How Your Online Shop Can Accept Payments
If you’re opening a new online shop, you’ll need a reliable payment system. It’s important to set one up in the beginning and test it multiple times before customers start making purchases. Fortunately, new shop owners have many options online to accept payments.
Shopify
One option is to use Shopify and set up the point of sale system, so you can accept multiple types of payments. There are three different business plans available: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. If you’re starting a brand new online shop, then the basic plan may be enough. It comes with a full e-commerce platform, retail reports, and other features.
This point of sale system allows you to accept credit or debit cards. Your customers will be able to pay with Visa, Discover, American Express, and Mastercard. In addition, you have the option of accepting gift cards, so you can offer discounts. Shopify also lets you offer customers store credit instead of a refund when they return items. An additional useful feature on this platform is the ability to let customers split transactions, so they can pay with two credit cards for an expensive product.
PayPal
Another popular payment option is PayPal. As an online shop owner, you’ll want to set up a business account on this platform. PayPal allows you to accept payments from people around the world. Your customers can pay with credit cards, which include Visa, American Express, and Mastercard. In addition, they can pay with Visa and Mastercard debit cards. There is also an option to pay with their own PayPal accounts or bank accounts.
PayPal has a seller protection policy and offers fraud protection. It gives customers the unique option to pay for their purchases with PayPal Credit. As a shop owner, you’ll be paid right away, but the customer will have more time to pay for the item. The process works like a line of credit through PayPal with six months of special financing and minimal monthly payments. Customers aren’t charged interest if they pay off the credit in six months.
Stripe
Online shop owners can also use Stripe to accept payments. Your customers can pay with either debit or credit cards, which include Visa, Discover, American Express, JCB, UnionPay, and Mastercard. Another option is to let customers pay from virtual wallets that store their debit or credit card information for later use. It’s more convenient, but not everyone is comfortable with storing his or her personal information this way.
Stripe also lets you process payments in your customers’ local currency and makes conversions to your currency easier. Shop owners can accept payments through both iOS and Android apps. There is also special fraud protection that is integrated into the platform. If you have a customer start a dispute, Stripe has an end-to-end automated process to handle it.
Pick a Platform
Every online store needs a payment platform that is easy to use and maintain. Once you have picked the best option, make sure you test it and learn how to use it before launching a store.
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