Best PayPal Alternative Services: Online Payment Methods

Robirt Kong
Robirt Kong
March 6th, 2019
Estimated read time: 5 minutes, 3 seconds

One challenge many online merchants face after they’ve finished developing their product is figuring out how to easily accept payments on their online store.

But navigating the complex world of online payments for the first time is challenging work. The landscape is riddled with technical jargon and software companies are shocked to find that online payment facilitation actually involves many key players working in tandem behind the scenes.

Selecting the right payment processor, payment gateway, and merchant of record isn’t a task to take lightly since one unintended consequence of a jarring payment experience is that it can cause visitors on your site to become frustrated and abandon their purchase altogether.

For some businesses and online merchants, PayPal may be the payment method of choice and that’s totally acceptable. But if you’re solely depending on PayPal, you could be leaving money on the table. Check out our list of the best Paypal alternatives that you need to have on your site today!

PayPal, why it works.

PayPal was one of the first innovative solutions to hit the online payment processing world. At a time when online purchases were primarily dominated by credit and debit card transactions, PayPal provided an alternative payment option for customers looking to shop online.

With PayPal, buyers could:

  • easily make a purchase across a variety of online stores using one single PayPal account.
  • shop confidently knowing that their bank and payment card information is encrypted.
  • fallback on PayPal’s buyer protection plan for reimbursement should anything go wrong.

In fact, PayPal is the 3rd most preferred payment option after Visa and MasterCard.

With that being said, merchants also enjoyed similar advantages. Thanks to PayPal, merchants could start accepting payments on their site simply by linking their bank account to an existing PayPal account. This was especially useful since it allowed companies to bypass the complexities of setting up a merchant account. In addition, PayPal made it easier for merchants to send and monitor invoices to their customers by consolidating all financial data in one location.

Powerful PayPal alternatives to consider.

Yes, Paypal’s popularity with buyers and ease of integration make it an ideal candidate to consider when your online store is in need of an online payment processor.

But should PayPal be the only payment method on your site? Probably not.

If you’re looking to scale your software company, one of your biggest priorities is going to be figuring out effective strategies to maximize your revenue potential. And what better way to grow sales revenue than by providing your customers with a modern checkout experience designed to help them seamlessly purchase from your online store! But doing this successfully involves making sure you’ve taken into account your customers’ unique payment preferences.

Digital Wallets

1. Paypal Alternative: Alipay
When we think of cashless societies, credit card payments usually come to mind. However, Chinese citizens are taking the idea of cashless payments to the next level. As of September 2017, Alipay accounted for over 54% of China’s mobile payment segment and is the preferred payment system of choice. If your company is looking to capture the business of Chinese customers, it’s best to ensure that your ecommerce site can accept payments from third-party online payment platforms like Alipay and Wechat pay.

2. Paypal Alternative: Amazon Payments
Amazon Payments allows customers to make purchases using the payment methods (such as credit cards) that are already associated with their Amazon account. One of the benefits of Amazon Pay is that customers do not need to enter their name, address, or payment details – further helping to promote a seamless checkout experience.

3. PayPal Alternative: ApplePay
Apple Inc.’s mobile payment and digital wallet allows users to make in-app, online, and in person purchases directly with their Apple device. Merchants receive payments directly into their Apple Pay Cash card and have the option to transfer these funds to their bank account.

Currently, Apple isn’t charging merchants to use their service, opting to instead charge card issuers for each transaction made.

Internet Banking

Internet banking methods like iDeal, Sofort, and Giropay allow shoppers to purchase software and digital products online with direct bank transfers from a mobile bank app or online banking site.

1. Paypal Alternative: iDeal
Popular in the Netherlands, iDeal may charge a transaction fee varying from 0.10 to 0.70 Euros per transaction and may include an additional fixed monthly fee as well. Because iDeal conducts payment transfer directly from an online banking site, users enjoy the same security measures natively provided by their bank account.

2. PayPal Alternative: Sofort
One of the most popular pan-European payment methods, Sofort is heavily used in countries like Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, the UK, and the Czech Republic.  Currently, Sofort owns 10% of the market share in Northern Europe.

3. Paypal Alternative: Giropay
Merchants can essentially enjoy a 100% payment guarantee thanks to Giropay’s real-time transaction confirmation and nonsupport of chargebacks. Settlement time usually runs about 1-2 business days and merchants should also be aware that GiroPay only provides support for Euros.

Other Alternative Payment Methods

1. UnionPay
UnionPay is another popular payment method that’s gaining traction in international markets. Besides their payment card services, UnionPay also provides support for mobile payments as well. The UnionPay mobile app is currently utilized by over 9.5 million merchants in mainland China and is also accepted at over 2 million POS terminals in 32 countries and regions.

Unlock your true sales potential.

So you’ve recognized the importance of offering multiple payment methods on your site. But instead of scrambling to compile all these different payment methods on your site, wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way to instantly support alternative payment options?

Luckily that’s where partnering with FastSpring’s full-service ecommerce platform can help. With over 20+ support currencies and complete support of the majority of the payment methods listed above, our saas ecommerce platform is designed to help you meet the commerce needs of today’s cross-border shoppers.

Ready to start growing your sales revenue? Click here to request a free demo!

 

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