It’s hard to know where to start with payment processing. The options are overwhelming, and you don’t want to make the wrong choice, potentially losing thousands of dollars in revenue over the years because of one bad decision.
In order to make the right choice, you need to understand your small business needs and goals and then pick the processor that will help you meet them most effectively.
Here are five different processors and what they offer so you can find the one that works best for your company.
1) Braintree
Braintree is a leader in providing payment processing services to businesses with just one or two employees.
It’s great if you’re just starting out and don’t have any revenues coming in yet. Braintree only charges 2.9% per transaction, which is lower than other big names like PayPal and Stripe.
That gives you more of your hard-earned money to put back into your business where it counts: product development, marketing, or paying yourself a salary! The fees are also pretty low on Braintree’s integration platform.
As a developer, you can work with an array of programming languages—including Ruby on Rails and Node JS—to make sure that your online store and payment processor are working together seamlessly!
2) PayPal.me
For years, PayPal has been one of the most popular ways to accept payments online. They have a huge network of users and provide all sorts of tools you can use to take credit card payments and money transfers via email or phone, allowing you to collect funds directly from your customers.
They also offer free integrations with many shopping carts (Shopify/WooCommerce), which is a great feature for any business using those platforms.
There’s really no downside when it comes to PayPal; it’s super easy to set up and offers some great integrations. If you don’t need multi-channel support, or if your business operates mainly as an e-commerce site (or both!), then PayPal will be your best choice.
3) SquareUp
SquareUp has many features that make it a good choice for businesses of all sizes, but its relatively high costs may not fit everyone’s budget.
That said, if you have a business and are looking to take credit cards on your smartphone or tablet, SquareUp is your best bet. It’s available as an app on both Android and iOS platforms and lets you manage inventory while managing payments with minimal effort.
The fees are quite reasonable at 2.75% per swipe plus 15 cents per transaction (you can read more here), making it easy to see why SquareUp has quickly become one of the most popular options out there.
4) Stripe
Founded in 2010, Stripe is a relatively new player in online payments, but it’s one of the most popular. Small businesses rave about its ease of use and simplicity.
The company claims to process $20 billion annually and has backing from some of Silicon Valley’s top investors. For example, Peter Thiel invested $500,000 before Stripe even launched; Elon Musk invested another $1 million; and Sequoia Capital led a 2013 funding round worth over $80 million.
What sets Stripe apart from other payment processors is that you can link any major bank account or credit card directly to your business account to begin processing transactions with no setup fees.
5) SimplePay (Merchant accounts available in all countries.)
SimplePay has thousands of small business clients across dozens of countries, and unlike many other payment processors out there, SimplePay is a merchant account.
This means you can accept almost any payment from your customer’s credit card or bank account and either pay it directly to your bank or transfer it to another account.
Additionally, SimplePay’s fees are very reasonable: they charge 1% + 15¢ per transaction (excluding VAT) and offer flat monthly rates as low as $5/month. All in all, SimplePay is an easy-to-use platform that makes accepting payments a piece of cake!
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