How to Get a Shopify Payment Gateway?

Shopify is a global online commerce platform that allows anyone to create their own marketplace to sell products online. The platform has a variety of pricing plans to suit businesses of all sizes. Shopify’s bespoke approach allows you to customize your eCommerce store based on the requirements of a specific business. Shopify owes its popularity to its low connection cost and intuitive interface. Shopify provides its own payment gateway for making payments. However, there are times when the platform cannot provide the necessary payment solutions or, due to the nature of the business, it is impossible to use a standard set of solutions. In this article, we will try to define the basic parameters to consider when choosing a Shopify payment gateway.

What is a Shopify payment gateway?

First of all, let’s define the very concept of a payment gateway. A payment gateway for Shopify is a mechanism for interaction between a merchant and its customer, which is designed to provide a secure channel for the exchange of payment information. The payment gateway is also responsible for the security of the transactions. During those few seconds that are required to complete the payment, the data is verified by all participants involved in the process, their encryption, the transmission of requests, and the calculation itself.

How to Choose the Best Shopify Payment Gateway?

To find which payment gateway is best for shopify let’s consider some parameters:

1. First of all, you need to decide how the payment gateway will be integrated into the site;
   1. Hosting payment systems. Integration by this method implies that payment providers provide their own payment pages that are integrated into the website. The payment processing procedure takes place on the server of the payment service provider. Besides, the payment provider is fully responsible for the security of the data being sent. Also, such a payment page cannot be customized for the site design. Overall, this is a great solution for small businesses.
   2. Integrated payment systems. The integration process takes place through the API. Using this method, the business has complete control over the transactions and customer data. This allows you to create your own customer base that will always be with you. Also, you can easily customize the payment page following the design of your site + add or remove the necessary payment methods yourself through your account. In some cases, it is necessary to open a merchant account, but this can be avoided when working with third-party payment providers. This is the best solution for medium and large businesses.
2. Pay attention to safety. A reliable payment service provider should offer as many tools and methods as possible to detect and prevent fraud, including:
   1. PCI DSS Compliance;
   2. Address verification;
   3. Tokenization of payment cards;
   4. Biometric authentication;
   5. 3D security;
   6. A system for preventing chargebacks.
3. Technical capabilities. Since many online retailers deliver goods to different countries, it is necessary to provide users with the ability to pay with a method that is convenient for them. Different countries mean different currencies. You need to find out what currencies the payment gateway supports and whether the company provides dynamic currency conversion.
4. Payment fees. On average, the transaction fee for international Visa / Mastercard is 3% and this is completely normal. The fee is charged by all participants involved in the process. To process credit card payments, merchants must pay an exchange fee, a transaction evaluation fee, and a transaction processing fee. These fees are charged by card-issuing banks, card payment networks, and payment systems.
5. Support department. What kind of technical support does the gateway offer, and does it offer any at all? The ability to quickly and easily contact the gateway support team directly affects the speed of problem resolution. Waiting for an email response for a long time is unacceptable, especially when there is a flow of transactions. Many gateways provide formal SLAs to determine the required response time, which is important to know. How and where can I find out the status of an appeal (ticket)? Is it possible to customize notifications?

After familiarizing yourself with the key factors, you can safely choose the best payment gateway for your Shopify store.

Requirements for Obtaining Shopify Payment Gateway

During registration of your site, representatives of the payment processor company will check your site for compliance with certain requirements. Therefore, before applying for a payment gateway connection, you must prepare the site for verification in advance. These requirements are defined by international payment systems Visa / MasterCard:

• The site must contain the legal name, or the contact details of the administration;
• In the contact information section, you must indicate the current phone number of the support service or email address;
• Privacy Policy, Refund Policy, Shipping Policy;
• Detailed information about the product;
• Secure payment page;
• If there are products or services paid for by subscription, the subscription period cannot exceed 12 months;
• Indicate the logos of payment systems Visa, AMEX, MasterCard, Discover;
• Specify payment currency.

The bottom line

In short, Shopify is a handy tool for creating an online business. The platform allows you to monitor sales, product availability, promptly respond to customer requests. Of course, to ensure an uninterrupted flow of payments, it is necessary to choose the optimal payment gateway. Security, technical capabilities, coverage, payment methods – this and not only must be taken into account when making a final decision. PayOp is an expert in online payments. We provide innovative solutions for companies around the world. Payment gateway integration is free and takes place within 5 business days. Whether you are a high-risk or low-risk business, PayOp has solutions for everyone.

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