With pretty much everything being available online these days – the topic of online payment systems is something that comes up regularly. Everyone wants to be able to make safe and secure transactions with the ultimate convenience. There are now quite a lot of them to choose from – so we have selected what we feel are the top 3 to help you on your way to making those online payments.
There are varying kinds of payment systems which include: ACH payments, payment gateway’s, a merchant account, a payment processor and PCI compliance. Having all of those alone is confusing never mind the number of providers under each system – so it’s good news that we have tried and tested them for you to let you know all about the pro’s and con’s.
We have all heard of PayPal right? Well Dwolla is one of their main competitors. This company processes over a massive $1 million a day giving you an idea of how much people are trusting of them and how popular they are. You can set up Dwolla similarly as to you would a PayPal account. It takes just a few minutes to register all of your details and instead of having to continuously re-enter credit or debit card details every time you visit a new site, you can remember your Dwolla log in credentials and that’s it. Although everything about this online payment system is of the same level of convenience as Paypal and is just as secure, they have less recognition. There are loads of bingo sites with PayPal, this site paypal-bingo.org is example for one of them. The site got a few alternative payment method – but none with Dwolla but you never know what may be in development. We feel this is down to brand awareness more than the quality of their company. Both of these systems are completely free to use, which is partially what would have made them popular with not only the companies that use them but the consumers too.
Web developers can definitely find advantages in using Stripe as an online payment method. It allows them to make sure a payment system is integrated into their project by using their API. Instead of a standard sign up process, Stripe behaves like a merchant account and takes care of all kinds of merchant and Payment Card Industry approvals, which mean users don’t need to enter any details. The only downfall with this payment system is that because it handles all of that there is a fee. They charge 2.9% on any transaction made, however similarly to the likes of PayPal, there aren’t any set up or registration costs to use it. This may be the reason why you won’t see them featured on too many online sites, as consumers wouldn’t be overly pleased with having to pay a transaction fee.
Braintree makes things very easy for developers; it gives them everything they would need to accept payments online in the United Kingdom. Although they aren’t used on bingo sites they have some major clients giving you an idea of how successful their platform has become. Some of their biggest clients include the likes of Living Social, 37 Signals and Angry Birds! (We have all had a go at that game before)! They allow people to make transactions from their mobile phone and also allow for repeat payments and billing offering them the ultimate convenience factor. There are no fees for setting up this service or monthly costs, so you can imagine why it’s so popular with merchants. It does however cost 2.9% per transaction which again why it may not be as renowned as companies such as PayPal.
All of the above are recognised payment methods that can be used online and in our minds are definitely the best.