There is no way around this. Your entire business revolves around getting paid.

That’s why you starting selling online in the first place, right? To make money.

But there are tons of different options for accepting payments online. Whether you have an existing ecommerce platform or if you’re starting an ecommerce site from scratch, your payment gateway needs to be a priority.

You need to have options in place that will be appealing to all of your customers.

That’s because everyone has different preferences. So you should consider adding multiple payment methods to your ecommerce site.

I realize that not all of these options will be equal in terms of the cost that you’re paying to implement them on your site. But in the long run, those fractions of a percentage won’t make that much of a difference when you weigh them against the revenue from your sales.

You won’t think twice about it once your conversion rates start skyrocketing.

For those of you who are ready to take your ecommerce platform to the next level, I’ve narrowed down the best payment methods for a fast and secure checkout process in 2019. These are the top options for you to consider.

1. Stripe

Stripe is one of the top payment methods on the market today because it’s so versatile.

It’s a great choice for ecommerce shops, subscription services, or on-demand marketplaces. So for those of you who operate a business with multiple processes and services, this is definitely something that you should take into consideration.

Another top feature of Stripe is the ability for you to set up recurring payments from your customers.

It supports payments online, as well as in-person. So if you currently have a brick and mortar store, you can add a Stripe POS system in addition to the gateway on your ecommerce site. This way you can remain consistent across both marketplaces.

Studies show that brands using Stripe have increased revenue by 6.7% after implementing the payment gateway. With Stripe, you’ll have 81% fewer outages and 24% less operating costs compared to competing payment methods.

Another reason why I love Stripe is because you’ll have the option to customize your checkout process with the Stripe UI toolkit.

Stripe accepts all major credit cards and debit cards from all countries, including:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• American Express
• Discover
• JCB (Japan)
• UnionPay (China)

You can also integrate some alternative payment options into your Stripe payment gateway. Some of these we’ll discuss in greater detail as we continue through this guide.

• ACH transfers
• American Express Checkout
• Masterpass
• Visa Checkout
• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• Microsoft Pay

It’s great for those of you who are using your ecommerce platform to drive sales from mobile users.

Stripe’s standard pricing is simple. As a merchant, it will cost you 2.9% + $0.30 for every card charge. There will be an additional 1% charge for international cards.

For ACH transfers, your cost is 0.8% of the transaction with a $5 maximum fee.

Additionally, Stripe offers customized pricing options for those of you who have a unique business model or have large volume payments. You’ll get discounts for volume and multi-product rates, as well as some country-specific rates if you’re targeting an international market.

Stripe has exceptional tech support and customer service. You can reach representatives 24/7 via phone, live chat, or email. Overall, it’s definitely one of the top payment methods for you to use on your ecommerce site.

2. PayPal

PayPal is a name that I’m sure most of you are already familiar with. The company has a reputation that speaks for itself when it comes to ease of use, reliability, and security.

This is why you should consider adding PayPal to your website.

According to Statista, there are 277 million active PayPal users across the world in 2019. That number is up from 237 million from the beginning of 2018.

Simply put, there are tons of users, and they are continuing to grow.

For those of you who don’t have a well-established name brand yet, the PayPal button can help put your customers at ease. They know that PayPal has their back for security.

Plus, people might have a PayPal balance that they want to use for spending, as opposed to charging a credit card or debit card.

PayPal is the most commonly used digital wallet in the world. Here’s something else for you to consider.

Websites with PayPal checkout options convert at an 82% higher rate than sites without PayPal.

With PayPal for ecommerce you can accept:

• Credit cards
• Debit cards
• PayPal
• Venmo
• PayPal Credit

Any ecommerce sale in the US will cost you 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. International sales are a bit more expensive, with 4.4% per transaction, plus a fixed amount depending on the country the purchase came from.

3. Apple Pay

Apple controls over 54% of the mobile vendor market share in the United States. So it’s safe to say there are more than a fair share of people in America walking around with iPhones in their pockets.

Apple Pay is the digital wallet for iOS users.

Once people set it up on their devices, they can pay for items with just one click. This is great news for your ecommerce shop. You no longer have to worry about people being turned off by filling out long form fields with their credit card numbers and billing addresses.

All of that information is safely stored in Apple Pay.

For users who are shopping on your mobile site or mobile app, they can finalize the payment just by using a fingerprint or facial recognition. It doesn’t get much easier than that.

In addition to your ecommerce site, mobile site, and mobile app, Apple Pay can also be accepted in-person at brick and mortar stores.

One of the top highlights of this payment gateway is the fact that Apple doesn’t charge any additional fees to merchants for accepting Apple Pay.

4. Square

Square is commonly associated with its POS systems for in-person payments. But it also has ecommerce options for your website.

This is a great choice for those of you who have physical retail locations and plan to start selling online, especially if you already have a Square POS system. It’s also a great option if you’re planning to open retail locations in addition to your ecommerce shop.

Square is priced competitively compared to the other methods on our list.

There is no monthly fee for adding the Square payment gateway to your website. They charge you 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, just like Stripe and PayPal.

Integrating Square to your ecommerce platform is easy. Some of their ecommerce partners include:

• Wix
• WooCommerce
• GoCentral Online Store
• Ecwid
• 3DCart
• OpenCart
• Magento
• Miva
• Drupal Commerce
• X-Cart
• Zen Cart
• ShipStation
• Mercato
• Unbound Commerce
• WordPress
• nopCommerce
• WP EasyCart
• Sociavore

So if you’re currently using one of these platforms for your ecommerce shop, adding Square will be a breeze.

5. American Express

American Express doesn’t necessarily dominate the market share of credit cards. But it has some of the highest consumer satisfaction rates in the industry.

In fact, American Express ranked second only to Discover in a 2018 study by JD Power.

The study ranked customer satisfaction on a 1,000-point scale. American Express was given a score of 830, while Discover barely edged them out with a score of 836.

The only downside of American Express is that they have a reputation of siding with the consumer in cases of disputes, which is probably why their satisfaction rates are so high.

But with that said, they offer fraud protection for merchants as well, with 24/7 access to customer support.

Amex payments can be processed in more than 170 different countries.

The added service and benefits of American Express does come at a price. Pricing starts at $20 per month for the Amex payment gateway.

Their lowest rate comes with up to 100 transactions included before you’re charged $0.12 per additional transaction over 100. For $25 per month, you get 350 transactions included with $0.11 per additional transaction. $55 per month gets you 1,000 transactions before you’re charged $0.08 per transaction after you reach the 1,000 mark.

Depending on the plan you choose, you’ll pay a one-time setup fee of $99, $175, or $250.

Additional features like payment tokenization and Accertify fraud protection professional upgrades cost $20 per month and $24.95 per month, respectively.

But if your ecommerce store can generate hundreds or thousands of Amex transactions per month, these fees will be well worth it.

6. Masterpass

Masterpass is a way for you to target customers who are Mastercard holders.

It’s a fast and secure way for those people to pay through your ecommerce shop or mobile app. They won’t need to type in their credit card numbers and billing information if they already have Masterpass set up on their devices.

It’s very easy to integrate Masterpass on your ecommerce site or mobile app.

The payment method comes with advanced security. It has standard features like fraud monitoring, tokenization, and user verification.

There are no additional fees to you or the customer if you accept Masterpass on your ecommerce site.

7. Visa Checkout

Similar to the services offered by Mastercard, Visa Checkout is a digital wallet for Visa customers.

In the United States alone, there are more than 337 million people with a Visa card. That number skyrockets to 781 million when you factor in the Visa cards worldwide.

It’s a great way to target those people on your ecommerce site and mobile app.

82% of consumers who have enrolled in Visa Checkout have used that payment method to complete an online transaction. More than 20 million people have enrolled in Visa Checkout.

Furthermore, more and more merchants are accepting this payment method. Over 300,000 businesses now accept Visa Checkout.

So if your competitors have this on their website, you need to make sure that you do as well.

8. Google Pay

Last, but certainly not least, on our list is another digital wallet offered by one of the most recognizable names in the world; Google.

Google Pay is made for ecommerce shops, mobile apps, and in-person checkouts.

Industry giants like Airbnb and StubHub have already added Google Pay to their checkout processes. After integrating the new Google Pay API to their site, StubHub saw a 600% increase in unique visitors buying with Google Pay.

Customers are slowly but surely starting to get more familiar with it.

Google Pay is very easy to integrate into your ecommerce platform. Just gain access to the API and add it your site. After you run some tests it will be good to go.

It’s also worth noting that Google Pay can be integrated with other payment methods that you might already be using on your site, like Shopify, as well as some of the other ones we’ve already covered on this list, like Stripe and Square.

Conclusion

Your ecommerce site is useless if you can’t get paid. It’s time for you to realize that all of your customers don’t have the same preferences.

You need to give them as many options as possible to increase your conversion rates.

Digital wallets are growing in popularity. It’s easier for customers to use these alternative payment methods as opposed to manually typing out their payment information. By reducing friction in your checkout process, you’ll be able to drive more sales and reduce shopping cart abandonment rates.

That’s why you should consider adding these payment methods to your ecommerce site. The more options you have, the better it will be for you in the long run.

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