Three major payment gateways

Using an established payment gateway is almost always better than trying to find your own solution. This is because when a transaction takes place, the checkout process happens away from your site and goes to the provider’s site.  

For security reasons that’s a major plus as there are no concerns about your site being hacked or personal and financial information of your customers being stolen.  

Here are some gateway payment options that integrate well with your chosen business. 

Best for Startups 

• PayFast 

It’s stated as one of the easiest payment gateway to get started with as you don’t need to have an internet merchants account to get started. Once you sign up you can immediately start accepting bank transfers from your website.  

The process for accepting credit cards and other forms of payment is also quite simple. You just need to do a short business verification and then you’re all set.  

PayFast offers payment services and methods of recurring billing, credit and cheque cards, Instant EFT, Bitcoin, Mobicred, ATM debit cards and MasterPass. PayFast also has a vast array of app and platform integration tools and the ability to request payment via email. 

Best for easy international payments  

• PayPal 

It can be useful to South African e-commerce websites, because it’s well recognised, and accepted as very secure, across the world. It’s an international payment gateway servicing more than 200 countries and more than 25 currencies.  

In South Africa, PayPal checkout happens in US$. It’s a useful additional payment gateway to offer your customers especially if you’re intending to sell internationally and don’t want to deal with the hassle of foreign credit cards. Payments transactions can be via your website or with online invoicing. 

Opening a business account with PayPal is fairly simple and you can immediately start taking payments. Simply setup a PayPal customised payment button for your site or use PayPal’s, Express Checkout solution, that’s well optimised for mobile payments too.  

Best for a range of services  

• PayGate 

Payment services and methods offered include: Credit and debit card payments, including, American Express, Diners Club, Mastercard and Visa. In addition PayGate also offer Zapper Scan to Pay, PayPal integration, MasterPass, SiD Instant EFT, PaySum1 (for international payments), SCode and Visa Checkout. 

PayGate can be found on many websites in the country. With services catering for larger e-commerce to startup vendors with their PayCollect offering, this doesn’t require a bank internet merchant’s account.