A payment gateway is a merchant service provided by an e-commerce application service provider that authorises credit card or direct payments processing for e-businesses, online retailers, bricks and clicks, or traditional brick and mortar.
In South Africa (SA) there’s a variety of payment gateways available to merchants some of them include.
PayPal
There’s no denying that when it comes to accepting and receiving payments online, PayPal is the reigning champion. Used by online customers, freelancers, and business owners.
People tend to love PayPal for a variety of reasons such as
- There’s no setup fee charged.
- PayPal has also partnered with FNB to easily allow withdrawing or payments using their bank accounts.
- And also for non-FNB customers via the FNB Withdraw service.
Virtual Card Services
Established in 1996, Virtual Card Services was one of the first payment gateways in SA.
It offers a number of related products such as a virtual terminal for processing transactions in bulk, retrying declined transactions, and giving refunds to name a few.
Their Virtual EFT service, allows merchants to create single or recurring credits/debits and presenting these to the Automated Clearing Bureau for processing.
PayFast
PayFast have simplified the pricing by offering no setup fees or monthly fees, low transaction fees and R2.00 for debit or credit card transactions.
PayFast also offers an Instant EFT option using a code which they then “scrape” on their bank account, and almost immediately process the transaction. This offers a much easier Instant EFT facility at R2.00 per transaction.
PayFast also offers Bitcoin, payD, Ukask, and Mobicred payments. And it powers some of the leading online merchants in SA including Takealot, Sportsman Warehouse, and Legendary Brands.
SnapScan
SnapScan have now launched a method of paying via the app for online purchases. Merchant’s sign up for an account and customers then use the app and scan a QR-code unique to the order to facilitate payment.
With no need to enter credit card details the process is simplified and more secure. SnapScan charges a simple fee of only 3% per transaction with no monthly fees.
PayU
PayU is one of the largest payment providers worldwide offering a variety of options for business and the largest number of payment methods of any gateway in SA.
It has a robust enterprise ready system for transaction queues for businesses requiring a large number of transactions at a time. The PayU Wallet allows consumers to pay from their wallet and not need to type in credit card details on checkout.