As you probably already know, WooCommerce offers the easiest way to build an online store with WordPress.
Depending on your individual needs, WooCommerce allows you
to add digital products as well as subscriptions. One of the most important
components of your store is the payment gateway you use.
This is what offers your shoppers a secure shopping experience by connecting your store to an online payment service where they can pay for their orders, safely and securely.
What is a WooCommerce Payment Gateway?
WooCommerce payment gateways work by verifying the billing information for every customer, approving requests and ensuring you get paid.
The type of WooCommerce payment gateway to choose depends on several factors which include how easy it is to integrate with WooCommerce, the target clients you serve, related costs and the level of security you need.
Criteria for Choosing A Payment Gateway
Target audience
Different payment gateways accept different types of
payments and some are limited to certain areas. When choosing one, it is
paramount to select a gateway that clients are well used to. This helps to
improve trust and make your customers understand that you’re trustworthy. If
you use a single mode of payment like an obscure credit card, you may lock out
several customers.
Ease of integration with WooCommerce site
Before choosing a payment gateway, be sure to do your
research to ensure that it integrates easily with WooCommerce.
This is essential as it reduces possible problems when
you’re about to launch. This means you need to first review the buying process
in full to be conscious of how the payment gateway will work on your store and
the experience it will offer to your clients. Payment gateway providers often
have demos on their websites showing how their payment gateway service works.
In this case, you may want to select an integrated gateway instead of a hosted
one.
When choosing your payment gateway, you need to plan whether
you’ll be offering subscriptions to customers through paid memberships. Some
payment gateways support automatic payments which is vital in case of recurring
plans. You don’t want your customers to renew subscriptions manually every
month.
For example, Shopify, an alternative to WooCommerce have
payment gateways which are already tightly integrated with the online stores as
can be seen in this article on collectiveray.com. But for WooCommerce, this
needs to be done by the website owner, so this needs to be taken into
consideration.
Costs
Payment gateways do charge you a fee for every product that you sell. This means you have to compare the costs to not just find the cheap one but the right payment processor that suits your budget and needs.
Popular Payment Gateways
As a guide, here is a compilation of the top six most
popular WooCommerce payment gateways that offer secure processing of payments,
fraud protection and accept a broad range of payment options.
1. Stripe
Stripe is a popular WooCommerce payment gateway that offers custom checkout options to WordPress e-commerce sites. With this plugin, you can personalize the appearance of your checkout page to match the theme of your store. It also lets you design a custom checkout flow and sell using the inbuilt international currency conversion feature. If you are multivendor, Stripe makes it easy for you to manage your subscriptions and payments.
This payment gateway also accepts several types of
e-payments letting your customer pay with any method they want including both
debit and credit cards, Google eWallets, Android Pay, ACH direct debit,
Masterpass, Amex, Visa, and Apple among others.
Stripe is the most preferred mode of payment for
international sales. It supports payments in over 25 countries and can localize
payments to 135+ currencies. It integrates with WooCommerce subscription plugin
and can support automatic recurring payments for subscriptions websites.
With regards to security, Stripe comes with an inbuilt fraud
detection and prevention feature that aids to eliminate possible sham charges.
2. PayPal
PayPal is a trusted and widely used payment gateway that supports more than 20 currencies. It is currently used by over 200 million customers around the world. For businesses, PayPal Pro offers a payment processing service to customers with or without accounts. You can also use it to process purchases that users make using their balances or credit cards.
Just like Stripe, PayPal lets you customize your online
store checkout process by making it user-friendly. It accepts international
payments but at 4.4%. Customers can pay using PayPal Credit which is a common
feature among many WooCommerce payment gateways. This service is free and gets
you paid the normal way. It is good in case you want to attract sales.
What makes PayPal unique is the ability to offer same-day
deposits, a feature that is not common with most payment gateways. For frauds,
PayPal has a Seller Protection cover that ensures safe transactions.
3. AmazonPay
Amazon is a giant online store that is known by virtually everyone. This company offers a payment processing service that other stores can use. It lets customers check out using Amazon accounts and pay just like regular payment procedure. This helps to save customers the hassle of having to create many accounts.
The ability to use the Amazon brand and name makes this
payment gateway reliable and trustworthy. It is very safe and customers feel
safe using it.
Amazon Pay charges a flat processing fee for all payments.
It also supports international payments at reduced rates and pays you directly.
There are no worries about the type of payment cards used. It integrates with
WooCommerce just like PayPal and Stripe and is priced at $199. You can use it
for recurring payments and subscriptions like subscription boxes and more.
4. Authorize.net
Being among one of the oldest established methods of payments, Authorize.net is still a popular online payment gateway service. Several stores particularly those that deal with large sales volumes use this service.
Authorize.net accepts several credit cards and is very safe
from fraud. To use this service, you have to pay a monthly fee alongside the
transaction fees. In case of a credit card-related fraud, you will be charged a
one-time fee of $25 which is refundable in case you win.
Authorize.net is quite simple to integrate into a
WooCommerce platform.
It is one of the most secure payment gateways although it
may not be ideal for startups due to the costs.
5. Square
Square accepts major credit card payments and offers quick deposits just like PayPal. This payment gateway is known for its physical Points of Sale which means in case you have a branch, you can use the service to process both local and online sales. They don’t charge any monthly fee for all online credit card payments but you pay $0.30 for every sale you make. It is an excellent option in case you want a high-profit margin.
In terms of WooCommerce integration, there are not many
options when it comes to customizing payment checkout with Square. All the
same, it is very easy to set up and works well with WooCommerce.
6. First Data
First Data offers a simple but secure online payment service for both businesses and customers.
It accepts many local payment methods and offers unrivaled
reach to different customers. It has a strong 24/7 monitoring service which
guarantees secure payment. First Data is ideal for both small merchants and
international businesses alike.
Conclusion
The various payment gateways available for WooCommerce let
you process your online transactions conveniently and securely, providing peace
of mind to both the vendor and the customer. They provide a great way of
gaining the trust of different customers while increasing your revenue through
online sales. When choosing one, remember to consider your target audience,
costs, and how easy it is to integrate to your site, but most of the above
options would work well in most online shops.