Woo­Com­merce payments: default types and other payment gateways

Woo­Com­merce is a popular solution for retailers to sell their goods or services online. But budding retailers and online brands should also consider the payment options they provide for customers to enable quick and secure checkouts. Woo­Com­merce offers numerous payment gateways. Find out more about in­di­vidu­al payment options in Woo­Com­merce and their pros and cons.

Con­sid­er­ing the number and types of Woo­Com­merce payments is an important component of setting up your online store. Too few options may lead to potential customers flocking elsewhere. Too many could confuse customers and turn them away. Add to that the fact that main­tain­ing multiple online payment services increases your or­gan­isa­tion­al load and, in the worst case, could affect the per­form­ance of your website.

Finding a happy middle ground is what you are after. Woo­Com­merce provides access to several payment methods by default and you can add ad­di­tion­al payment options.

As a default, Woo­Com­merce offers four payment methods. You can disable the ones you don’t wish to use. While the defaults are a good start, they won’t suffice for larger online shops. Default payment methods on Woo­Com­merce include direct bank transfer, cheque payments, cash on delivery, and PayPal.

Direct bank transfer is not ne­ces­sar­ily the most practical solution for customers. The option means that a customer transfers a payment from their account to the retailer’s. Once the transfer is confirmed, the goods are shipped. While the option is safe for the seller, it can lead to delays in shipping. Items that have been purchased are blocked to avoid double sales. However, the payment method requires a bigger effort from buyers who carry most of the risk since they are paying in advance.

Paying by cheque may seem like a relic from olden days, but the Woo­Com­merce payment is still used widely. The option is ad­vant­age­ous for sales made to customers abroad. Sellers should remain cautious of potential fraud. The payment process is similar to direct bank transfer in that the buyer receives the requested in­form­a­tion so they can make the cheque out. The goods are delivered once payment has gone through, offering similar ad­vant­ages and dis­ad­vant­ages to a bank transfer.

With cash on delivery, the risk lies more heavily with the seller, because payment is only made upon delivery. If offered, it makes sense to include or exclude certain shipping methods to ensure that payment reaches you as fast as possible without incurring un­ex­pec­ted costs. Sellers should include the service fee that’s usually charged by the shipping con­tract­or and pass it on to the customer in a trans­par­ent manner. Prin­cip­ally, you could add your own service fees, but are subject to strict legal re­stric­tions.

PayPal is among the most popular payment gateways and not just in Woo­Com­merce. The online payment service is available globally and is super easy to use. It’s a secure option for customer and sellers alike. One dis­ad­vant­age for sellers are PayPal’s trans­ac­tion fees which can be high. You will need to sign up for a business account to use PayPal on your site. Although it is tech­nic­ally available as a default payment in Woo­Com­merce, setting up an account can take some time. There are numerous al­tern­at­ives to PayPal if you prefer a different option.

In addition to the standard payment methods, you can integrate other payment providers with Woo­Com­merce. The ones that are most suitable for your needs will depend on the type of your store. Below are five of the best providers available right now.

Stripe is a popular Woo­Com­merce payment option, es­pe­cially in the United States. The plugin is free and setup is re­l­at­ively simple. Stripe adds credit card payments to your Woo­Com­merce payment gateways and also in­teg­rates Apple Pay and Google Pay. Stripe charges a fee of 1.4 percent and a flat rate sum of £0.20 per trans­ac­tion. For in­ter­na­tion­al bank cards, the fee is 2.9 percent.

Another Woo­Com­merce payment method is Braintree. The in­teg­ra­tion is free, and fees are only due for in­di­vidu­al trans­ac­tions. At 1.9 percent plus a flat rate of £0.20, they are com­par­at­ively high. In return, however, Braintree, which is part of PayPal, provides sub­scrip­tion features and numerous payment options. PayPal, credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and GiroPay are included, among others.

Mollie too provides popular payment options for Woo­Com­merce. Credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, Klarna and numerous local payment methods are accepted. There are no set-up fees. Mollie charges per trans­ac­tion, although the amount depends on the payment method. Mollie also scores well in terms of support, providing quick answers to technical queries and full or partial refunds.

Amazon Pay will only work for customers with an existing Amazon account. Thus, it should only be added to your Woo­Com­merce payment gateway as a sup­ple­ment­al option. Payments for customers are super simple and take just a few clicks, elim­in­at­ing the need to re-enter personal data. Amazon Pay charges a flat rate of £0.30 per trans­ac­tion and an ad­di­tion­al fee of 2.7 percent up to a 50.000 payment volume. 

Wallee is a rather unknown payment provider for Woo­Com­merce. While setup is free, the company charges a monthly usage fee. In the basic version, the monthly fee is ap­prox­im­ately £18 per month. Trans­ac­tion charges vary depending on payment method and are roughly £0.18 per purchase. Up to ten different payment methods for Woo­Com­merce are included in the basic rate.