In this article, you will learn:

1. How To Choose A Payment Provider?
2. Best Payment Method For Shopify
3. Conclusion

More and more Shopify businesses are selling overseas. While it’s much easier than ever to reach a global audience today, Shopify business owners have been facing a significant challenge. This challenge relates to the diverse set of preferences that global customers have regarding the checkout experience.

How the customers prefer to pay for the goods and services they purchase through a Shopify Store varies depending upon the geography they are located and a host of other factors.

For instance, the US and the UK markets that were previously high card penetration markets have now witnessed a significant shift towards digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay since these offer more security and convenience.

Likewise, markets like Germany and Malaysia prefer bank-based methods more relative to card-based methods for making online purchases. The underlying reason behind this is that the banking networks in these markets typically offer a faster and more secure checkout experience. This means that the users can authorize a payment using their online banking credentials.

Meanwhile, in markets like Mexico and Indonesia, where a large population is unbanked, popular payment methods allow customers to pay for online goods with cash using vouchers.

Accordingly, as a Shopify business, if you do not focus on creating a relevant and familiar payment experience for your customers, there are higher chances of losing an audience in a specific geography.

Given that the global payments environment has become quite complex and fragmented, it is important for you as a Shopify seller to choose a payment provider that makes it easy for your business to accept popular payment methods with a single integration.

In this article, we are going to discuss what is the best payment method for Shopify and what are the factors that you need to consider before choosing a payment provider for your Shopify business.

How To Choose A Payment Provider?

The following are the factors that you must consider before choosing a payment provider for your Shopify business.

1. Security

The most important factor that you must consider as a Shopify business before choosing a payment provider is security. That’s because you would not know how a cross-border payment provider processes the payment and what is its payment journey. As a result, you would always want a payment provider whom you can trust to handle such complicated issues.

Besides this, as an eCommerce seller, you would also want your payment provider who would keep your cash safely away from entities that are fraudulent or cybercriminals. Thus as a Shopify business, you must read the legal terms of service of each of the payment service providers to know what effective features each of them are offering to help you detect fraud.

2. Transparency

Besides security, another factor that you must consider is transparency. As a Shopify business, you would always want to invest in a payment provider who ensures that your transfers are done transparently and displays the transaction fee upfront.

In addition to offering transparency, you would want your service provider to make transfers quickly so that you don’t have to wait longer to receive payments.

Thus, choose a payment service provider that approves transactions faster, at a higher rate, and more often on the first try. This will help you grow your business and access your funds fast.

3. Convenience

You must ensure that the payment service provider you choose must offer convenience to the customers hitting your Shopify store.

The payment service providers can offer convenience to the customers by storing their payment or card information securely so that they do not have to re-enter such information each time they make purchases in your store.

Remember, seamless repeat purchases by customers improve the Lifetime Value of your customers as they keep coming back to make more purchases. Thus, payment providers must offer real-time account updating to automatically update card information at the time of purchase as it can convince your customers to come back for more purchases.

4. Secure Checkout Experience

Creating a great user experience while checking out is another important factor that you must consider.

Note that Shopify businesses that invest in transforming the front end of their apps, websites, or onboarding journeys can develop better and more rewarding relationships with their customers.

Thus, as a Shopify business, you must choose a payment provider that offers a simple user experience allowing customers to complete their checkouts within a few clicks.

Remember, fewer clicks can equal more conversions and just one click should be the ultimate goal. Also, ensure the payment provider that you choose offers customers a choice of the most popular payment options.

5. Seamless Backend

As a Shopify business owner, you must ensure that you invest in a payment provider that optimizes your entire payment infrastructure. The payment system offered by the provider should be such that it incorporates the partners, processes, and integration methodologies that help to make your payment operations successful.

Further, it should showcase through a dashboard what’s happening in your gateway, so that you can understand the reasons behind high decline rates and capture more sales. Besides this, the payment system must also offer excellent uptime so that you can mitigate unexpected outages and be there for consumers when they’re ready to buy.

6. Transaction Fees

Different payment gateways have varying fee structures, so consider the impact on your profit margins. Most payment providers charge a percentage fee for each transaction, typically around 2.9% to 3.5% for credit card transactions. This fee is based on the total order amount.

In addition to the percentage fee, payment providers may charge a fixed fee per transaction, usually around $0.30. This fee is applied to every sale, regardless of the order value. Be sure to factor in this fixed fee, as it can have a significant impact on smaller transactions.

Also, some payment providers offer volume discounts as your sales volume increases. This means that the percentage fee may decrease as you process more transactions. Thus, it’s important that you consider your projected sales volume, whether volume discounts are available, and how they would affect your costs.

Additionally, if you plan to sell internationally, be aware that some payment providers charge extra fees for processing transactions in foreign currencies. These fees can vary widely, so check for any additional charges for international sales.

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Best Payment Method For Shopify

Now that you know how to choose a payment provider, let’s analyze what are the best payment methods for Shopify from which you can choose the most appropriate one.

I. Shopify Payments

The simplest and best payment method for Shopify businesses to accept payments online is Shopify Payments. Shopify Payments is a payment processing solution offered by Shopify, a leading e-commerce platform.

It eliminates the struggle of setting up a third-party payment provider or merchant account and having to enter the credentials into Shopify. This means the moment you start your online store with Shopify Payments directly built into your Shopify platform, it’s ready to use. There is no need for you to set up and connect third-party payment gateways separately.

Furthermore, with Shopify Payments, you can manage all aspects of your online business, including products, orders, payments, and customer information, from a single dashboard. This streamlines the management of your Shopify store and reduces the need to switch between different systems.

The best part is setting up Shopify Payments is easy as it typically involves verifying your business information and linking your bank account. This means you don’t have to go through the hassle of coding or undertaking complex technical integration.

Moreover, as a Shopify business owner, you do not have to worry about the payments getting delayed from arriving in your merchant account. That’s because as soon as your customers make purchases on your Shopify store, payments are automatically captured and processed with Shopify Payments. This automation minimizes manual tasks and ensures that funds are deposited into your bank account efficiently.

Also, you do not have to worry about data breaches and fraud as Shopify Payments is designed with security in mind. It is PCI DSS compliant which means that your customer payment data is handled securely.

Advantages

1. Automatic Payment Capture

One of the major advantages of using Shopify Payments is that your payments for customer orders are automatically captured and processed. This means that as soon as your customers make purchases on your Shopify store, the funds from such orders are automatically captured and deposited into your bank account. This reduces the need for manual payment processing and simplifies order management.

2. Multiple Payment Methods

Shopify Payments supports various payment methods, including major credit cards and debit cards like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, etc.; digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc., and other region-specific payment options. By enabling popular payment methods, you present your customers with a smooth checkout experience. This will help you boost conversions as it makes shopping simple for your customers.

3. Multi-Currency Support

With Shopify Payments, you as a Shopify merchant can sell your products or services in multiple currencies. This feature allows you to target a global customer base. Besides this, Shopify Payments offers competitive currency conversion rates, thereby helping you to boost your bottom line.

4. Reduced Cart Abandonment

Shopify Payments offers a smooth hassle-free, customized checkout experience for your customers. When your customers reach the checkout page, they see a familiar and secure payment process that aligns with the overall look and feel of your Shopify store.

This helps in creating a sense of trust and familiarity in the customers’ minds, making them more likely to complete their purchase. As a result, it can help you reduce cart abandonment rates and enhance the conversion rates of your Shopify store.

Limitations

1. Limited Availability By Region And Industry

Shopify Payments is not available in all countries. It’s primarily accessible in those countries where Shopify has established banking partnerships. Therefore, if your Shopify store operates in regions without Shopify Payments support, you will need to use alternative payment gateways.

Likewise, if your Shopify store deals in products hailing from high-risk industries, you may not be eligible for Shopify Payments. For instance, businesses selling items such as adult content, tobacco, firearms, or other restricted goods may need to seek alternative payment solutions.

2. Currency Support

As mentioned earlier, Shopify Payments supports multiple currencies. However, it may not offer currency conversion for all currencies. In some cases, you may need a third-party currency conversion solution, which means additional costs for your Shopify business.

3. Limited Third-Party Integrations

Shopify Payments may not integrate seamlessly with some third-party tools or apps that you may use for specific needs. Therefore, as a Shopify business, you must ensure that your preferred integrations are compatible.

II. Paypal

PayPal is a widely used online payment service provider that allows both individuals and businesses to make and receive payments over the Internet. Due to the broad range of features that it offers to its users, PayPal has become one of the most popular and trusted platforms for online transactions.

One of the primary aspects of choosing PayPal as the payment service provider for your Shopify business is that it allows your customers to link their bank accounts, credit cards, or debit cards to their PayPal accounts. Once their bank accounts or cards get linked, your customers can then make payments to your Shopify store by simply entering their email address or mobile number associated with their PayPal account.

Another key aspect of PayPal as a payment service provider is that it is available in many countries and supports multiple currencies, thereby making it suitable for international transactions. Besides this, it offers currency conversion services, allowing your Shopify store to send and receive payments in various currencies.

Furthermore, to help you accept payments online and in physical stores, PayPal also provides a host of business solutions. These services include PayPal Checkout, PayPal for Business, and PayPal Here.

Also, the aspect that makes PayPal one of the most trusted payment service providers is the robust security it offers to you as an online business. PayPal makes use of encryption technology to protect your customers’ financial information. To give added security to your customers, PayPal allows them to enable two-factor authentication. Besides this, PayPal also offers fraud protection and dispute resolution services to protect you and your customers from existing and evolving threats.

Advantages

1. International Transactions

One of the primary advantages of choosing PayPal as a payment service provider is that it supports multiple currencies and allows you to send and receive payments internationally. Furthermore, it also provides currency conversion services, thereby simplifying cross-border transactions for your Shopify store.

2. Security

As mentioned earlier, PayPal adopts robust security measures to protect you and your customers from existing and evolving threats. PayPal securely processes your customers’ payments as its security platform is designed in such a way that it gets smarter with each transaction.

Thus, it helps you manage your bottom line and your customers with its experience, global reach, and fraud-protection technology. On eligible purchases, PayPal can even help your business avoid chargebacks, reversals, and fees – even when you’re facing a customer dispute.

3. Business Tools

PayPal offers a host of tools and solutions for your Shopify business, including PayPal Checkout, payment processing APIs, and invoicing services. These tools can help you accept payments online and manage your finances.

Limitations

1. Fees

Note that for certain types of transactions, PayPal charges fees, specifically for business and cross-border payments. These fees can impact the overall cost of using the service. Make sure that you review PayPal’s fee structure to understand the costs associated with different transactions.

2. Account Holds

PayPal is known for placing holds or freezes on accounts, especially when it detects some unusual or high-risk activity. This can be frustrating for you as a Shopify business, as it can lead to delayed access to funds.

3. Customer Support

Some customers have reported challenges with PayPal’s customer support. According to the reports, reaching PayPal’s live representatives for assistance can be difficult, and resolution times for account issues may be lengthy. Therefore, do read customer reviews to check for customer support issues.

4. Limited Availability

Though PayPal is available in many countries, it may not be accessible everywhere. Accordingly, if your Shopify store is doing business in regions with limited PayPal support, you may encounter challenges using PayPal’s payment service.

III. Stripe

Another widely used online payment provider is Stripe. Stripe offers a range of payment processing services and tools for your Shopify business so that it’s easy for you to accept and manage payments online.

One of the key features that make Stripe a widely used payment provider is that it enables you as a Shopify business to accept payments online through various methods, including credit and debit cards, digital wallets, and localized payment methods specific to certain regions.

Furthermore, it supports 135+ currencies thereby making it easy for your online business to launch new markets and add your customers’ preferred way of paying to increase conversion abroad.

Besides this, Stripe is known for its developer-friendly approach. It provides robust APIs and documentation. Thus, the development team of your Shopify business can integrate Stripe’s payment processing capabilities into your website and application to customize the payment experience for your customers as per need.

Furthermore, to prevent you as an online merchant from fraud, Stripe uses sophisticated machine learning that’s trained daily on data from millions of global businesses. It helps you distinguish fraudsters from customers and applies Dynamic 3D Secure to high-risk payments. The best part is that Stripe’s fraud protection technology integrates seamlessly with other products, like Checkout, so you can access the full Stripe platform.

Besides this, Stripe also helps you optimize payment authorization or acceptance rates of your Shopify store as it has direct integrations with global card networks and issuers. This reduces latency, improves reliability, and gives you access to the latest features and enhanced data fields that help optimize acceptance.

Advantages

1. Ease Of Integration

Stripe offers a user-friendly and well-documented Application Programming Interface (API) that developers in your team find easy to integrate into your website, mobile app, and Shopify store. Besides this, it also provides code libraries and developer resources, thereby making it easy for your team developers to implement and customize payment solutions.

2. Subscription Management

If your Shopify store is looking to offer subscription-based services or products, then Stripe provides robust subscription management tools for your business. It provides an API that manages various aspects of your subscription lifecycle, including pausing, resuming, upgrading, downgrading, and canceling subscriptions.

In addition to handling the subscription lifecycle, Stripe’s subscription management API can handle prorations when your customers change their subscription plans mid-cycle.

Also, you as a subscription-based business can implement a dunning management system to handle failed payments using Stipe. That’s because Stripe provides automated dunning emails and retries to help recover revenue from failed payments.

3. Marketplace Payments

Again, if your business offers an online marketplace and a gig economy platform, then Stripe provides powerful tools for managing payments for such businesses. This makes it easier for your online marketplace to facilitate transactions between buyers and sellers within their platforms.

For instance, in a marketplace, there are multiple sellers or service providers who need to receive payments. Stripe allows you as an online marketplace to create connected accounts for each of these sellers. These connected accounts are essentially sub-accounts linked to your main Stripe account. Once this is done, you can define the payout schedule for connected accounts, specifying when and how sellers can receive their funds. Besides this, you can split payments between yourself as the platform operator and multiple sellers.

As an online marketplace platform, you can even collect fees from sellers for using your marketplace platform through Stripe as it allows you to define fee structures and deduct fees automatically when processing transactions.

Limitations

1. Restricted Country Availability

Though Stripe is available in many countries, it may not be accessible in all regions. Stripe’s availability varies by region and the company has its policies and criteria for expansion into new markets. It may have specific restrictions or limitations in certain countries or regions due to regulatory, compliance, or business considerations. As a result, such restrictions can impact the ability of your Shopify business in those regions to use Stripe’s services.

2. Customization Complexity

While Stripe provides great flexibility and a developer-friendly approach, customizing certain aspects of the checkout experience or payment processing can be complex if you do not have technical expertise. This may require the assistance of a development team with the necessary skills to handle the customization and integration of Stripe into your platform.

Also Read: Best Banks For To Use For Startups Incorporated In The USA

IV. Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is a payment service provider offered by Amazon, one of the world’s largest e-commerce companies.

The payment solution allows you as a Shopify business to offer your customers a convenient and familiar way to make online payments using the payment methods stored in their Amazon accounts.

What this means is that with Amazon Pay, your customers can complete their purchases with a single click, especially when they are logged into their Amazon accounts on supported websites. This eliminates the need for them to re-enter their payment and shipping information for every purchase they make on your Shopify store. Further, it saves time, enhances convenience, and reduces friction for your customers.

Also, your customers can use their existing Amazon account credentials to log in and pay on third-party websites. Such familiarity simplifies the login process for your customers and reduces the number of accounts and passwords they need to remember.

Furthermore, Amazon Pay allows your customers to select shipping addresses associated with their Amazon accounts. This means your customers can choose from their existing shipping addresses, further streamlining the checkout process for them.

To streamline the checkout experience further, ​​Amazon Pay supports a variety of payment methods that your customers can use to make purchases. Your customers can use the credit or debit cards stored in their Amazon.com accounts to make payments on your Shopify store thereby making the checkout process more convenient. Note that Amazon Pay accepts major credit cards, such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.

Additionally, Amazon Pay employs a range of measures to help protect against fraud and ensure the security of your customer transactions. These measures are designed to safeguard both you and your customers who use Amazon Pay for online payments. For instance, multi-factor authentication, device fingerprinting, fraud detection algorithms, machine learning for fraud detection, encryption protocols for data transmission, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, transaction monitoring, and chargeback protection are few of the security measures to protect you and your customers from fraudsters.

Also, to provide a tailored and consistent customer experience, Amazon Pay offers a degree of customization to Shopify businesses to offer their customers an easy, secure, and fast way to check out on their Shopify store.

Advantages

1. Convenience

Amazon Pay offers a high level of convenience for customers who make purchases on your Shopify store, thus making their online shopping and payment process smoother and more user-friendly.

With Amazon Pay, your customers can complete their purchases with a single click, when they are logged into their Amazon accounts on your Amazon Pay-supported Shopify store. This means there is no need for them to enter their payment and shipping information for every purchase they make in your store, thus saving time and simplifying checkout.

Furthermore, to make payments, your customers can use payment methods already stored in their Amazon accounts, including credit and debit cards, bank accounts, and Amazon Pay Balance. This means they need not type in their card numbers for every purchase they make on your Shopify store.

Also, Amazon Pay is mobile-friendly. This allows your customers to use it on their mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, making it convenient for on-the-go shopping.

To add on, your customers can access their order history and manage their purchases within the Amazon Pay portal, thus providing transparency and control over their transactions. They can even use Amazon Pay to process returns and refunds for their purchases, making the return process more straightforward and user-friendly.

2. Customer Acquisition

Amazon Pay can be a valuable tool for your business as it can help acquire new customers and drive growth. When you choose to provide Amazon Pay as a payment service provider on your Shopify store, you can tap into Amazon’s extensive customer base and leverage the trust associated with the Amazon brand.

Limitations

1. Customer Dependency On Amazon Accounts

Your customers can complete their purchases in a single click using Amazon Pay if they are logged into their Amazon accounts on your Amazon Pay-supported Shopify store. This means your customers need not enter their payment and shipping information for every purchase they make in your store. However, this advantage may turn into a limitation for those customers who don’t have or use Amazon accounts as they may not be able to use this payment method.

2. Customer Data Access

To use Amazon Pay, your potential customers must grant permission for you as a Shopify business to access their Amazon account information, including their name, email address, and shipping address. Some customers may have concerns about privacy and data security and hence may hesitate to share their personal information on your Shopify store.

3. Limited Merchant Support

Amazon Pay may not be available for all types of businesses or industries. Some high-risk industries or niche markets may face limitations when using this payment method. If your Shopify sells products that hail from high-risk industries, you might have to consider alternative payment methods.

V. Authorize.net

Authorize.Net is another widely used payment gateway and merchant services provider that facilitates online payment processing for your Shopify business. It enables you to accept various forms of electronic payments, including credit cards, debit cards, and electronic checks. This allows your customers to choose the payment types they prefer thus making the checkout experience seamless for them.

To protect you and your customers from any suspicious and potentially fraudulent transactions, Authorize.net has a built-in fraud tool. Its Advanced Fraud Detection Suite comes with 13 easily configurable fraud filters that help your Shopify store set up proper minimum transaction thresholds, payment velocity settings, country limitations, and more to help prevent processing fraudulent transactions. Advanced Fraud Detection Suite filters are built directly into the Authorize.net platform.

Then, Authorize.net incorporates a Customer Information Manager (CIM) that allows your customers to store sensitive payment information on their secure servers. Thus, there is no need for your customers to enter their payment details each time they visit your Shopify store to make a purchase. This not only streamlines checkout for repeat customers but also simplifies compliance with payment card industry standards (PCI DSS).

Also, Authorize.net, like any other great payment gateway provider allows you to accept the payment methods that your customers prefer. It allows you to accept most forms of payment, including credit cards, EMV chip cards, digital payments, and more. This makes the customers’ experience seamless as well as allows them to choose the payment types they prefer.

Furthermore, to make the customers’ experience all the more seamless, Authorize.net also offers an Automated Recurring Billing (ARB) feature to you as a merchant. This allows your subscription-based or repeat customers a flexible way to pay via credit card or directly from their bank account. That is, your subscription-based or repeat customers will not have to manually re-enter their billing or payment details at every transaction they make on your Shopify store. To enable this feature, all you need to do is create a subscription in your Merchant Interface or integrate Authorize.net’s ARB API to customize your online payment form.

Besides all the above features, one of the other important features that Authorize.net provides you as a merchant is Simple Checkout. As the name suggests, the Simple Checkout feature makes the checkout process easy for your customers by providing your Shopify store with a Buy Button or a Donation Button. When your customers click on either the Buy Button or Donation Button, they are taken to Authorize.net’s secure hosted payment form wherein they are required to enter their payment information that is all PCI DSS compliant.

Advantages

1. Secure Payment Processing

Authorize.Net is PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) compliant, which means it adheres to strict security standards to protect the sensitive payment data of your customers.

2. Recurring Billing and Subscriptions

As a Shopify store, you can set up recurring billing and subscription payment models with Authorize.Net, making it suitable for your subscription services, membership fees, and installment payments.

3. Fraud Prevention Tools

Authorize.Net offers a suite of fraud prevention tools and customizable security settings to help you detect and prevent fraudulent transactions, thereby reducing chargeback risks. Furthermore, it supports 3D Secure, an additional layer of security for online credit and debit card transactions, enhancing security for you as well as your customers.

4. Developer-Friendly APIs

Authorize.Net offers robust APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) that developers can use to integrate payment processing into websites, mobile apps, and custom e-commerce platforms. This flexibility supports tailored solutions.

Limitations

1. Transaction And Gateway Fees

Authorize.Net charges transaction fees for each payment processed, in addition to any fees charged by your merchant account provider. These fees can add up, particularly for businesses with a high volume of transactions. In addition to per-transaction fees, Authorize.Net typically charges a monthly gateway fee. This ongoing cost should be factored into your budget.

2. Merchant Account Required

To use Authorize.Net, you must have a separate merchant account with an acquiring bank. The process of setting up and maintaining a merchant account can be time-consuming and may involve additional fees.

Conclusion

There are a host of other payment providers that you can consider. These include Opayo, WorldPay from FIS, Klarna, Verifone, Amazon Pay, and many more. Before selecting any one of them, you must always compare the features, transaction fee, security, and checkout experience that each of these offer. This will help you in selecting the payment provider that meets all of your requirements as a merchant as well as offers security and convenience to your customers.

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