If you want to make your buyer’s journey on ecommerce website to be as smooth as possible, you need to concentrate on checkout is the most important part of this journey. What’s the key to a superior checkout experience? The right payment gateway! Ecommerce payment gateways enable merchants to safely transfer financial transactions and improve the checkout experience, making payments seamless for you and your customers.
Let’s discuss the key aspects to take into account when deciding which payment gateway is the best for your ecommerce website.
But firstly, what is the difference between a payment gateway, payment processor and what they have to do with a merchant account?
An ecommerce payment gateway is a service that approves credit card payments within your existing software
A payment processor are financial institutions that operate in the background to provide payment processing services to online sellers and keep the process secure.
A merchant account is a bank account where the funds get deposited after a successful financial transaction.
So the key role of the payment gateway is to decline or approve each financial operation, while a merchant account is in charge of receiving payments from credit and debit cards.
But how does a payment gateway work? There are four steps to follow in the payment gateway process:
Step 1: A customer selects the product he/she wants to purchase and places an order by submitting the credit card details at the checkout page. The information about the transaction is then forwarded to your payment gateway.
Step 2: The payment gateway receives the order paid with the most suitable payment method. The transaction is then directed to the issuing bank to request transaction authentication.
Step 3: After the authentication process has been completed successfully, the transaction is then approved or declined (depending on available costs in the customer’s bank account) as the issuing bank or card (Mastercard, VISA, Maestro, American Express) authenticates the transaction.
Step 4: The bank sends the money through the payment gateway and the payment gateway sends the money to the merchant account. It can be sent in a few minutes or as long as 21 working days depending on the payment gateway.
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What to consider when choosing an ecommerce payment gateway
These are the four main things to take into account when choosing a payment gateway:
- Security features — How protected are the payments?
- Payment integration capabilities — What different payment options are offered? What types of payments are accepted?
- Ease of setup and use — Is it easy to integrate and use?
- Cost — What are the fees for processing payment? Are there any monthly fees?
Top 7 payment gateway for Magento ecommerce stores
The decision of who to entrust your sensitive payment information to is always a difficult one. Below, there are 7 best Magento payment gateways for 2019 to integrate into your online store.
PayPal Pro
PayPal Pro is one of the best payment gateways and one of the most popular solutions both with customers and among online stores owners. It enables merchants to accept credit cards including Amex and Visa, PayPal, and PayPal Credit. PayPal Pro accepts 26 leading currencies, and it is available to use on over 200 markets. As a result, it is the most common request among all customers.
2Checkout
2Checkout supports 87 currencies and 15 languages. It accepts major payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal. It’s one of the easiest ecommerce payment gateways as you just need to register, verify your account, and you can begin operating payments. No coding is required.
There are three customizable checkout options to choose from, and the service integrates with 100+ shopping carts. The system can also automatically bill customers a monthly subscription.
Braintree
Braintree is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from small shops to large enterprises. It is a full-stack payment platform that makes it easy to accept payments in your app or on your ecommerce website. Moreover, Braintree is best known for its smooth checkout experience, which provides a high level of safety that encourages repeat orders.
Authorize.Net
Authorize.Net won the trust of small and medium-sized companies by providing them an affordable and secure payment service. Its main advantage is in its simplicity. Also it is regarded as one of the best Magento ecommerce payment gateways around. Authorize.Net is a reliable and trusted solution which could be a great asset to your online shop.
Stripe
Available in 25 countries, Stripe delivers great payment services. If you’re looking to bill customers on a recurring basis, set up a marketplace, or simply accept payments, Stripe can do it all as a fully integrated, global payments platform. Moreover, it supports over 100 currencies and has features such as mobile payments, subscription billing, and one-click checkout.
Amazon Payments
It accepts major payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, and PayPal. Merchants are able to manage customers’ checkout experience by integrating 2Checkout’s API with the website. It’s one of the easiest ecommerce payment gateways as you just need to register, verify your account, and you can begin operating payments. No coding is required.
Dwolla
Dwolla is a scalable payment tool that operates with all US-based banks. As an open-source software, Dwolla enables developers to smoothly integrate bank transfers into native tools using its flexible ACH API.
So how to add a payment integration on Magento?
Once you have decided which payment gateway you will use for your online store it’s time to integrate it. So follow quick guide below to figure out how to do it yourself.
- First of all, you need to configure the modules. Go to Payment method module configuration.
- Next, configure the payment methods.
- Then, implement a payment method facade. It allows processing payments between a payment processor (a third party appointed by a merchant to handle transactions) and Magento itself.
- The last step is to set up and configure payment actions. Such actions are authorization, voiding, and others. Further descriptions on how to configure them are described in the Add a gateway command.
Keep in mind that the payment method you configure can be edited from the Admin panel, storefront, or even both.
Conclusion
Choosing the most suitable ecommerce payment gateway is crucial to the success of your retail business. By doing it sensibly, you can improve your customer’s experience, boost your brand’s affinity and increase revenue.
All you should do is consider the above-discussed factors and draw a comparison between the ecommerce payment gateways before selecting and implementing the right payment solution for you. Check them all out and go with the one that will be most beneficial to your company, keeping your requirements in mind.
