The best ways to accept payments for your online store

The best ways to accept payments online |  5 minute read

With more people than ever before shopping online, there’s a whole host of exciting opportunities to sell a vast range of different products online.

However, in order to stay one step ahead of your competition in the digital world, it’s not only important that you have a fully responsive eCommerce website, but you also need to be ready to accept payments online too, no matter what size business you run.

Studies have shown that more consumers than ever before made an online payment in 2020 and this year, that figure is set to be even higher!

When it comes to accepting payments online, you will be pleased to hear that there are a whole host of different options that you can offer your customers. We have created a helpful guide offering just some of them.

Credit Cards and Debit Cards Online

 The vast majority of online customers will want to pay for their goods using a credit card or debit card. This is universally one of the post popular ways of buying items online.

When setting up online card payments, you will need to choose merchant account or use an intermediary holding account that is able to facilitate these payments.

Worldpay is the largest processing company in the UK, handling over 40% of all card transactions. They have a range of fees and payment options available, including:

• Pay As You Go – 25p set up fee, 10p per transaction gateway fee
• Fixed monthly – Monthly package from £49.99
• Standard – Monthly online payments gateway fee of £19.95, 10p per transaction, annual management fee £29.99

PayPal

PayPal is known as the top digital wallet in the UK and is used by thousands of businesses. In fact, over 20 million UK shoppers use  the platform each year in the UK, and 7 million businesses accept payments this way.

One of the main benefits of PayPal is that customers can pay directly through their PayPal account, with peace of mind that the payments are protected. You can also use PayPal to accept recurring payments or subscriptions, as well as send invoices.

Keep in mind that, as a business, you will have to pay fees to PayPal. Find out more here.

Google Pay

Google Pay is also incredibly popular and allows customers to send and receive money, store debit or credit card information and make online purchases. The main benefit of Google Pay is that merchants do not have to worry about making any fees when it comes to making payments online.

Amazon Pay

In recent years, Amazon Pay has increased in popularity when it comes to facilitating customers’ payments. The platform allows you to take customer payments directly via the customer’s existing Amazon account.

However, if you do choose to integrate this payment method within your website, you should be aware that all merchants will be charged 2.7% plus 30p for domestic UK transactions if their turnovers online are less than £50,000 per month.

Buy Now, Pay Later

Buy now, pay later schemes are incredibly popular at the moment, especially for those looking to spread the cost of a whole host of everyday items, from electrical goods and clothes through to shoes and furniture, many online businesses are now offering these schemes to their customers.

But how do they work? With buy now pay later schemes, payments are split into instalments, which are generally interest-free providing they are paid on time.

Klarna, for example, is a popular buy now, pay later platform. Using the platform, business can get paid in three ways:

• Pay now – immediate card payments
• Pay later – differed payments after delivery
• Split payments – lets customers pay over time

Of course, using platforms such as Klana does incur fees. For start-ups, there’s a transaction fee of 2.49%.

Speak to an eCommerce accountant

Once you’re set up and selling, it’s important to stay on top of your accounting. The best way to do this is by seeking the advice of an experienced, specialist eCommerce accountant who will have the expertise to help.

Get in touch! 

Here at Unicorn Accounting, our team of specialist e-commerce accountants is happy to chat about all of your eCommerce accounting needs including how to accept payments online. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s talk and maximise the growth of your e-commerce store.

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