What to ask when choosing a payment provider

Payment gateway fees.

The obvious bottom line for many businesses is finding the best price. Therefore, businesses must compare cost structures between different payment gateways. For example, paypal has a tiered pricing model, while Stripe usually has a fixed fee structure for businesses. Fees may also differ for local transactions and cross-border transactions. Estimate your sales, pay across currencies, contact payment providers to find out what rates their rates apply to your type of business and if they have any special discounts.

Cross-border or multi-currency exchange rates.

For companies looking to cross-border e-commerce, foreign currency transaction costs will also be an important factor. For example, if you have a Hong Kong bank account and receive USD when you sell to the US, you will consider how the funds will eventually flow back to your Hong Kong bank account, and all the associated transaction costs. For example, a provider like Stripe may allow you to withdraw USD to your Hong Kong account instead of Hong Kong dollars. paypal may ask you to convert USD to HKD and deposit into your local HK bank (this may incur exchange rate costs).

Checkout Process

While cost is important, it should not be the only consideration. It's important to evaluate how to integrate payment solutions into your shopify store and the shopper's checkout process, as checkout availability affects shopper purchases and cart abandonment. Think about the importance of on-site checkout versus off-site checkout to your shopper base. We call on-site payment to allow users to pay directly at your online store, and off-site payment refers to the page of the payment gateway (eg, the final payment aypal or Asiapay website).

We recommend early stages of a merchant store construction project to understand how the checkout process works with different payment gateways.

Payment methods

Sometimes, the choice of payment gateway may also depend on the preferred payment method of the target shopper. For example, businesses selling to customers in mainland China would consider Alipay or WeChat Pay, while tech-savvy shoppers might consider supporting apps and Google apps. Hong Kong businesses may wish to use manual payment options such as cash on delivery (COD) and bank transfers. Additionally, shopify allows businesses to create custom payments like payme.

Business Protection

Another reason businesses are encouraged to speak with a shopify payment gateway representative is so that the representative can explain what business protections are, how disputes are handled, and other details about payment procedures that businesses should be aware of. In the e-commerce industry, depending on what you sell and who you sell to, you may encounter shopper refusal to pay or fraud. Knowing how your payment provider will handle these situations will help reduce potential risks.

Your specific request.

What are the special requirements for an online business? Some examples include the authorization period, which is the number of days the merchant can receive the balance once a shopper's payment is authorized.