peru and is one of the country’s favorites. She offers payments on the web, app, telepayment (by phone), in links or scheduled payment. You can also choose between different solutions, such as ecommerce, orders and self-service, depending on the type of business you run. On its page you can calculate an estimate of the commissions that Niubiz may charge you, depending on the type of payment, sales and whether the payment is made in person or online.
12. Swipe
This option was born in Chile, but is also available in Mexico, Buenos Aires, Colombia, Peru and Argentina. It guarantees the security of the information, both for the businesses and for their clients, and to follow up on the transactions in a transparent way. It is also available for online stores or for card payments in the physical store.
13. Payment Sense
From England comes this option, in case you want to receive electronic payments in your online store, in person or by phone. That means your customers can make transactions by email, on your website, from their smartphone or with a portable machine in your business or in home deliveries.
14. Redsys
This payment gateway was born in Spain, so it is ideal for businesses that have a bank account in that country. It allows integration with both national and international cards of the main brands and with systems such as Bizum, Masterpass, Paypal, GooglePay and ApplePay.
It has certifications for Visa and Mastercard in Spain, Andorra and Brazil. Its long experience helps it provide various services, in addition to those related to electronic payments, for different sizes of companies. We recommend that you check their official site to get to know them better.
15. UniversalPay
Thanks to the fact that it is regulated by the Bank of Spain, UniversalPay became a subsidiary of EVO Payments. It is a great option for businesses that want to receive electronic payments from different countries, because its services include 49 currencies, accept all types of cards and have stable rates for purchase commissions. Just select where you prefer to accept electronic payments: ecommerce, in store, at the switchboard or by invoice.
16. SiPay
With 20 certified products, it has solutions for online, face-to-face or telephone payments, as well as the option to store the card data of customers who register on your website, securely. In addition to accepting all types of bank cards, it has others that are issued by commercial chains. It also integrates the most important digital wallets, such as MasterPass, ApplePay, Samsungpay and Gpay.
How to include a payment gateway on your website?
Follow these steps to implement your preferred payment gateway to ensure your online store is a success:
1. Check with the web hosting provider
Go to your website’s control panel or the administration page of your online store to see what payment gateway options it offers (you probably have several of the ones mentioned above).
2. Check requirements, rates and conditions
Each payment gateway is very different depending on the provider. Some offer annual or monthly rates ; there are others that may be free, but will charge a transaction fee. Compare them and confirm which one suits you best.
3. Choose the type of payment processing you want
There are two types of payment gateways: external and direct. The former redirect customers to other websites to process their payment; the latter carry out the entire process within your own store. We recommend choosing a direct payment gateway, as it creates more trust among users and saves them the hassle of having to go back and forth from one page to another.
4. Sign up and choose the plan that suits you best
Once you have decided which payment gateway is right for you, provide the personal and corporate information requested to create your account. After that, choose the payment plan and that’s it.
5. Set up your web store
This part may seem very complicated, but don’t worry, because most of the payment gateway providers have very easy to understand implementation manuals. They tell you the steps to follow and the codes (in case you need to paste them on your site).
6. Add payment methods
In this step you only have to add the payment methods that you want to implement for your online store. For example: credit and debit cards, among other options.
7. Make a test transaction
The payment gateway provider itself provides you with a test or sandbox account , with which you can make a false transaction to verify that the entire process is effective.
Clever! You already have an essential tool for your e-commerce. We recommend that before starting the payment gateway, you carry out the test transaction that we indicate to prevent your clients from facing complications.
Now that you have more information about what a payment gateway is, which are the best on the market and how to have one on your website, all you have to do is decide on the one that best suits your needs. Remember that this tool is already a necessity for any digital business to be successful, as it helps the client to communicate better with you and offers a more agile and reliable user experience.
