Do you sell products and services online? Are you interested in doing it? If so, then you’ll likely want to know how to accept credit card payments for your store. The good news is that accepting credit card payments is easier than you might think. You don’t even need a Merchant Account if you don’t want to make one right away.
Why You Should Accept Credit Cards
Let’s address the “why” before looking at the “how.” You might be wondering why you should take card payments in the first place. Here are some of the advantages of accepting card payments.
- It Adds Legitimacy
Just having the MasterCard or Visa logo on your website is enough to make your website seem more legitimate and trustworthy. It tells people that you are a legitimate business. These are the most well-known payment processors in the word so having those logos on your website instils a sense of trust and legitimacy in people who have never heard of you before.
- Get International Sales
One benefit of doing business online is that you get business from people around the world. Accepting credit cards means that you can do business with any country you are willing to ship to and accept payments without any issues. Think of how many more people you’ll have access to by opening your virtual borders.
- It’s Faster
It only takes a few seconds for customers to put in their credit card information and for that information to be verified. Electronic payments like PayPal are efficient but they have extra steps like logging in and confirming amounts. Not everyone is willing to sit through all that. Having something as fast as credit cards is a great get.
Which Credit Card Method is Best?
There are two main ways to accept credit card payments. Each method has advantages and disadvantages. They are accepting credit card payments through a third-party and using a merchant account.
Third-Party Payments
Some companies will accept credit card payments on your behalf and handle all the merchant account stuff, for a nominal fee of course. These services are also called payment gateways. They are the easiest option to implement.
- Easy to start
- No need for a merchant account
- Allow you to test credit card payments
- Process is handled almost entirely by the other group
- Reduced risk of chargebacks and fraud
- Increased transaction fees
Merchant Accounts
This method requires you to create a merchant account with your bank that you can use to accept payments. You’ll be charged some fees for this, but the fees are often lower than with a third-party.
- Better for big merchants
- More control
- Reduced transaction fees
- Increased risk of chargebacks and fraud
How to Accept Credit Card Payments with Payment Gateways
If you go the third-party route your first step will be choosing a partner to go with. There are plenty to choose from, each with different benefits and drawbacks. Here are the most common payment gateways for accepting credit card payments.
- PayPal
Not everyone is a big fan of PayPal, but you can’t argue with this level of brand recognition. The company also offers an excellent service with no setup or monthly charges, handy built-in invoicing tools, easy installation, low fees, fraud reduction, and quick access to your money.
- Stripe
Stripe is one of the leading, most used credit card processors in the world. Just recently they raised another huge round of funding (source) and secured a 95 billion valuation. It is one of the most streamlined platforms for credit card payments. It can be used in over 40 countries and integrates easily with huge platforms like wordpress, woocommerce or shopify.
- net
Authorize.net is another recognisable name in the business. The service is used by hundreds of thousands of people. Authorize.net offers low setup fees and charges just $0.10 per transaction.
- CCNow
The low start-up fees and low $0.40 per transaction, CCNow is an excellent choice for selling digital and physical goods. Another bonus? It integrates seamlessly with WordPress.
- Kagi
Kagi is one of the best choices for people selling software rather than digital goods.
- ClickBank
ClickBank is one of the largest digital product marketplaces you’ll ever find. If you have some form of online membership program or a digital good such as an eBook or video course, ClickBank could be the right choice for you. The service is most known for its army of affiliate sellers, which can help you grow your business and boost traffic and sales.
How to Accept Credit Cards on Your Website
The good news is that it’s super easy to accept credit cards on a website. There are several options available to you no matter how you built your website – whether you used a website builder such as WordPress or had someone custom-make your website.
Most people use website builders because of their ease of use. The main purpose of website builders is to make things easy and convenient. Anyone can use these builders to make a website regardless of how much coding knowledge they have. You don’t even need much knowledge to add credit card processing. Most payment processors have buttons or pieces of code you can add to your website, along with a tutorial on how to do it.
PayPal buttons are one of the best ways to take credit cards on your website. You can add the buttons wherever you want. Simply choose the option to add an HTML box or code and paste in the code. You can also add it directly through the HTML code for your website but that’s more of an advanced option.
Final Thoughts
You have several options to accept credit cards on your website. Once you choose the right provider for you, accepting credit card payments is a matter of putting a little bit of code on your website. People expect to be able to pay with credit cards so make sure you give them the option. It also makes your website look more professional to have the MasterCard and Visa logo present.
