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If you are a UK entrepreneur who is laying the foundations for his online business, you may have already started researching payment gateway providers. If this is you, you probably know that payment gateways offer different features, terms, and pricing, depending on your country. Which begs the question: what is the best payment gateway for UK businesses?
With so many payment processors on the market, sifting through all the information and coming to a conclusion can be a confusing and time-consuming process. That's why we do most of the leg work for you! Below, we share the best payment gateways for UK businesses, specifically who they are, their rates and their best features. So hopefully by the end of this roundup, you'll have a better idea of which provider best meets your business needs.
There's a lot to cover, so grab yourself a coffee and let's get started!
Shopify Payments
shopify payments webpage
Shopify Payments is a payment gateway worth considering if you're already using the e-commerce giant Shopify to host your online store. It provides an easy way to start accepting payments from customers. After all, you don't have to bother integrating with third-party payment providers or creating a merchant account to store with your Shopify.
Shopify Payments automatically comes with your Shopify account. This means that when you launch your Shopify store; you are ready to start accepting all major payment services. After that, you just need to turn it on and start running.
On top of that, Shopify Payments also gives you a holistic view of your finances from one centralized dashboard. From here, you can track orders, payments, and other metrics.
Best of all, you can offer your customers a variety of popular payment methods covering a large number of local currencies. This goes a long way towards enhancing the checkout experience, which should, in theory, translate into better conversion rates. The following are just some of the payment methods that Shopify Payments supports:
visa
MasterCard
American Express
Apple Pay
Google Pay
shop payment
...to name a few!
Shopify Payments is also PCI compliant, supports 3D secure checkout, and encrypts payment data for added security.
Pricing and Fees
As we just said, Shopify Payments email list comes with your Shopify account, so you'll need a Shopify subscription to access this payment gateway.
Shopify offers three main plans, which we list below:
Please Note: Fraud Analysis is included with all plans
Basic Shopify : $29 per month - This gives online merchants all the basics they need to start a new business.
Online credit card interest rate: 2.2% + 20p
In-person credit card interest rate: 1.7% + 0p
Shopify : $79 per month – This package is more suitable for growing businesses.
Online credit card interest rate: 1.9% + 20p
In-person credit card interest rate: 1.6% + 0p
Advanced Shopify : $299 per month – As the name suggests, this unlocks more advanced features for brands looking to scale their operations
Online credit card interest rate: 1.6% + 20p
In-person credit card interest rate: 1.5% + 0p
best feature
Everything in one place : Get real-time visibility into your finances without logging into other platforms.
You don’t have to pay extra card transaction fees : Shopify charges extra processing fees if you choose to use another payment gateway with Shopify Payments. However, you can save yourself a big deal by offsetting these fees by using their own payment provider pen money!
High security measures : Shopify's fraud analysis is very reliable
You can still use other payment providers: Although you are rewarded for using Shopify Payments, you can still choose to use other popular gateways such as PayPal.
Signing up is effortless: Getting started is effortless with Shopify Payments.
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Square
square payment gateway
Launched in 2009, entrepreneurs Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey created Square, a product that combines merchant services and mobile payments. Fast forward to today, and millions of small businesses and startups use Square to process credit and debit card payments and track sales and inventory.
Square makes it easy to add Square Payments to your existing website, or you can create your own website using Square's own website builder. With just a few clicks, Square seamlessly integrates with some of the most popular e-commerce platforms, including:
WooCommerce
Wix
Magento
BigCommerce
WordPress
Drupal eCommerce
...to name a few!
You also have access to a developer API and an extensive library of developer resources to help your programmers get the most out of the framework.
Pricing and Fees
Square, you only pay a transaction fee when you make a sale: 1.9% per European card or 2.9% per non-European card.
best feature
Budgeting is easy Square has a low flat rate - no monthly fees or account setup fees.
You won't be locked into lengthy contracts
Square is said to have excellent customer support
Square interface is very user-friendly
You can use free card readers and POS apps
Payments are relatively quick - within two business days
Square's reporting features are simple and effective
You can accept all kinds of customer payments: credit card, Apple Pay, Android Pay - just to name a few!
You can even use Square to generate and send invoices for payments.
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WorldPay
Worldpay Online Payments - Home
According to a 2015 Nielsen report, WorldPay has more than 250,000 UK small business users and has been dubbed "the UK's largest payments provider".
This payment gateway is an excellent choice if you wish to take your business to the global stage. It supports more than 120 currencies, enabling you to accept payments from customers all over the world.
You'll also be happy to hear that customers can store their card details on your website for future use for a smoother checkout experience.
To get started with WorldPay, you need to follow these three steps:
Create a WorldPay account (this should take no more than a few minutes)
Add WorldPay's API to your website (you'll need some web development knowledge for this)
Wait for your account to be approved (this usually takes no more than 24 hours)
Once you're up and running with WorldPay, you can start accepting online payments and receiving payments within days of your order being approved.
WorldPay is best for companies that have access to developers. The payment gateway provides a powerful, clean and fully functional API for programmers to use. You also get top-notch technical support from the programmers who actually created the code.
This payment method is also worth considering if you sell subscription products, as WorldPay makes it easy to set up recurring billing.
On the security front, WorldPay risk