So, you are a small business owner or freelancer looking to expand your business and make some more money. You come up with the idea of supplementing your income by selling your products or services online. So you setup your website and added your services and products and now you are looking for a way for your clients to pay you.

Your clients can pay for your online orders several payment gateways. Traditionally most businesses offer wire transfer, cheque, cash and direct bank deposit, but there are a host of other payment methods out there that can help you get paid. Let’s take a look at the criteria you should use when selecting a payment gateway for your business:

Geographic location of your customers

Location, location, location. Whether you use a geographically general or specific payment gateway is up to where your clientele resides. If most of your customers are from your one country you can use a local payment gateway. If most of your business is done with international l clients you need to get a gateway that supports this.

What currency will your clients be paying you in? This will help you decide on a payment gateway that’s right for you. Most payment gateways only support billing and collection in certain currencies, make sure the gateway you pick supports the currencies your clients want to make payment with.

Once off vs recurring payment

Do you sell a product or service that the client needs to make one payment for or is the product or service you sell paid for in installments? i.e. comes as part of a recurring subscription that requires multiple payments.

Selling products or services that require a once off payment only means you can look at a payment gateway that allows your clients to make instant secure payments online. This is usually a gateway that facilitates payment via credit card or a service like PayPal that provides instant secure payments for individuals who have accounts with them.

Let’s say that the majority of your clients will need to pay on a recurring basis for the products or services you offer. For example; a fortnightly payment for the gardening maintenance services your business provides. This means you will need to look at a payment gateway that facilitates the submission of recurring debit orders on credit cards and bank accounts. Make sure you use a service that supports collection in the currency your clients use.

Service offering and cost

The final deciding factor should be the overall level of service and costs involved in such an undertaking. Use the criteria below to help you make a final decision:

• Online transactions cost money, to save as much as you can shop around for the gateway that charges you the least in transaction fees. Saving few cents on each transaction can save you thousands per month.
• Reconciliation of your payments is vital so find out what kind of reporting services your gateway offers. Ensure they supply reliable, accurate results of transactions in a timely manner.
• When using some payment gateways you do not need a business or merchant account at a bank to use the service. This is great if you don’t qualify for a business account at a bank. Do your research and find out what you qualify for and what merchant account your gateway requires.
• Check with local and international governing bodies to make sure the payment gateway you want to use complies with their regulations. Regulations in the payment gateway industry are there to protect you, so make sure you make use of the protection they provide.