How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online for Small Businesses

If you own a small business, setting up your website to accept credit cards online is a crucial step in growing your sales and customer bases. Learning how to accept credit card payments online involves choosing a payment processor that has competitive pricing and is compatible with your website or ecommerce platform.

Businesses can accept credit cards online easily with one of the many user-friendly and affordable tools available. Payment processing solutions, such as Square, PayPal, and Shopify, help retailers accept credit cards online in a few minutes, with minimal upfront costs and processing rates that don’t break the bank.

10 Ways to Accept Credit Cards Online

How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online

To accept credit card payments online, you need a tool to collect customer data and a way to process the payments. Most ecommerce businesses do this through a website. Depending on your hosting service and platform, you will have different payment options available. For example, if you have a WordPress site, you can use a shopping cart plug-in with PayPal and/or Stripe to accept credit card payments. If you don’t already have an ecommerce website, you can build one with Square’s Weebly or Shopify.

Businesses that want online credit card processing generally need the following:

• A website or ecommerce platform for customers to go to when making purchases
• A secure payment gateway to accept credit cards and encrypt the payment
• A merchant account to process online payments

Many of the solutions on our list include both merchant services and a payment gateway. Many also offer tools to build a website. For small businesses, we recommend using a solution that includes at least both the payment gateway and merchant account in one system, such as Payment Depot, PayPal, or Stripe.

Many other providers, such as Square and Shopify, offer a website solution, payment gateway, and merchant account all in one. There are tons of providers of online credit card payments, and they each operate a little differently. So, we have specific steps for each provider below.

Square Payments: Accept Credit Cards Online Immediately

Square is great for businesses that want to accept credit cards online because it is free and fast to set up. Plus, Square has affordable processing fees for new businesses and a free point-of-sale (POS) system for accepting in-person payments. Square is the best fit for small and startup businesses that want a solution that has no monthly fee, minimum transaction requirements, or an application process.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Square

Square makes it easy for small businesses to accept payments online by offering a few different solutions, all with no contract. Businesses can create a free website through Square, connect Square payments to one of their ecommerce partners like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Wix, or use Square application programming interfaces (APIs) to add Square Checkout to your custom website.

To accept credit cards online with Square, follow these steps:

• Sign up for Square Payments: It’s free to create an account which includes a basic POS system for in-store and mobile sales, and businesses only pay a payment processing fee. There are no software fees or monthly minimums.
• Create a Square Website or Ecommerce Store: You can create a basic ecommerce site for free with Square Online Store powered by Weebly or invest in a paid plan for a more customizable site.

OR

• Integrate Square Payment With an Ecommerce Site: Square Payments also integrates directly with popular ecommerce platforms, including BigCommerce and WooCommerce. This is a good option if you sell in-store with Square, and also want to grow a sizable ecommerce store. Square can also be added to any custom website through Square’s open API.
• Load Your Products and Start Selling: If you’re creating a new site through Square or an ecommerce platform, load the products you want to sell on your site, including product photos, product descriptions, and pricing. If you’re setting up to take payments with Square’s API, drop the code in your existing site to set up a payment.

Example of an online checkout created with Square API

Square Payments Features

Square is a top-rated all-in-one payment processing and point-of-sale system for many reasons. Square gives businesses a variety of transaction options and a suite of business management features.

Square Payments features include:

• Flat-rate payment processing
• No long-term contracts, setup fees, monthly fees, or cancellation fees
• Next-day deposits or same-day for a 1% fee
• Real-time sales and inventory updates
• Start selling right away―no visits with banks or approval processes
• Free chargeback management services
• Two-way inventory; if you sell in-store, Square will manage sales and inventory data together

A sample Square checkout screen

Square Pricing

Unless you sign up for the Professional or Premium plan for your ecommerce site, there is no monthly fee for Square. Businesses can create a free site to process payments, and only pay a flat-rate processing fee of 2.9% plus 30 cents. Square’s flat-rate fee is the same as many online payment processors.

Square Online Store Plans

Square Reviews

Business owners love Square’s payment processing service and the free POS tools that come with it. Square user reviews also love that the system is easy to use and is affordable with transparent pricing. Customer service is the main complaint. Several reviewers say that getting in touch with Square’s customer service team can be difficult and frustrating.

Payment Depot: Affordably Accept Credit Cards Online

Payment Depot is a merchant service provider with a membership pricing model that provides payment processing at extremely competitive rates for businesses that process more than $20,000 per month. Payment Depot integrates with most popular online shopping carts, payment gateways, and web builders so that it is easy to accept credit cards online.

Using Payment Depot to Accept Credit Cards Online

Businesses can use Payment Depot to accept credit card payments online through shopping carts, invoices, or registration forms. Payment Depot does not have its own web builder or shopping cart features, but it integrates with most popular platforms.

Here’s how to accept credit card payments online with Payment Depot in three steps:

1. Apply for a Payment Depot account: The first step in accepting credit cards online with Payment Depot is signing up for an account. Fill out a form on their website or just call to get a free quote and submit an application.
2. Set up your website: Once your Payment Depot account is opened, you’ll need to set up your customer-facing website if you don’t have one already. Payment Depot works with popular ecommerce platforms BigCommerce and WooCommerce, for example. If you already have a site, Payment Depot integrates with Authorize.net, which is a fairly universal payment gateway that can connect to most websites.
3. Connect Payment Depot to your website: Connect your website to Payment Depot credit card processing through Payment Depot’s seamless integration. As long as you choose one of Payment Depot’s platforms or gateway platforms like Authorize.net or BigCommerce, this step will be simple.

Payment Depot Features

Payment Depot is an easy and affordable option for growing small businesses that want to save money on credit card processing fees. In addition to online payments, Payment Depot can be used to accept credit cards in-person, via mobile and POS, and through a virtual terminal.

Payment Depot features include:

• Membership model interchange-plus pricing
• Free payment gateway
• Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant
• No contracts or cancellation fees
• Next-day funding
• 24/7 customer support with certain plans
• Lots of third-party gateway, ecommerce platform, and POS integrations
• Free virtual terminal and payment gateway

Every Payment Depot account comes with a free virtual terminal for processing single or recurring payments and storing customer data

Payment Depot Pricing

Payment Depot’s membership model means businesses pay a flat monthly fee of $49, $79, $99, or $199, depending on the size of your business. Businesses then just pay the direct interchange fees (no percentage markup) and a flat transaction fee ranging from 5 cents to 15 cents. Most payment processors charge higher rates for online payments compared to in-person sales. However, Payment Depot offers the same low rates for all payment types.

Payment Depot Merchant Services Pricing Tiers

PayPal: User-friendly Way to Accept Online Payments

PayPal offers a processing solution for businesses to accept credit cards online, in-store, and via mobile. PayPal is great for online sellers because, in addition to traditional credit card payments, it also allows businesses to accept PayPal payments, which can increase overall sales by giving your business a higher conversion rate. PayPal is the best way to accept credit cards online for businesses that want to increase conversions by accepting PayPal payments with a one-click button at checkout.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With PayPal

PayPal can be used with custom websites, integrated with one of their ecommerce partners, or added as a PayPal button to existing sites. PayPal is unique because it can be combined with other payment processing solutions if you want to accept PayPal payments but want to use another credit card processing service.

Here are the three ways businesses can use PayPal to accept credit cards online:

1. With a PayPal ecommerce partner: PayPal works with Shopify, Big Commerce, and Magento. PayPal customers that build ecommerce sites through one of these platforms can receive a discount and connect a PayPal checkout seamlessly.
2. On a custom website: PayPal Payments Pro offers a fully customizable checkout solution for accepting all major credit cards, debit cards, PayPal, and Venmo online payments. This is a full online checkout solution that can be added to any website.
3. With a PayPal button: Businesses can add a PayPal button to checkout to provide a simplified checkout solution.

PayPal Features

PayPal is a great way to accept credit card payments online because shoppers who opt for PayPal checkout, which makes up 22% of all ecommerce activity and don’t have to enter credit card or shipping information manually as it’s populated automatically by PayPal. Online shopping has high cart abandonment rates and eliminating the steps customers need to take during checkout can help decrease abandoned carts and increase sales.

Additional PayPal features include:

• Flat-rate payment processing
• No long-term contracts, setup fees, or withdrawal or cancellation fees
• Funds from customer purchases are transferred to your PayPal business account in minutes
• Venmo payments; Venmo is owned by PayPal so, by using PayPal checkouts, you can also offer Venmo online payments
• Free PayPal marketing solutions and customer insights

PayPal checkout buttons can be added to any site

PayPal Pricing

PayPal has the same 2.9% plus 30 cents flat rate payment processing fee as Square, which is the industry standard rate. PayPal offers two different plan options for businesses that want to add a simple checkout box or checkout buttons―PayPal Payments, which is free―and businesses that want a fully customized checkout page, which is PayPal Payments Pro at $30 per month.

PayPal Payments Standard vs PayPal Payments Pro

PayPal Reviews

PayPal user reviews are positive. Businesses like that it is easy to use for them and customers. Customers like that PayPal offers a simplified checkout, and they don’t have to type in all of their card and shipping information. Some negative reviews report poor customer service from PayPal Payments.

Dharma: Low-cost Credit Card Processing for Established Businesses

Dharma is a traditional merchant services provider that offers payment processing solutions to accept credit cards in-store and online. Dharma has a very selective application process, but if you are approved, it offers some of the lowest payment processing rates available for small businesses. So, Dharma is a good choice for established higher-volume businesses looking to save on payment processing fees.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Dharma

In addition to having extremely low processing rates, Dharma has lots of tools that make it easy to accept credit cards online. Businesses can accept credit cards online using Dharma and your preferred payment gateway.

Here’s how to accept credit cards online with Dharma in three steps:

1. Apply for a Dharma account: The first and most important step is to apply for a merchant services account with Dharma. Unlike Square, PayPal, or Shopify, which anyone can use to accept payments, Dharma is more particular about who they work with. However, Dharma has low processing rates and excellent customer service reviews, so it is well worth the inquiry.
2. Choose a payment gateway: Once you are approved and have a Dharma account, you will need to choose between three payment gateway options: MX Merchant, NMI Gateway, and Authorize.net. MX Merchant is a proprietary business management software with a virtual terminal. NMI is Dharma’s traditional payment gateway with an open API, QuickBooks integration, and several ecommerce platform integrations. Authorize.net is an outside alternative to NMI that also syncs with many popular platforms
3. Install on your website: Once you have an account and a chosen payment gateway, connect it with your website so that you can start to accept credit cards online. If you are using a major web hosting service like WordPress or an ecommerce platform like WooCommerce, always check to see if there is a plug-in or direct integration option. Otherwise, Dharma offers step-by-step instructions for connecting an NMI checkout to your website.

Dharma Features

Dharma is an excellent option for businesses that are already established and looking to save on card processing rates for in-store and online sales. One advantage of using Dharma is that the company prioritizes pricing transparency. If you are interested, the company provides education on how interchange pricing works and will provide full disclosure rate comparisons upon request.

Specific Dharma features include:

• Competitive interchange-plus payment processing rates
• $20 monthly fee, includes in-store, online, and mobile payments
• No long-term contracts, monthly minimums, annual fees, or early termination fees
• Discounts available for business-to-business (B2B) companies, merchants processing of more than $100,000 per month, and nonprofit organizations
• Three different payment gateway options including two proprietary software and open API options
• Free app for accepting mobile payments
• Every Dharma account includes tools for reports, customer database, and online payment link
• Free phone and email support plus a vast knowledge database on the website; office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday

Dharma’s free MX Merchant lets businesses create custom payment links

Dharma Pricing

All Dharma merchant accounts receive the same interchange-plus pricing. Dharma’s online payment processing rate is 0.20% plus 10 cents plus interchange per transaction. As an example, Visa’s interchange rate is 1.8% plus 10 cents for credit transactions. So, the amount per online transaction would be 2% plus 20 cents. Plus, Dharma charges a flat $20 per month fee. These types of rates are typically only available to larger businesses and on a custom quote basis, so Dharma stands out by offering these rates transparently and across the board.

In addition to Dharma’s transaction pricing and the flat $20 per month fee for online payments, there is also a fee for the payment gateway. The exact price will vary based on what solution you choose. MX Merchant does not have a monthly fee, but you can pay to add on extra features like recurring payments and invoicing. NMI and Authorize.net are both $10 per month and have a .05% transaction fee.

Dharma Reviews

Overall, Dharma reviews are excellent, which is not common for payment processing companies. Businesses are happy with the level of transparency Dharma operates with, including publishing all rates and fees upfront. Businesses also report excellent customer service and helpful tech support. There are a few negative reviews citing equipment compatibility issues and other negative reviews from business owners who were rejected during the application process for a Dharma account.

Shopify: Accept Credit Cards Online With Ecommerce Store

Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform that has built-in payment processing to accept credit cards online. Shopify accepts all major credit cards. Businesses can also set up gift cards as a payment type. Shopify is a terrific way for ecommerce businesses to accept credit cards online because it combines payment processing with ecommerce tools like a drag-and-drop store builder, shipping solutions, and inventory management.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Shopify

Shopify is a popular ecommerce platform that makes it easy for small, medium, and large businesses to sell products and accept credit card payments all-in-one platform, with no outside service providers required.

Businesses can accept credit cards online with Shopify in three simple steps:

1. Create a Shopify store: Shopify has a step-by-step and checklist to get you started. Shopify also has a 14-day free trial so that you can create and test your store before committing to a plan.
2. Activate Shopify payments: In your store settings, there is a section called Payment providers. Click in that section to setup Shopify payments.

OR

1. Use a third-party payment gateway: If you do not want to use Shopify’s built-in credit card processing, you can also accept credit cards online using one of Shopify’s third-party payment processors, including Authorize.net, Chase, Vantiv, PayPal, and Cayan. However, note that Shopify does charge an additional transaction fee if you use a third-party payment provider.

Sample product page made with Shopify

Shopify Features

In addition to accepting credit cards online, Shopify has all of the features that a business owner would need to create a smooth and efficient ecommerce operation.

All of Shopify’s plans include:

• Flat-rate payment processing
• Accept all major credit and debit cards
• No additional fee for American Express transactions
• 24/7 customer support
• Online store with SSL certificate
• Shipping labels and discounts

Shopify Pricing

To accept credit cards online with Shopify, you need to choose from one of their monthly plans that include an ecommerce store. The monthly price ranges from $29 to $299. Online payment processing rates vary from 2.9% plus 30 cents to 2.4% plus 30 cents, depending on your monthly plan. You can try Shopify free for 14 days before deciding on a plan.

Shopify Pricing and Features

Sample checkout screen made with Shopify

Shopify Reviews

Shopify user reviews are excellent. Users like that the platform is efficient and offers an all-in-one solution for ecommerce businesses. It is also easy to use. The main downside of using Shopify to accept credit cards online is that rates can be steep if you use a third-party payment processor. Otherwise, Shopify is a great solution for ecommerce businesses.

Stripe: Create Custom Online Checkout

Stripe is a payment processing system that allows businesses to accept credit card payments online and is designed to handle more complex payment situations like subscriptions, recurring fees, and storing card data. Stripe is a great, secure way to accept credit cards online for businesses that want to create a custom solution.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Stripe

Stripe has a suite of APIs that allow businesses to choose how they want to accept credit card payments online. There are essentially three ways that businesses can accept credit cards online with Stripe: by integrating Stripe’s checkout, by creating a custom form, or by using one of their partner integrations.

Here is how to accept credit cards online with Stripe in three steps:

1. Simple checkout button: If you are not looking for a custom solution, Stripe checkout can be easily integrated into your website with a single line of code. This will create a blue “Pay With Card” button on your site.
2. Create a custom form: The custom integration allows you to use any HTML element or JavaScript event to trigger Checkout. This method requires solid JavaScript skills.
3. Use a partner integration: There are dozens of platforms that have extensions or plug-ins for creating Stripe checkouts to accept credit cards on your website. Stripe’s partners include WordPress, Wix, Weebly, and Shopify. Stripe has plug-ins for PrestaShop and WooCommerce, to name a couple.

Sample Stripe checkout

Stripe Features

Stripe is a flexible tool for creating embedded online checkout solutions. Stripe accepts many credit cards and payment methods, including all major credit cards, Apple Pay & Android Pay e-wallets, automated clearing house (ACH) payments, and some cryptocurrencies.

Additional Stripe features include:

• Flat-rate payment processing
• No monthly, startup, or cancellation fees
• Flexible solution with open code
• Payment Card Industry (PCI)-compliant
• Ability to set up recurring payments
• Many ecommerce and website integrations
• Mobile-friendly payment platforms (iOS app, Android app, and mobile website)
• 24/7 support specialists via email, chat, or phone

Stripe Pricing

Like Square, Stripe has no startup, monthly, or cancellation fees. With Stripe’s pay-as-you-go pricing, businesses pay a 2.9% plus 30 cents transaction fee, same as Square and PayPal. If you are accepting international cards and need a currency conversion, Stripe charges an additional 1% fee.

There are no other costs associated with Stripe, making it an affordable solution. However, if you are looking to use Stripe to build a custom checkout and you are not well-versed in JavaScript, you may need to invest in a freelancer to build the checkout for you.

Stripe Reviews

Overall, Stripe reviews are mostly positive. Users like that it is flexible and easy to use. Most negative reviews are regarding poor customer service, with some reviewers saying it can take several days for Stripe to respond to requests.

Fattmerchant: Accept Credit Cards Online for Seasonal Businesses

Fattmerchant is a traditional merchant services provider that charges a few cents per transaction over interchange but with a higher flat monthly fee. Fattmerchant’s unique pricing structure makes it a good fit for growing businesses that have a higher transaction volume and average sales amount because they would benefit from the lower per-transaction cost.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Fattmerchant

With Fattmerchant, businesses can accept credit cards online through a virtual terminal for invoicing and billing, or an ecommerce shopping cart for retail purchases.

Here’s how to accept credit cards online with Fattmerchant in four steps:

1. Sign up for a merchant account: Before you can start accepting cards online, you need to apply for an account with Fattmerchant. Like Dharma, they only work with United States companies and don’t work with many high-risk businesses.
2. Set up your Authorize.net gateway: Fattmerchant works directly with a few payment gateway options, but the most popular is Authorize.net. This entire process is done through Fattmerchant, so you don’t have to contact a separate company to set up your payment gateway.
3. Create a custom shopping cart: Fattmerchant lets you create a custom, branded shopping cart right on your website, so customers never leave your site during checkout, and the whole shopping experience is branded to your store.
4. Connect with your website: Authorize.net has integrations with many popular ecommerce platforms and web hosting services like WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento.

Fattmerchant Features

Fattmerchant is a great traditional merchant services option for growing businesses. It provides options for accepting countertop payments, mobile payments, invoicing, and ecommerce, all of which are PCI compliant and integrate with many popular POS programs.

Fattmerchant features include:

• Subscription pricing model with rates above interchange
• Accepts all major credit cards
• PCI-compliant
• No cancellation or statement fees
• Month-to-month billing
• Ability to pause payment processing services with no monthly fees
• Free app for accepting mobile payments included with a merchant account
• 24/7 technical support included
• Two-way QuickBooks integration included
• Integrated analytics reports available, included with $199 per month fee, extra $20 per month for other merchant accounts
• Several payment gateway options

Businesses can create one-time and recurring invoices through Fattmerchant’s free virtual terminal

Fattmerchant Pricing

Fattmerchant has a subscription-style pricing model similar to Payment Depot, where businesses pay $99 per month or $199 per month depending on whether your annual sales are more or less than $500,000. As far as monthly fees go for payment processing, this is the highest we’ve seen, However, Fattmerchant only charges 15 cents or 12 cents on top of direct cost interchange fees, so if you have a medium to high transaction volume or your average transaction rate is higher, this pricing structure can save you a lot of money.

Fattmerchant is also one of the only interchange-plus payment processors that allow businesses to pause their account and resume as needed. This is ideal for established businesses that only operate during certain months of the year but still want to benefit from lower rates with interchange-plus or membership-model pricing.

Fattmerchant Reviews

Fattmerchant reviews are generally positive. Businesses like that the fees are transparent and affordable. Businesses also like the month-to-month billing and that there is no cancellation or early termination fee. Some reviewers cite unprocessed applications or issues with card processing hardware.

PaySimple: Accept Credit Cards Online With Registration Forms

PaySimple is an integrated system for accepting credit card payments online, automating billing, and sending invoices through as a single portal. Pay Simple is a good option for small businesses, service providers, event managers, and nonprofits who need to collect both customer information and online credit card payments through a form-based system.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With PaySimple

With PaySimple, businesses can accept credit cards online by building a storefront, creating configurable payment forms, or embedding a “Buy Now” button. Payment forms are a great option for people that don’t want an online store but still need to collect payments online for event registrations, nonprofits, memberships, and so on.

Here is how to accept credit cards online in three steps with PaySimple’s payment forms:

1. Create a PaySimple account: Users can sign up for a new account instantly. There’s no approval process like with Chase. PaySimple also offers a free trial.
2. Create your forms: You can create a registration form and choose what details each customer needs to enter, such as contact info or birthdate. Registration forms can store customer details in the included customer relationship management (CRM) system. Alternatively, you can create a recurring payment form for services and memberships. This option stores customers’ info and automatically bills at the designated time. Both solutions are PCI-compliant.
3. Send to customers: With PaySimple, you can send customers a link to the registration form or send them invoices directly. Either way, you don’t have to create a whole website.

Sample recurring payment form with PaySimple

PaySimple Features

Without a website, managing form-based online payments can be tough. However, not if you use PaySimple. PaySimple’s standalone forms offer a unique solution for anyone needing to collect customer data and payments online without having a website. This clever solution allows you to collect, store, and manage user information and process one-time and recurring credit card payments. Best of all, it all happens on PaySimple’s secure, PCI-compliant system.

Additional PaySimple features include:

• Flat-rate payment processing
• Accepts all major credit cards
• ACH and e-check processing
• PCI-compliant
• No contracts, startup, or cancellation fees
• Automatically prevents duplicate customer records
• QuickBooks integration

PaySimple Pricing

PaySimple has a monthly fee and flat-rate transaction fees. PaySimple is $54.95/month and includes online payments, custom forms, invoices, and recurring payments in addition to extra features like CRM and reporting. Credit card processing fees are as low as 2.49% per transaction. ACH and e-check fees are 60 cents plus 0.1% per transaction. Businesses processing more than $50,000 per month can negotiate for a lower rate.

PaySimple Reviews

PaySimple reviews are mixed. Users like that the interface is straightforward and easy to use. It also provides a way of accepting credit cards online without a website and setting up recurring payments. However, some reviewers reported various issues ranging from higher fees than what was expected, withheld funds, and difficulty connecting with customer service.

PrestaShop: Accept Credit Cards With Online Shopping Cart

PrestaShop is a top choice for third-party shopping carts. Although many website platforms have built-in cart options, if yours does not, PrestaShop is a great solution that has more than four million downloads. PrestaShop is free to use and integrates with PayPal, plus other competitively-priced PCI-compliant payment providers.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With PrestaShop

PrestaShop has several guides and video tutorials that walk you through the process of setting up a PrestaShop shopping cart on your existing website. Here, we break down accepting credit cards online with PrestaShop in a few simple steps.

Here’s how to accept credit cards online with PrestaShop in four steps:

1. Get a merchant account or payment gateway: Before we begin with PrestaShop, you will need an actual card processor. PrestaShop is a shopping cart interface that allows customers to buy from your site. However, PrestaShop does have a few payment partners that are easy to work with, including PayPal and Square.
2. Make sure your website is secure: Before accepting payments, your website needs to have a secure sockets layer (SSL), which is the standard for encrypting payment information. You can likely get this through our website platform.
3. Download PrestaShop: PrestaShop is completely free to use and download.
4. Upload PrestaShop to your website: Transfer the PrestaShop folder to the correct location on your website. From there, you should see the PrestaShop installer and be able to configure your checkout.

Note: PrestaShop Checkout is a shopping cart that has a built-in PayPal Checkout. However, it is currently only available in France, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

It’s easy to set up an online shopping cart with PrestaShop

PrestaShop Features

PrestaShop is a free platform that lets businesses manage the backend aspects of an ecommerce store, including the shopping cart.

PrestaShop’s features include:

• Free to use
• Highly customizable and configurable
• Require a third-party merchant account or payment gateway
• Lots of integration options

With PrestaShop, you will still need a separate merchant account to process the payments. However, if you have an existing website on a platform that doesn’t directly offer an ecommerce solution, and you want to add a shopping cart, PrestaShop is a great way to add a shopping cart so that you can sell products and accept credit cards online.

Sample PrestaShop shopping cart

PrestaShop Pricing

PrestaShop is free to download and use. The only cost is your payment gateway and processing fees. Look for processors that have no higher than the industry standard 2.9% + 30 cents. Flat rate transaction fee.

PrestaShop Reviews

PrestaShop reviews are generally positive. Users like that it is free, has robust features, and can be highly customized. Some reviewers say that PrestaShop can be difficult to set up if you do not have any coding or web development skills. If that is the case, a plug-and-play or all-in-one solution like Square may be a better fit for you.

Chase: Accept Payments Online With a Traditional Bank

Chase Merchant Services offers small businesses affordable merchant services that can connect to any website. When businesses use Chase Merchant Services to accept credit cards online, Chase serves as both the credit card processor and the receiving bank, which can speed up the transaction process and provide business owners greater peace of mind.

How to Accept Credit Cards Online With Chase

Chase Merchant Services offers solutions to accept credit cards over a virtual terminal and ecommerce solutions to accept credit cards on your website.

Here’s how to accept credit cards online with Chase in three steps:

1. Open a merchant account: The first step is to set up a merchant account. Since you are working with a bank, the sign-up process is a little more involved than with plug-and-play solutions like Square or Stripe.
2. Choose a gateway option: Chase offers a few different payment gateway options, including their proprietary Orbital Gateway and the popular Authorize.net.
3. Connect the gateway to your website: Once you have the Chase account and your payment gateway set up on the back end, you need to connect it to your website or ecommerce platform that will be the customer-facing side of your checkout.

Businesses can also integrate Chase Merchant Services with an existing ecommerce platform. Chase integrates with 3dcart, BigCommerce, Shopify, Spreedly, WooCommerce, and Infusionsoft.

Chase Merchant Services Features

Chase Merchant Services is one of the largest transaction processors in the world. Some of its features include:

• Next-day funds: Chase business customers that use Chase Merchant Services and have funds deposited into a Chase account receive their money next business day
• Online chargebacks: Since you are processing directly through the receiving bank, you can deal with any chargebacks directly and online, instead of receiving them in the mail
• No fee with a standard account: Chase has no monthly fee with a standard account
• Month-to-month billing: Although you will likely need a contract with Chase―unlike Square, Stripe, or PayPal―Chase can offer month-to-month billing
• Ample customer service availability: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time for customer service via phone
• Multiple payment gateways: Businesses can choose from Chase Orbital gateway, Authorize.net and others for accepting credit cards online

Chase Merchant Services Pricing

Chase’s pricing is quote-based, so you will need to contact them directly for a specific price. However, they do advertise a 2.9% + 25 cents per transaction flat rate for ecommerce payments, which is comparable to most of the solutions on this list.

Chase offers both flat-rate fees that are ideal for small businesses and interchange-plus pricing, which is a good option for larger businesses. Actual rates can vary based on your monthly processing volume and other factors, such as how long you’ve been in business. Chase has no startup, monthly, or early cancellation fees. However, you will likely sign a long-term contract.

Chase Merchant Services Reviews

Overall, Chase Merchant Services reviews are positive. It is rare for a credit card processor and bank of this size to have positive reviews, but Chase does. Most of the negative reviews cite either insufficient customer service or withholding funds. Overall, Chase has a tidy review record.

Accept Credit Cards Online Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Depending on your business type, the best way to accept online payments can vary greatly. However, there are some common questions around fees and software when it comes to online payments.

What is the cheapest way to accept credit cards?

If you are an individual, you can use apps like Venmo, CashApp, and Chase QuickPay to send and receive funds for free. For businesses, the cheapest credit card processing depends on the type and size of your business. If you are a small business or occasional seller, an app like PayPal or Square would be best. For larger or established businesses, consider Payment Depot or Dharma, where you can receive membership-based interchange-plus pricing.

Is there an app to accept credit card payments?

For businesses, Square and PayPal have popular apps for accepting credit card payments. For individuals, Venmo and CashApp are common. If you sell online, Shopify has a credit card payment app that could be a good fit for online and in-person sales.

Can I accept credit cards online without a merchant account?

Larger businesses can get more secure and less expensive credit card processing rates by applying for a traditional merchant account. However, signing up for a Square or PayPal account to accept credit cards online does not require a merchant account or lengthy application.

Do online card payments have higher fees than in-person card payments?

There is a higher risk associated with online payments because the card is not physically present for the purchase. There’s a greater risk of fraud. So, banks and credit card companies charge higher processing fees to cover the risks associated with processing online payments.

Bottom Line

There are many ways to accept credit cards online. The best way to accept credit card payments online depends on your individual business. If you are a sole proprietor, a simple solution such as Square can offer user-friendly website and invoice payments. However, if you are a growing small business, you will need a merchant account with more affordable payment processing.