The process of receiving money for your sales via an online payment method involves three parties:
Your store.
The payment gateway: a special system, located outside your store but connected to it on a programming level, that processes your customers' credit cards (or e.g. PayPal accounts) and does charging
Your merchant account is at the payment gateway connected to your bank account.
To put it simply, your store connects to the payment gateway and transmits the order details, the payment gateway processes the customer's credit card and transfers the money to your merchant account. Then you can withdraw the funds to your bank account and pay your bills or go on vacation.
Online payment methods can be narrowed down to 2 options:
Accepting credit/debit cards.
PayPal is a leading payment processor in the US presently. To provide a credit card payment option, you should choose a payment gateway through which your funds will be processed. So your next question is...
What payment gateway should I choose for my store?
Choosing a payment gateway means choosing a company (payment processor) that meets the following criteria:
They accept payments in your region (i.e. where you live or run your business) and allow paying with your currency. It could be a company working solely in your country PayPal, etc).
Their services meet your business requirements.
Their plans and prices suit your budget. Most payment systems apply transaction fees. To learn the exact fees, you should contact the customer service of the payment company that you're considering. Below you will see a full list of payment gateways that are already connected.
What online payment methods can I use?
Here is a list of all online payment methods that work. The payment methods below do not require programming knowledge and are already integrated into your store. Just pick a payment method in the Payments tab of your store and follow the instructions.
Payment Gateway | Support Countries |
Square | USA, Canada, Australia, UK, and Japan |
Stripe | |
PayPal (Standard, Advanced, Express Checkout, Payflow Link, Payments Pro Hosted) | |
PayPal Plus | Germany |
Authorize.Net SIM | USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand |
First Data Global Gateway e4 | |
2Checkout | |
Adyen | |
Afterpay | Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada |
American Express | USA, UK, France, Germany, Mexico, and Australia |
ArsenalPay | Russian Federation |
Authipay Payment Gateway | UK and Ireland |
Bambora Online Checkout | USA, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Australia, and New Zealand |
Beanstream (Hosted Payment Form) | USA and Canada |
BitPay | |
Boleto Online | Brazil |
Clearpay | United Kingdom |
CC Avenue | India |
CoinPayments | |
Datatrans Payment | Switzerland |
Dojo | United Kingdom |
Eupago | Portugal |
eWAY Rapid | Australia and New Zealand |
giropay | Germany |
Hesabe | Kuwait |
iDEAL (via Mollie) | Netherlands |
IfthenPay | Portugal and Europe |
IntellectMoney | Russian Federation |
Instamojo | India |
iPay88 | Southeast Asia (including Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and a few others) |
iPay88 Philippines | Philippines |
Paysafe (Formerly iPayment) | Germany |
Klarna | Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and USA |
Laybuy | Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom |
Lemon Way | EU |
Mercado Pago | Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, and Uruguay |
Mollie | EU |
Moneris eSELECTplus (Hosted Paypage) | Canada |
MultiSafepay (iDEAL, credit cards, Giropay, DIRECTbanking, etc) | EU |
Myfatoorah | Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Emirates, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, and Jordan |
Netcash | South Africa |
Network Merchants | USA and EU |
Nexi | Italy |
NextPay.ru | Russian Federation |
Opayo | UK |
PagSeguro UOL | Brazil |
PayFast | South Africa |
PayAnyWay | Russian Federation |
PayJunction | USA |
PayKeeper | Russian Federation |
PayLeap | USA and Canada |
PaymentSense | United Kingdom |
PayOnline | Russian Federation |
PayPal Payflow Link | USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK |
PayPal Payments Pro Hosted | UK, Australia, Italy |
PayPal Plus | |
Paystack | Nigeria |
PaySera | |
PayTM | India |
Paytrail (former Suomen Verkkomaksut Oy) | Finland |
PayU Money | India |
PayUbiz | India |
PayU Latam | Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and Peru |
PayU Russia | Russian Federation |
Rapyd | |
Rave by Flutterwave | USA, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa |
Razorpay | India |
Realex Payments/Global Iris | |
Redsys | Spain |
Robokassa (Webmoney, Yandex.Money, etc) | Russian Federation |
SatisPay | Italy |
Sepa | EU |
Sofort | Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain |
Tinkoff Payments | Russian Federation |
Tpay.com | Poland |
Virtual Cart Services | South Africa |
WalletOne | Russian Federation |
Worldpay Business Gateway | |
Worldpay Online Payments | |
Xendit | Southeast Asia |
Zapper | USA, UK, EU, Australia, and South Africa |
YooKassa (Formerly Yandex.Kassa) | Russian Federation |
QuickPay |
What do I need to start accepting credit cards?
Open a bank account where you will transfer the money from your purchases.
Find a payment company/processor from the list above.
Create an account with the chosen company.
Configure the payment method in your store.
Make sure it works properly. A recommended way would be to create a test product, e.g., $0.01, and try to buy it as a usual customer. If the payment is set up correctly, your order will be recorded in Accepted status in your control panel.