How to choose the right payment collection partner?
A lot of modern businesses operate through e-commerce and collect payments for goods, services, lay-by, or various kinds of membership on their websites. The abundance of payment collection methods and the number of solution providers can be quite brainteasing – how to choose the right payment collection partner?
In this article, we shall take a look at some of the key aspects to be kept in mind so that the payment collection would not get too expensive and would still be fast and reliable.
Variety of payment methods
The first dilemma faced by the owners of e-shops and other businesses is the choice of a payment method.
These are the main currently available methods:
- Payment Initiation Service (PIS);
- Bank Link – payments via the electronic banking;
- Payment (debit, credit) cards in e-shops;
- A standard bank transfer;
- PayPal, GooglePay, ApplePay, and other platforms;
- “Cash on delivery”, when the payments are made upon being courier-delivered, at the post-office, at the automated parcel terminal, or elsewhere (by cash or by card).
It is important to choose such collection methods that are most commonly used by the target audience in the country where the goods or services are sold. The most popular payment methods in Lithuania are the Payment Initiation Service, Bank Link payments, and payment cards.
he Payment Initiation Service that allows the customer to pay without leaving an e-shop, is probably the fastest and the cheapest of all of these methods. When the buyer clicks the payment button, he or she is redirected to the PIS provider’s window and there securely pays for the purchase by entering his or her banking login details. It takes just a few clicks to make such a payment, and the payment reaches the merchant’s account in the real-time mode. The Payment Initiation Service can be several times cheaper than the Bank Link payments.
Integration of settlements
The collection of payments on the website can be implemented using a plugin already created by a partner or independently. In many cases, partner-created plug-ins save time and money by not only being ready to use right away, but also by being constantly monitored to ensure uninterrupted operation.
Price of payment collection service
The price for settlements is important for both the start-ups and the businesses operating for a long time already. In the Lithuanian market, the payment collection prices may vary several times. For instance, the price for collection of one single payment ranges from 2 euro cents to 2.5% of the purchase value or even more. Besides, there may be applied hidden fees. Therefore, before choosing a payment collection partner, it is necessary to obtain the detailed price offer for the service and evaluate all the components thereof, including the one of how the price change as the volume of payments increases.
Speed of payment collection
The speed of the payment collection methods also varies. For instance, whereas the Payment Initiation Service allows receiving the funds to one’s account immediately (if the instant payments are supported), there are methods of collecting payments that take a week or even longer to process the funds crediting. It is important to assess these differences, as many businesses require working assets, and the rapid collection of payments can ensure business continuity.
Terms of contract
Customer-friendly contract terms are among the essential characteristics of a good partner for dealing with the settlements. When choosing a collection partner, it is worth finding out whether the terms of cooperation stipulate a penalty for the termination of the contract and in how long in advance it is required to notify the other party thereof. This is especially important for the starting merchants who are just testing their business model and do not know how long they will use their collection services.
Opening of account
It is important to assess whether the collection service provider allows having a collection account with your chosen financial institution. This may determine the fee rates and other conditions that apply.
It is useful to have a collection account with such a financial institution that allows managing the account completely remotely, ensures favourable pricing, and prompt execution of transfers. Besides, the customer servicing is important in terms of how quickly the requests are responded, whether a personal manager is easily accessible, and so on.
If the collection account is with the same payment collection partner’s financial institution, the merchants, depending on the institution, receive additional confirmation of the receipt of the funds, and, if needed, have a possibility to return the funds quickly and conveniently to the payer. The collection account opened with another financial institution can have other advantages: one can choose the most favourable terms or use the existing account without changing one’s habits or processes.
Additional benefits
The providers of the payment collection service compete for not only the pricing or the speed, but also for the additional benefits, they provide to their customers. It is worth evaluating whether the potential partners ensure such functions as a standard refund or repeating of a transfer, multi-level signatures, importing of operations, and the like. It may very well turn out that some additional benefits will be particularly important for specific businesses.
Why choose Conto QuickPay?
We have developed Conto QuickPay to make the collection of payments even more convenient and reliable. Our customers are offered particularly flexible conditions: they can choose to open an account with Contomobile or with another financial institution. Termination of the Conto QuickPay contract is free of charge and imposes no obligations.
The Conto QuickPay pricing is merchant-friendly. The price per transaction is just 3 euro cents, and 120 transactions per month are free of charge. The monthly fee is only EUR 4.
In addition, Conto QuickPay provides all the listed benefits and supports the instant payments, it also allows placing the seller’s trademark on the billing page, and viewing the list of payment initiation operations in the self-service part.
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