We like that Helcim offers full-service merchant accounts with no monthly software fees and interchange-plus payment processing for all businesses, regardless of business size or history. Helcim automatically lowers payment processing rates as you process more payments, which is very cost-effective for growing businesses. The best payment method for small businesses will depend on the nature of your business. For brick-and-mortar stores, Square or PayPal provide excellent payment systems for small businesses. If you’re an e-commerce store, Stripe and PayPal are great for online payment processing for small businesses.
This allowed the team to focus on improving the service they offer to customers. Moreover, the cost of collecting payments with GoCardless was significantly lower than dealing with individual banks. Whether you’re settling bills or paying your staff, Quickbooks makes sending payments easy. Automated payments mean less time doing paperwork and more time focusing on growing your business. QuickBooks also has something called Bill Pay, which offers you the luxury of paying your bills directly from your Quickbooks account.² That way, you get an organized electronic trail for every transaction.
With a large and active community of developers and users, PrestaShop also offers a wide range of plugins and integrations to extend its functionality and tailor it to specific business needs. Shopify comes packed with features to support your ecommerce journey, including SEO tools, email marketing, and search-optimized product pages to help your store stand out. Its always-on availability and industry-leading stability mean you can count on Shopify to keep your store running smoothly around the clock.
Your small business needs a merchant account to process credit card payments. PSPs typically operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, with no setup fees, monthly gateway fees, or additional per-transaction charges. It’s also possible to utilize a non-integrated approach, in which you obtain your gateway and merchant account separately from different providers. This approach was more common during the early days of eCommerce when many traditional merchant account providers didn’t offer a payment gateway. While that’s no longer the case today, a non-integrated approach can still be a good choice if you need specialized gateway features that your merchant account provider doesn’t offer.
While it offered lower subscription fees, I’m looking for scalability that doesn’t require a different provider. So, the limited plan and lack of optional add-on functions for growth still affected Payment Depot’s scores. The most economical choice will depend on your sales volume, product range, and specific business needs. Many of the platforms discussed in this post are great for beginners, as many small businesses don’t have the resources for more complex tech stacks. Small businesses typically have unique needs and constraints compared to larger enterprises.
- Square’s hardware options, such as card readers and point-of-sale (POS) systems, make it a convenient choice for brick-and-mortar businesses.
- Taking payments online can help you reach a wider audience, and many online payment methods will also offer data analysis to give you a better idea of what your consumers are most interested in from your business.
- Authorize.net has been in the online payments game since 1996, and it’s trusted by nearly 450,000 merchants.
- Our guide to international merchant services offers more detailed information and several recommendations.
- Several restaurant POS systems offer their own payment processing that works on their systems.
If you qualify for Level 2 payment processing (generally for B2B payments), Stax can arrange lower interchange rates. I usually look for simple, transparent pricing in the best merchant services for restaurants, and Stax fits the bill with its straightforward fee structure. However, Stax could have scored higher if it offered faster funding and better chargeback support (like CDGCommerce). Like any traditional merchant account, Stax has an application process in place that takes 24 to 48 hours to approve, on average.
PayPal
Helcim is a great choice for high-volume retailers, while PayPal offers a wide range of payment options and Shopify makes setting up an online store a breeze. Authorize.net stands out in terms of fraud prevention, while Stax is good if your business handles high-value transactions. Despite the relatively high transaction fees, PayPal represents a bargain for sellers that are looking for a simple, reliable and flexible payment processing partner.
They also give your clients payment options, making the process more convenient while providing an eco-friendly way to pay for your services than traditional paper invoices. If you are just starting out with your business and have never used online payments, it may be a good idea to speak with an accounting professional first to ensure you have all your bases covered. Each platform has its pros and cons, and a financial professional can guide you in the right direction. For small businesses, cash flow is king—and quick payment processing is essential to keeping it healthy.
How Much Does Online Payment Processing Cost?
That might not seem like a big deal, but it can actually have quite a significant impact on customer trust, especially for new customers who are already wary of parting with their hard-earned cash. Now we’ve got the housekeeping out of the way, let’s take a look at the key factors to consider when selecting a payment method. So, I’ve decided to make the process easier for you, testing several of the most popular options and identifying the top seven options to consider. Try OpenPhone free for seven days and see how easy it can be to scale your business communications. Traditional PBX systems require you to own and manage all the hardware on-site — think phone lines, servers, and desk phones. Your provider handles all the backend infrastructure — like hosting the system in the cloud, routing calls, and keeping things secure and up-to-date — so you don’t need to worry about maintenance or setup.
- After selecting the best payment gateway, ensure your shipping services are reliable.
- Micropayments under $10 are subject to a fee of 5% of the transaction amount plus a fixed fee based on the currency.
- At a minimum, your gateway should use end-to-end encryption and be fully PCI-compliant.
- Versatile payment processing is what makes CDGcommerce stand out among other restaurant payment processors on this list.
Solutions at every stage
This means that you’ll want to take steps to minimize the risk of account holds and terminations. Stripe typically processes payments in 2 business days, while Square offers deposit times within 1-2 business days. Stax offers fast payment processing, with funds usually available the next business day. When selecting an online payment system for small businesses, consider factors like transaction fees, fraud protection, ease of integration with your platform, and scalability.
Understanding transaction fees
They often assist in setting up merchant and special bank accounts that allow businesses to accept credit and debit card payments. Stax offers wholesale interchange-plus pricing, with a monthly fee that includes other benefits for businesses. The system provides a wide range of payment processing tools, from at-the-counter and online payments to tableside, curbside, and cash-on-delivery methods. And with wholesale interchange rates, Stax is certainly the best what is the best online payment system for a small business value for money for full-service restaurants that process over $21,000 in sales a month. By accepting online payment methods, small businesses offer their clients peace of mind because online payment gateways offer several layers of security and will encrypt your clients’ personal and banking information.
Digital wallets, as well as smart debit and credit cards can enable contactless payments, which use near-field communications with card reader equipment to facilitate in-person payments. This puts your payments on auto-pilot and reduces the manual work for your repeat customers to stay on top of their bills. Payments get charged on time, automatically making it easier to plan and predict your cashflow. In most cases, card payments deposit into your small business bank account quickly, so they can help improve your cash flow. However, this type of payment method comes at a cost for small business owners. The benefits of accepting cash payments include receiving payment immediately rather than waiting for a transaction to clear.
The eCommerce credit card processing providers on this list serve high-risk, high-volume, low-volume, international, or new businesses, among other criteria. Slack, a major communication platform for businesses, uses Stripe in 15 countries for payments. Even when it saw a surge in use during the pandemic, Stripe offered 100% uptime and boosted company earnings globally by optimizing online payments. Choosing the right online payment gateway for small businesses is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your business’s growth, security, and transaction costs. Designed for flexibility, Braintree supports a variety of payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and even local payment methods. Authorize.Net is one of the oldest and most trusted online payment gateways, serving businesses since 1996.
Square is generally one of the best POS systems with eCommerce features and includes lots of third-party integrations so you can add the Square payment gateway to third-party software. While Shopify Starter is great for managing your existing sales channels, Shopify’s full online stores are feature-packed as well. Plus, with the numerous integrations Shopify offers for dropshippers and suppliers, eCommerce merchants of all stripes have many reasons to like Shopify. Additionally, while CBD sales are supported, CBD merchants must first apply to Square’s CBD program and undergo extra scrutiny. Furthermore, other business types considered high-risk in the processing industry are not supported by Square.
