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Offline vs. Online Payments: What to Accept through Your Online Store

Remember the old days of shopping? You would walk into a store, select the items you wanted and then pay by cash or credit card. The one good thing about old school shopping is that you leave with your product immediately after payment. Today it’s all online, and it’s easier and more convenient for many people to shop online.

But this means something different for those doing the payment collection and the shipping, you, the retailer. Whether you are transitioning your store online or looking for the best way to sell online, this article will help you understand what it means to be accepting payments through your online store.

E-commerce concept

Online payment occurs when a customer’s funds are transferred to your payment account right after your customer confirms the payment. Online customers often will pay through:

  • Credit cards
  • Debit cards
  • PayPal

Offline payment indicates that money is transferred at a later date. For example, a customer deposits a check into a bank account or a payment given by phone. If you offer this choice, you should call the customer and agree on the payment – wire transfers, phone orders, payment to the delivery person, checks etc.

Offline methods don’t charge customers right away. Instead, offline payments are meant to store the customer information for processing manually.

Both online and offline payments are important to consider when looking at an online store, especially when choosing a payment gateway. A payment gateway is essentially a payment processor that accepts payments in your area (home or business) and accepts your currency.

The short of it is that you need a good payment gateway. One that you trust. This article helps explain what to look for in a payment gateway and why it’s important to your online store.

Payment method options are extremely varied, especially with the high competition between payment gateways. You first need to decide what types of online and/or offline payments you are willing to accept through your store and decide from there.

Whichever payment form you choose, it should be the one that’s best-suited for your business. One that is fast, secure and easy for you to manage as well as safe for your customers.

Online shopping

Keep in mind that many payment gateways have fees associated with their systems and so do credit card companies. You’ll want to consider this in your budget for your online store. Fortunately, Yola Online Store charges no hidden transaction fees, so the money you make is the money you keep. That’s one less thing to worry about.

If you have questions about accepting payments online, we would love to hear your comments and thoughts below.

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