It is a very important process to choose a payment gateway for all kinds of e-commerce businesses. There are many factors that must be considered before finalizing the decision. It may be confusing and stressful as there are many Payment Processing Companies in the market and each promising better than the other.
We understand how overwhelmed you must be, and in order to make the task easier, this article will help you with ways to select the best online payment gateway or payment processor company for your business.
Tips to Choose the Online Payment Gateway
The following are a few of the tips that will aid and guide you in finalizing your decision. They are as follows.
- Payment Methods Preferences
The most important factor for your company is the payment methods of the customer. You must first learn all the possibilities of the processor companies. Make sure you select according to your customer’s preference and not according to you. For instance, if you select a company where they accept all kinds of cards except for the Credit Card, whereas your Credit Card usage customers are high, then it is a loss for you and also for the processor company. This way, you will end up in loss as the customers will prefer where they find it convenient to use their credit cards. Hence, make sure you do a little research about the market, your customer’s preference and also the processor companies to avoid any unfavorable circumstances in the future.
- Fees
No matter what type of business you are involved in, the first main priority is money. Your company may gain profit if the cost is low. Look at the charges of the payment processor companies. When you take a close look at the processing companies, you will generally come across three types of fee structure. They are the
- Transaction fee
- Monthly fee and
- Setup fee
Some may require a fee for the membership, monthly bill or just for using their service. There are also few companies that will charge a fee for every transaction while others will just go for the flat cut. Set-up fees are known to be small as they are the expense for a one-time fee that will be encountered when the payment gateway is being set-up.
Few of the payment gateways companies do not charge any fee for the set-up but their transaction charges are more likely to be higher. This factor can be best determined by the product’s selling price and marginal profit. If the price for the selling and profit is high for your product, then go for those payment gateways companies that charge a set-up fee for one-time and the transaction fee is also much lower.
The company’s budget must be kept in mind before researching the charges and the fee structure.
- Recurring Billing
This will aid you in settling up an automated billing cycle for those customers who work on the subscription process. For the businesses that work with plans of the monthly payment, Recurring Billing is very important. Also, it has proved to be beneficial as it allows the organizations to collect the funds easily from repeated contributors.
- Company Background Check
Once you have shortlisted few payment processing companies, make sure you check out the company’s background as well. Do not blindly believe the third person or by its fame in the market. You trust your hard-earned money to them. So you must be careful and alert instead of suffering at the end. Check out their past records or any problems or blacklists through blogs and forums.
Make sure you consult a professional before finalizing your contract with the company. Also, consult as many as possible and seek their advice. Look out for the company’s clients as well and get the reviews first-hand. When you are in a business that sells online, you are playing the role of the merchant, where you must expect a fast solution to any of the related issues or problems. Ensure your payment gateways companies have very little or most likely zero downtime in the maintenance period. The downtime is very important as it may result in the business revenue loss.
- Business Nature
Ensure you know your business nature. Also, make sure your payment processing companies support your business or not because few processing companies have specific terms and conditions in choosing the business nature. Though most of the companies usually go for all kinds of business, few of them reconsider the businesses that are high-risk. A few of the high-risk sectors are as follows.
- Tobacco
- Gambling
- Electronic Cigarettes
- Debt Collection
- Credit Repair
- Diet Programmes
Hence, it is very crucial that you and your company know the nature of your business for the smooth sailing process in the future.
- Mobile Payments
Very soon, mobile payments will take over credit card payments. This method allows paying through mobile without using any card through apps or the sites that are optimized by mobiles. The initial step of mobile payment is on way and is also considered as one of the safest methods of payment which includes credit and debit payments.
When you are new to the business world, you will first dismiss the idea. But very soon you will realize how important it is for your business. It will very soon replace debit and credit cards as once the cards replaced the currencies and notes. The mobile payments will introduce you to the future world and also give you a great opportunity to adopt the futuristic style early which will drag your future customers to you automatically. It is always better to be updated than updating after facing a loss in your business. To stay strong in the market, you must be well prepared and also stay ahead of your competitors. Only then you will survive in the tough race.
Hence, these are a few of the tips to help you select your payment processing companies. No matter what company you choose, make sure you select the best and the most convenient one that helps you grow your business.
