Payment Processing for your eCommerce Store

With so many payment gateways these days, it is hard to see which one fits best your business type outside the fact you want to have easy management yet have a low-risk (risk managed) on transactions all the while keeping your costs low. However, it is more than just figuring out which region you are in, and which one would serve your audience the best. Anywhere between Apple Pay and sending and receiving money, there are hundreds of methods of handling payments online. Some fit certain business models better than others. Here we will discuss a few.

Small businesses and online stores

It is particularly more sensitive for smaller businesses because of costs, PCI compliance, and payment methods between debit cards, PayPal, Apple pay, Google pay, verified by visa, and various banks, card processors, and your online store can overwhelm the different processes in getting through the checkout. Given the burden of complexity and want to offer the greatest choice of payment so as to accommodate your audience, you get attracted to a SAAS (cloud-based) Store Builder solution like Shopify which handles these handshakes well. Additionally, there is no need to adhere to PCI and DSS requirements since that's built-in unlike a hosted solution like WordPress with WooCommerce. But the advantages pretty much stop there since Shopify will be charging you for handling the complexities, so when it comes to managing cost all the while optimizing your payments and still keeping on top of your SAAS (cloud-based) PCI compliance advantage, there are BigCommerce Payments.

What's the advantage with BigCommerce Payments

With today's massive smartphone penetration, and the recent push for online shopping in 2020 with the Pandemic, eCommerce has surged massively when it comes to stores opening their doors online. However, while the rush took place, optimizing your costs, store, and working through how to promote more efficiently is a continuous improvement effort. How do you grow your business yet reap the benefits of lowering your running costs? BigCommerce has an OPEN SAAS architecture that also lends itself to focusing on earning from the eCommerce tools, not their payment gateway offerings. That's a big saving, up to 2% of revenue.

Payment methods evolution into new ways to pay with your smartphone requires looking into device-specific methods like supporting Apple pay where you can pay with your iPhone or Apple Watch when loaded and connected within your IOS to accept credit cards. Bank accounts that used to be "silos" are now in the background providing security standards with PCI and DSS. BigCommerce Payments handle industry data security as standard, with all the security controls protecting the cardholder data. Yet, do not charge transaction fees, or SSL fees.

Types of Processors and Risk Management

Not all processors are created equal, some have capabilities that differ from others, and some are more capable of managing risk. Card industry data security is multifaceted and varies with audiences, type of products/services, and business models. Below are some of these categories as it may help see which ones your business might fit best:

Simple Use - Product-based: PayPal and Stripe are the most common, and can handle global payments in multiple currencies.

Subscription Services: PayPal, Stripe, and many more offer Recurring payments with an initial authorization are required so you can handle monthly triggers of billing and settling. So if you want to keep it simple as well as have a Subscription business model, today most offer this capability.

Cross Border Sales: The same providers above apply. If your audience is international and does their shopping in your online store, there is no restricted access when the gateway account is configured to allow for international purchasing.

Smartphone Purchasing: Here the business model has to layer above the capabilities of PayPal and Stripe with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay - while there is a bank in the background, the online store has to be capable of handling the method.

High-Risk Items: Phone cards, Adult industry goods/services, Vapes, Firearms, and accessories all fall into a high-risk area. Authorize.net, NMI, and Sezzle are a few of the better processors that have good tools to manage risk.

Overall Cost of Online Sales Operations

While SAAS has revolutionized the online store industry, eCommerce is still evolving and still consolidating costs all the while giving you greater capabilities and control over your business. BigCommerce's Open SAAS approach drives costs lower, yet allows for an open architecture through its API to expand as needed all the while not needing to depend so much on Apps. BigCommerce already gives enhanced features over Shopify in 600SKU's vs. 100, or 250 variants over 3 when it comes to a single product. Or offers a B2B variant of the platform where B2B is difficult to achieve and merchandise in Shopify and is costly to deliver. But best of all the transaction fees are saved, and you have greater freedom where Shopify can judge your merchandise and shut you down based on their "policies and community standards".

Conclusion

While there are many solutions out there when it comes to payment gateways, taking a sensible approach when it comes to capability and simplicity all the while giving yourself the capability to offer your audience a choice of payment, BigCommerce Payments gives you an affordable way to do this, all the while giving you the choice of growing your business without scaling on cost. If you would like to discuss your options for your online store, feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com.