5 of the best payment options for online stores

Online shopping has skyrocketed in the past year.

Figures from The Office for National Statistics reveal that internet sales accounted for 18.1 per cent of retail sales in September 2019. That figure had jumped to 34.5 per cent in February 2021.

So, there’s no time like the present to start selling online yourself or to get your web design clients set up for the same thing.

Of course, one of the major decisions everyone needs to make when they start selling online is which method to use to take payments.

There are dozens of options out there.

But here are a few of the top choices, with which safety, trust and simplicity rule the roost.

PayPal

PayPal is one of the biggest and most familiar of all online payment systems. It has more than 254 million users, including 17 million businesses.

PayPal suggests that customers who use its platform to check out convert at 82 per cent higher rates than with other payment options.

With a PayPal integration, you’re not only securing a simple process for your customers, but you’re also aligning your payment method with a brand that is trusted, recognised and safe.

You can integrate PayPal directly into a website by creating a PayPal button. This can be done in a number of ways including through the PayPal Button area of your PayPal Business Account – although you’ll need a certain degree of HTML knowledge for this one – or through the PayPal Buy Now Button plugin for WordPress.

Alternatively, Authorize.net – mentioned next – also allows your customers to pay using their PayPal account.

Authorize.net

Authorize.net lets you accept international transactions from customers worldwide, but your business must be based in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe or Australia to be compatible with their services.

The solution lets your customers pay on your site using everything from debit cards, credit cards and eChecks to Apple Pay, PayPal, Visa Click and Pay.

Additional highlights of the Authorize.net payment method include a mobile friendly checkout and a simple refund processing solution.

If your ecommerce store is built on WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin, it’s easy to add Authorize.net to your site.

Just add it in as an extension – this particular extension is available for free in tsoHost’s WordPress Ecommerce web hosting plans

CyberSource

Like Authorize,net, CyberSource allows website customers to pay through a range of familiar options including credit cards, eChecks, and digital wallets like Visa Checkout and Google Pay.

This payment solution comes with a security feature called Decision Manager, which utilises machine learning to spot patterns in your customers’ transaction history to help you tell the difference between genuine and fraudulent transactions.

Other bonuses of this platform is that customers can save their payment details and the checkout is mobile friendly.

Global Payments

Global Payments boasts that it processes more than 11 billion transactions every year and is relied on by 2.5 million businesses.

Its client list includes big brands like Vodaphone and Virgin Atlantic, but its solutions are also suitable for smaller businesses.

Key benefits of this payment solution include the fact that it allows website customers to pay with 140 different payment methods that are available worldwide.

What’s more, its branded payment page adapts to 30 different languages and allows customers to pay in 150 different currencies.

Just like Authroize.net and CyberSource, Global Payments is available as a free premium WooCommerce extension in tsoHost’s WordPress Ecommerce web hosting plans.

WooCommerce Deposits

As the name implies, WooCommerce Deposits is an extension that can be added to WordPress sites that have the WooCommerce plug-in installed.

Also as the name suggests, this extension allows website customers to put down deposits on items or to pay via a payment plan.

The extension lets you add 'Pay Deposit' buttons next to 'Pay In Full' buttons on products.

If customers select the Pay Deposit option they can then choose to pay the remaining amount by selecting an installment timeline that you have pre-set – for example pay monthly over six months or pay monthly over 10 months.

Again, this payment solution is available as a free premium WooCommerce extension in tsoHost’s WordPress Ecommerce web hosting plans.

Looking for more tips for selling online? You'll find dozens more articles listed under the eCommerce category of our blog.