Choose a payment provider by considering the whole process: whether your business can sign up, how convenient payment is for customers, how much remains after fees and how your team will handle refunds.
A low advertised percentage does not answer these questions. Before comparing offers, describe your sales countries, currencies, average order value and required payment methods.
Start with eligibility for your business
Check whether the provider accepts companies registered in your country, supports your business activity and can pay out to a suitable bank account.
Clarify onboarding documents, verification and product restrictions separately. Do not build your launch around a provider until eligibility for your particular business is confirmed.
Then check customer countries, charge currencies and payment methods. A provider being available on your platform does not mean all its methods work in your chosen region and integration.
Compare the total cost
Collect the same terms for each candidate:
- the percentage and fixed fee per successful payment;
- differences by card type, country and payment method;
- currency conversion costs;
- account and payout fees;
- whether the original processing fee is returned on a refund;
- costs associated with payment disputes;
- integration setup and maintenance costs.
Clarify which amount the percentage applies to and which operations are charged separately. A fixed fee can materially change the total cost for a low average order value.
Do not treat rates for different registration countries or contract terms as equivalent offers. Keep the date and source of each calculation.
Check payouts and their effect on working capital
Money successfully charged to a customer is not necessarily immediately available in the shop's bank account. Clarify payout schedules, the first payout, possible holds and reserve conditions.
If suppliers need payment before a payout arrives, this affects your operating budget. Check what happens with negative balances, refunds and changed bank details too.
Ask for a sample report: can you connect the order, payment, fee, refund and payout? Without that link, reconciling sales takes more manual work.
Understand refunds and disputed payments
A purchase refund and a customer disputing payment through their bank are different processes. Fees, timeframes and supporting documentation may differ.
Check full and partial refunds, statuses, notifications and how failures are handled. For example, Stripe states that the original processing fee is not returned on a refund; a card refund may remain pending if the available balance is insufficient. These are one provider's terms, not rules for all providers. Source: Stripe.
Assign someone to handle these operations and check their permissions. Refund capability must be confirmed in your actual integration, not just in the provider's general documentation.
Assess integration with your platform
Understand what a ready-made module provides and what needs separate development. Check support for required currencies, payment methods, refunds and server-side status confirmation.
Check these scenarios:
- successful payment and the result recorded against the order;
- a declined payment and another attempt;
- cancellation and return to the shop;
- a payment that remains in processing for a while;
- full and partial refunds;
- a lost connection and a repeated notification for the same operation.
The interface should explain what happened and what the customer should do next. The article on checkout, payment and delivery problems provides a more detailed checking process.
A hypothetical cost calculation
All figures below are invented for illustration and are not any provider's actual rates.
Suppose a shop takes 2,000 payments a month with an average order of €50. Turnover is €100,000. The hypothetical fee is 2% plus €0.25 per successful payment.
Calculation:
- Percentage fee: €100,000 × 2% = €2,000.
- Fixed fee: 2,000 × €0.25 = €500.
- Total payment processing cost: €2,500.
That is 2.5% of turnover before conversion, refunds, disputes, account fees and integration. For a real comparison, add those costs using your transaction forecast.
Keep one-off setup costs separate from monthly expenses. For an annual comparison, add setup, maintenance and forecast fees over the same period.
A short selection process
First exclude providers unsuitable for your registration country, business activity or essential payment methods. Calculate the remaining providers' costs using identical inputs, then check payouts, refunds and technical scenarios.
Discuss integration scope when developing an online store. Our development proposal considers payment integrations according to region and currency; agree the specific provider and integration capabilities for your project.
Choose a solution that suits your sales, is clear to operate and has a confirmed cost for the entire process.