Starting an Online Business? Here’s How to Accept Payments

You’ve recently started an online business and are looking for the best ways to accept payments from your customers via the web. You’ve got your website all set up and a product or service to provide. All you need is a few different ways to collect your money. But what is the best way to accept payments online?

Figuring out the best (and cheapest) ways to accept payments online for your specific business can sound overwhelming because there are so many options to choose from – it’s easy to make the wrong choice and lose out on potential sales as a result.

If you’re looking for information on how to accept payments online and are wondering what the best methods are to do so, you’ve come to the right place!

In this article, we’ll give you a few tips that’ll aid you in figuring out how to accept payment for your online business, including the cheapest way to accept credit cards! Here are some of the major recommendations you’ll come across when looking for the best way to accept payments online.

Credit Cards

The ability to process credit cards is an absolute must for any small business. But if you’re not familiar with the process, you could lose some serious cash over time as a result.

When you’re processing a credit card, there’s often a processing fee that has to be paid. But don’t let that turn you off of the idea of accepting credit cards directly at all. This shouldn’t be a major deterrent that prevents you from leveraging this popular payment option. There are plenty of ways to do so that are friendly to even the smallest of businesses.

The best way to avoid losing part of your revenue because of this fee is to charge customers a small convenience fee for processing their card. This is pretty standard. In fact, you probably pay this fee all the time when you use your credit card. Don’t worry about this fee discouraging customers from doing business with you.

Doing this means free credit card processing for you, which can really help you out, especially if your business is just getting started. Although you’ll find a wider array of options for accepting payments, making sure you can process credit cards is arguably the best way to accept payments online when catering to a general customer base.

eChecks

Although not typically considered when figuring out how to accept payment for online business, another popular payment method online businesses love to use is eChecks. If you’ve never heard of the term eChecks, don’t overthink it. They’re exactly what they sound like.

Not only is accepting eChecks easy to do, but they’re also much safer and more reliable than traditional checks. This way, you can have peace of mind knowing that you’re actually getting your money when you think you are, which is an added bonus.

Most credit card processing companies deal with eChecks as well, so you can probably have both handled by the same team. Just make sure you have a firm understanding of what it will cost on your end to process the eChecks so you can adjust your prices accordingly.

Apple Pay

Over 250 million people in the United States have an iPhone in their posession right now. It only makes sense that Apple would then create a payment method for all of those users to easily make purchases with. This is why it has quickly become the best way to accept payments online for those who want to offer a more seamless buying experience to their customers.

Apple Pay is extremely popular, which is why it’s a good idea to set up an account for your business. Offering a familiar payment method can help increase your chances of making a sale, and Apple Pay is pretty easy to work with on your end.

Again, setting up your Apple Pay merchant account is easy, which is perfect for those who don’t want to have to undergo extensive processes when learning how to accept payment for online business. Best of all? There are no processing fees, so you don’t have to worry about adjusting your prices when dealing with Apple Pay.

Google Pay

Google Pay is nearly identical to Apple Pay, offering the same type of seamless payment experience that makes the above one of the best ways to accept payments online.

One neat bonus of dealing with Google Pay is, if you’re working with Gmail, you can easily send and receive payments in your messages. So if you’re someone who does a lot of business via e-mail, this could be something that makes the payment collecting process that much easier for you.

PayPal

PayPal is also a popular way for online businesses to accept payments. Using PayPal is easy for both you and your customers, so it can come in handy during the collecting process, but it’s worth noting that PayPal also charges a small processing fee. In fact, PayPal is one of the most expensive ways to collect payments online at the moment (an obvious potential downside when seeking out the best way to accept payments online), so you may want to consider other options on this list first if you can.

Shopify

If you’re looking for a way to easily sell products online, Shopify is worth checking out. Shopify will help you create an aesthetically-pleasing online store with an easy-to-use payment processing solution built-in.

Customers will make transactions on your Shopify and pay on the platform directly, so it’s convenient for everyone involved. They have a multitude of plans, depending on what works best for your business, that are competitive with the other options on this list.

Not as Hard as it Sounds

Hopefully, the list above has taught you not only how to accept payment for online business but provided you a list to help you find the best way to accept payments online as well.

First and foremost, you want to make sure that you can accept credit cards- that’s your bread and butter. Then consider additional wireless payment options like Apple Pay, Google Wallet, and PayPal. Remember, the more options you have and the easier it is for a customer to make a payment, the more likely it is that you will make a sale.

Looking for a credit card and eCheck processing company for your online business? Contact us at Seamless Chex today. We’ll be glad to assist you!