WooCommerce Payment Gateways: 6 Best payment gateways for your online store in 2020

Do you want to integrate different woocommerce payment gateways to optimize your online store checkout process? 

Collecting payment from customers is one of the important aspects of the ecommerce industry. Earlier Credit/Debit card, Cash was considered the most convenient mode of payments by every ecommerce website. But after the launch of advanced payment gateways, shoppers have started to expect these online gateways while making their payment.    

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With the wide range of online gateways available that are chances of selecting the wrong gateway which can plummet your sales. Woocommerec allows you to easily integrate all the major online payment gateways to offer the best customer experience.

It is recommended to identify different woocommerce payment gateways so that you can easily fight out the best online payment gateways for your and your customers.

In this article, we will help you to determine different payment gateways that you can integrate into your WooCommerce store to optimize your checkout process. We will also help you to identify how you can select payment gateways for your ecommerce store.  

If you are looking to know the best woocommerce plugins for your woocommerce store then check our blog on 20 Best WooCommerce Plugins (2020) Every Ecommerce Website Should Use

What is the payment gateway? 

Payment gateway refers to the merchant services that authorizes and processes credit card or direct payment for online businesses, e-stores, and more. Payment gateways can be offered by the bank as well as financial service providers to the ecommerce website or online business with the goal of allowing their customers to use the online gateway to make payment and purchase the product.  

Breaking it to a more similar payment gateway is a term that allows shoppers or customers to make the payment for the goods and services using different payment gateways like stripes, PayPal, and more.

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Every payment gateway company has predetermined terms and fees, just you have to create the account to offer the best customer experience to your shoppers. You can always reach out to the popular payment gateway companies like PayPal, stripes, amazon pay, apple pay, and more to know the account creation requirement, terms, and fees.  Why? Because different payment gateways offer multiple options based on transaction type, account type, or redirect type. 

Direct Vs Redirect Gateway

Before selecting any payment gateway for your website it is recommended to get detailed information about payment gateway so that you can end up selecting the best online gateway for your ecommerce store. 

The payment gateway has mainly two types:

  • Direct gateway
  • Redirect Gateway 

Redirect Gateway 

Redirect Gateway is one of the widely used gateways where a customer or shopper has to leave the checkout page to pay the desired amount. They are redirected to another page where they have to make payment by selecting a mode of payment. Most of the time customers or shoppers are redirected to the payment gateway service provider site that manages the gateway. 

Direct Gateway

The direct gateway allows shoppers to make the payment within the site that means your shopper doesn’t have to leave the website to make the payment. 

Compared to the direct gateway, redirect gateways are the most preferred by the online store owner because of its secure environment. With so many vulnerabilities around chances of getting your website hacked increase which could directly risk your customer account as well as payment details.  

On the other hand, redirect-gateway takes the customer to a secured external page where the chances of the data leak are no to very less. But here is the thing most of the time customers don’t understand why your website is redirecting then it is an external page which makes them feel uneasy. 

So if you are using redirect-gateway then make sure that while redirecting you display a message in front of your customer stating that “ you are redirecting to a more secured environment”. 

Or you can choose a direct gateway for processing your payment but make sure of your site security so that your customer information doesn’t get onto the other hand.   

How to select the best payment gateway for the ecommerce website?  

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Today the ecommerce industry is all about offering the best customer experience to customers. Most of the time customers abandon the checkout page because they fail to find the desired payment options. 

Credit and debit cards are the most common way to make payment and buy the product but Other than that there are other advanced options available like cryptocurrency, bank transfer, and more. No matter what type of payment option you are using, almost every online payment is done using the payment gateway. 

Integrating payment gateway in your woocommerce store also increases your website payment security. Today’s payment gateways are more secured as it protects your customer’s information reducing chances of unwanted vulnerabilities. But again with the wide range of payment gateway options available you can not pick any random online gateway for your website.

Below we are listing points that you can consider while selecting the payment option for your website. 

Fees/Cost Involved 

One of the important aspects that you should consider while selecting the payment gateway for your website is the costing and fees involved after and before integrating the gateway. Determining these costs and fees before purchasing payment gateway will help you to differentiate and find the best online gateways having less transactional fees and purchase fees. 

A payment gateway can consist of different startup and ongoing payment costs and both are two different things. Other than that it can consist of

  • Purchase cost: If the payment gateway is not free then find the cost for purchasing the Payment Gateway. 
  • Many companies and processors have a signup charge that you have to pay before utilizing the features of payment gateway. Make sure you are aware of the signup cost. 
  • Make sure you consider subscription fee before selecting payment gateway for your website 
  • Transaction fee or competitive fees: Almost every Payment processor charges some fees for every transaction. Make sure you are aware of those fees.

Location 

Apart from cost, it is essential to identify and select the payment gateway that accepts payment from customers that belong to your location as well as other countries. Undoubtedly every country has different currency and value, integrating payment gateway that accepts payments from a specific location can plummet your sales and customers. 

Mainly location is essential for companies that are operating in multiple countries. There are chances that the business you get might be from other countries and if your customer faces difficulties while making payment then you are likely to see a drop in your business, sales, revenue, and more. 

For example, if you are using Paypal as your payment gateway and main operation is in the US But you also have a good customer base in Bahrain as well. So your customers from Bahrain may have a limited payment option because PayPal doesn’t work in Bahrain.   

Or if you are operating in the US and have payment gateways specifically built for accepting payment within the US then a customer from Canada and other European countries may not be able to make payment even if they find your product helpful and interesting. 

That’s why it is recommended to select the gateway that allows your website to accept payment from multiple countries and supports multiple currencies. To make it more effective you can use both specific country payment gateways as well as payment gateways that accept payment form multiple gateways. Depending on the location your site can automatically detect and display the payment option suitable for that country. 

Payment Gateway Security 

Apart from all the above-mentioned points first you should consider the security offerest buy payment gateway. Besides running and maintaining an online store, website owners have one more responsibility to keep their shopper information secured mainly the payment details. 

Compromising with the security of the payment gateway can eventually land you in trouble. If you are using redirect-gateway for your website then make sure to check the reputation and secure environment offered by the payment gateway provider. 

Or you can integrate an SSL certificate to make your website secured. SSL certificate encrypted communication between your customer and site making your website secure so that no other person (hackers/intruders) has access to the payment gateway. 

Easy Integration with woocommerce 

Next, if you are looking to select the best payment gateway provider for your eCommerce website then it is recommended to check whether the gateway supports your woocommerce platform or not. Today almost all the online gateways are compatible with the woocommerce because of its wide user base. But still, we recommend you to check whether the online gateway can be integrated with your woocommerce store or not. 

By now you might be familiar with all the tips that can help you to select the best payment gateway for a woocommerce website. Next, we will help you to identify different woocommerce payment gateway that you can integrate into your online store. 

Different Woocommerce Payment Gateway for your online store

1. PayPal (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

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Paypal is one of the most trusted and widely known online payment gateways with more than 200 million customers around the world. It comes with both the standard version and pro version that support more than 20 currencies. Paypal user-friendly interface encourages retailers as well as shoppers to use the platform for selling and making a purchase. 

It offers many gateway solutions to the user some of them redirect customers to an external page and others allow the customer to process the payment within the site that means direct gateway. 

Paypal standard version redirects the user to an external page and makes your customer feel safe while making a purchase. But most of the time redirecting the customer to an external page makes them feel uneasy. If your customer feels the same then you can shift to the Paypal pro version.

Paypal Pro uses the direct method and supports the customer with or without an account. Not only that but it also allows your customers to process credit card payment and make use of the user balcony to purchase the product. But avoids recurring payment like subscriptions. It allows you to customize the look and make your checkout page experience reflect your brand and design. 

If you have a newly launched woocommerce store then it is recommended to use the standard version of Paypal. Once you see a surge in your website traffic and sales then you can soft to PayPal pro version. 

It will cost you $35 per month and a PayPal transaction fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents. If you are opting for a woocommerce extension for PayPal pro then it comes for $79 for a single website subscription. 

2. Stripe (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

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Stripe is another popular payment gateway that is considered as the competitor of Paypal.  It is used to accept credit cards and other payment options on a woocommerce store. stripe functioning is very much similar to the PayPal payment gateway.

Compared to PayPal stripe offers additional features like metered billing and subscription. If you are selling digital service then you can make use of these features to accept payment from your customers.  

Not only that but its advanced feature allows you to store customer information. But for that, you need to include an SSL certificate that can encrypt the data exchange between the shopper and. Adding an SSL certificate will allow you to keep shopper payment information confidential from hackers, and intruders. 

You can also make use of the stored data to create impactful marketing strategies for your website. There are so many advantages of using Stripe for your woocommerce store but there is also a disadvantage as it is available for business in a limited number of countries.   

If you are operating in multiple countries then make sure to check whether stripe accepts payments in the specific country or not. 

Integrating stripes in your woocommerce store is not a difficult job and its interface makes it easy for the store owner to activate and adjust the plugin.  You can make use of the Stripe extension offered by ecommerce developers.  

3. Amazon Pay (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

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Amazon Pay is the fastest growing payment gateway which you can use for almost every type of online store.  If your woocommerce store is offering amazon pay for payment processing then shoppers can easily make the payment using their amazon account. 

But for making payment users need to have an amazon account as it requires email id and password for account validation. Your shopper doesn’t have to pay any extra amount while creating an account. Not only that but If your shopper payment details are already saved in the amazon pay account then it makes the payment process quicker.

The main advantage of using amazon pay is that you don’t have to enter the payment details on the third party website making it the safe and secure payment gateway for shoppers.  

Amazon Pay is a widely used and well-known payment gateway for different purposes, so if the shopper finds the payment option in your store then they will feel more connected and safe while making payment. There are chances that it can add value to your store by encouraging customers to return some chances selectingMasterCard    

The transaction fee is almost similar to the square and stripes i.e 1.9% and 35 cents per transaction. 

4. Square (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

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Square is another popular and widely used payment gateway that accepts all the major credit cards and provides faster deposits compared to other payment gateways. Along with woocommerce store if you are also operating physical store then square can be the perfect payment gateway for your store. 

Compared to other payment gateway square doesn’t include charging any extra monthly fees for online credit processing service. However, you have to pay transactional fees of 2.90 + $0.30 per transaction. If your product is offering a high-profit margin then the transactional fees are excellent for your business. 

Square can be easily integrated into your woocommerce store and its user-friendly interface makes it easy for the store owner to easily set up the platform for your woocommerce store. 

5. Authorize.Net (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

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Authorize.net is one of the oldest and popular platforms that offers many advanced payment features and allows the store owner to handle the payment refund, monthly subscription payments as well as pre-order related payments.

It accepts all the major credit as well as debit cards and its advanced feature makes it easy for the store to process large amounts of sales and payments. Authorize.net offers a secure environment which enables the user to save their payment detail for the next purchase.

Most of the time online store owners worry about the credit card frauds to avoid that Authorize.net offers an enhanced version of fraud protection which you can take up for your woocommerce store for a cost.

Other than that Authorize.net also charges a one-time fee of $25 for disputes related to credit card payment. While integrating authorize.net you need to pay $49 for setup and 2.9% + 30cent transaction fees.

6. Apple pay (Woocommerce Payment Gateway)

Apple pay is another emerging payment service built for mobile devices. Compared to other payment gateways it has so many limitations like it can be accessed by online apple users through iPhones. But today the world has more than  100 million iPhone users and apple pay is becoming popular among them. Apple pay is initially based on near fields communication for iPhone users. 

Integrating apple pay allows your shopper to purchase not only form the online store but also from the physical store. If you are planning to integrate apple pay in your woocommerce store then make sure your store is HTTPS secured and your server must support TLS 1.2 protocol. There are other requirements that your store needs to fulfill before integrating apple paycheck full details here

After the launch of Apple pays many stores have started to use and offer apple pay as the mode of payment to attract more shoppers. Whether you are aware or not but the payment options you store is offering to its shopper also plays a crucial role in attracting and persuading shoppers. 

In the beginning, the United States was the only country that was accepting apple pay from shoppers. But now the payment service is also available in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland and more. It supports all the major credit, debit cards including MasterCard, American Express, and more. Apple pay charges 0.15% per transaction on US purchases.

Conclusion 

Today payment gateways are the key factors in optimizing your customer experience. And the payment gateway you integrate can help you to uplift your sales and there are chances that selecting any random payment gateway can plummet your sales. 

So when it comes to selecting the payment gateway for your woocommerce store you have to be specific and aware of your requirement to identify and select the best payment gateway that can optimize your customer experience and sales.     

Some of the payment gateways are limited to the specific country and there are gateways that allow customers from different countries to make payments. Your primary goal should be to increase your website reach and sales and integrating the right payment gateway can help you in achieving that. 

You can make use of detail on different payment gateways to identify and integrate the best payment gateways for your online store. other than popular gateways like Paypal, stripe, and amazon pay we have listed other gateways that you can consider while selecting the payment gateway for your website.

Frequently Asked Questions  

1. What is the best payment gateway for Woocommerce? 

  • PayPal Standard/Pro
  • Stripe
  • Amazon Pay 
  • Apple Pay 
  • Skrill 

2. How do I add a payment gateway in Woocommerce?

  • Go to your wordpress dashboard 
  • Navigate to the plugin section and click on Add new 
  • In the add new section, you will find the upload option. Click on it
  • Upload the payment gateway zip that you have received from payment gateway provider
  • Click on install now
  • Next click on active to access the plugin 

3. Is there any free payment gateway? 

Yes, there are free payment gateways like Payumoney, PayPal standard, and more. But these payment gateways are free only for the initial setup. If you are looking for a payment gateway that doest charge transaction fees then there are no gateways without a transaction fee. However, the cost of the transaction fee varies for different payment gateways. Before integrating payment gateway you can identify the transaction fee charged by different gateways and depending on that you can make your selection.  

4. What is the cheapest payment gateway? 

Compared to another payment gateway PayPal is considered as the cheapest payment gateway.  

  • PayPal –  paypal has the 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction and a 3.9% + fixed fee for international transactions.
  • Authorize- It has a similar transactional charge as of PayPal 2.9 +$0.30 per transaction and a higher than standard $25 for chargebacks.
  • Stripe – if you are integrating stripe then you have to pay 2.9% + $0.30 after $1 million and there is no contract.

5. How do I check my woocommerce payment?  

First, it is recommended to enable the test mode. To enable test mode

  • In your WordPress dashboard under woocommerce click on the setting 
  • Navigate to payments 
  • In the payment option, you will find test mode (enable it)
  • Click on save changes 

After enabling the test mode 

  • Navigate to the shop page  
  • Add a product into you  cart 
  • Next, go to your woocommerce store check out page
  • Fill the checkout form field 
  • Enter the payment details like test card numbers (4242 4242 4242 4242 – visa, 5555 5555 5555 4444- MasterCard)
  • Fill any date (future dates)
  • Enter the CVV (other than 123)
  • Next hit the place order button 
  • After that go to the payment in the left sidebar, click on the transaction underpayments in the dashboard. You will find a successfully made transaction showing up in your dashboard.

If you are looking to build a fully functioning woocommerce website that drives more sales and conversion then you can always reach out to the best ecommerce website design company to create the online store that you desire.  

6. How do I check my customer payment refund in woocommerce? 

  • To test refund first it is recommended to make a demo purchase form your store by performing test card payment
  • Navigate to woocommerce tab in the dashboard 
  • Go to orders under woocommerce 
  • Select the order if of the order created using the test card 
  • Click on the refund button 
  • Enter the reason for the refund and the amount 
  • Click on refund via woocommerce payment
  • After completing the above step go back to payments under woocommerce 
  • Check and confirm whether the refund transaction is listed or not,