The rise of the internet and technology has made international trade relatively easier. It has become easy to sell products and services to global clients, and international business is no longer confined to billion-dollar companies. As small and medium enterprises become available to global buyers as they take their presence online. While all the other aspects of international trade, such as reach, communication, and logistics, have largely been solved, accepting payments still needs to be solved for merchants.
However, you need to understand that an international payment gateway differs from a local payment gateway. To collect international payments in your business, you must use a global payment gateway or a provider that offers cross-border payments. However, with various options available, it can take time to determine which international payment gateway provider to work with.
In addition, you must also consider your international payment collection method. Because how you collect payments will impact the efficiency and productivity of your finance team. The aim is to collect cross-border payments cost-effectively so that international customers are happy with the results with a minimum of manual admin. In this blog, we will discuss international payment gateways and find the top international payment gateways.
What Is An International Payment Gateway?
As discussed in previous blogs, a payment gateway is a tool to confirm customers’ credit and debit card details, making them essential for online and offline companies that authorize credit and debit card payments. If you do not have a payment gateway, you will not be able to receive compensation. Even if you have a payment processor and a merchant account, these are two of the software’s key features that are needed to process card transactions.
Luckily, many providers offer all-in-one solutions, so what is an international payment gateway? Businesses that take international payments need a payment gateway that offers global prices and an interface with multiple languages, also known as an international payment gateway.
What To Expect From International Payment Gateway?
Handling different requirements of selling SaaS internationally is beyond the transfer of a typical payment gateway. They are only designed to deal with the issues of multiple currencies. Let us explore the features the best international payment gateways need to include to reduce your struggles with global payment processing.
Adding multiple currencies-
Whether you are handling B2B or B2C, all customers want to pay in their local currency. For B2B transactions, finance department preferences typically govern currency choices. Supporting various currencies has many benefits-
- High conversion rates- people are most likely to start the checkout process and willing to use the global pay wallet when using their currency.
- Better payment acceptance.
- Enable localized pricing; this saves the buyers from being charged the currency exchange fees by their banks which can increase conversion rates.
- It avoids confusion and manages expectations.
Introducing new languages-
Offering customers the ability to go through the payment process in their native language can have a powerful effect on their overall experience. It develops a better understanding and encourages trust. It conveys that they are a part of the intended audience for the product. This improves conversions while reducing potential misunderstandings that can lead to more support tickets and chargebacks.
Managing payouts from foreign revenue-
Improving how you manage payouts from foreign revenue can be invaluable for companies with offices worldwide. You can use payments in a local currency to handle the outgoing costs in other regions. When taking income in different currencies, the general practice is converting it into a coin that matches your main business bank account. But this can be clumsy, limited, and incur charges.
This can also help save your finance department from the worry of converting currencies back and forth.
Handling International Frauds-
When the company handles growing numbers of international payments, its exposure to potential fraud increases and fraudulent transactions are challenging because they can create chargeback rates in case the card gets stolen. Moreover, they can also lead to high bank charges from credit card verification attacks. This is where stolen cards are charged to verify that they can be used.
However, an excellent international payment gateway should be able to detect and stop fraudulent transactions from anywhere in the world, along with ensuring genuine customers can still complete their purchases.
Best Payment Gateway for International Payments:
Below we have described some of the best payment gateway providers for international payments that can help you answer how to make international payments.
Paypal-
Paypal is the most trusted choice for online sales, as it is easy to set up, which makes it an excellent choice for small businesses and startups. Moreover, Paypal can help firms to influence confidence in potential buyers. PayPal is available in over 200 countries and regions and supports 25 currencies, which makes it a global choice for businesses looking for an international payment gateway provider, as you can use different modes of payment in international trade.
Costs can be a significant factor when deciding which payment provider to choose, but it can be challenging to compare because of multiple pricing options and tiers. Although, paypal charges different fees for transfers between two paypal accounts compared to a card-to-paypal transaction. Prices can also vary depending on the currencies that are being exchanged. Still, they expect to pay around a 3 percent currency conversion fee plus a transaction fee of up to 5 percent for cross-border transactions. PayPal offers links to 16 different pages of information about its fee structure.
Worldpay-
Worldpay is an all-in-one payment processor that assists you in processing credit card payments directly from your app or website. It is one of the UK’s most widely used international payment gateways. It offers support for over 40 countries and 120 currencies, making it easy to accept payments from customers worldwide.
However, you need to be aware that Worldpay requires lengthy contracts, which are three years with automatic rollover, and may enforce early termination fees if you close your account early. Moreover, the pricing could be more straightforward and transparent, with monthly payments and pay-as-you-go available but not precise timing.
Braintree-
PayPal owns Braintree; however, the operations are completely different. In short, Braintree offers individual merchant accounts that enable you to process transactions. With over 45 regions/countries covered, it can be an excellent choice for organizations in the market for international payment methods.
However, the pricing is relatively complicated, with a basic 1.9 to 20p per transaction but an additional 1 percent for collecting from cards issued outside the UK.
Amazon Pay-
Amazon pay is a relatively new arrival on the payment gateway platform. It is an excellent choice for an international payment gateway with nominal fees and a simple interface. In addition, it offers extensive multi-currency capabilities, offering your business the perfect platform to expand internationally.
However, pricing is expensive, with a base of 2.7 percent + 30p per transaction with a cross-border surcharge of between 0.4 percent – 1.5 percent. At the top, this could result in 4.2 percent + 30p on a trade, so unless your customers have shown a preference for Amazon Pay, more cost-effective gateways are preferable.
Stripe-
Compared to many other international payment gateway providers, Stripe offers payment gateways in various APIs. This means you can have complete control and merge your new payment gateway into your online business. The platform accepts payments in more than 135 countries and offers extensive support for local prices.
Stripe provides a good choice for online stores and ecommerce businesses that require instant payments. However, they only accept payments through cards and do not allow consumers to use their local payment methods. While card payments are famous, they often go through a high failure rate and steep transaction fees that are always the best option for every business.
Final Thoughts:
Whether you are choosing a payment gateway provider or planning to build your payment portal, it is always a profitable solution for an online merchant. However, websites that use an inbuilt payment system are more trusted by customers. And if you are looking for a way to improve client confidence, incorporate a payment solution that will boost trust, support multiple payment solutions, and protect from fraud. In the above blog post, we have mentioned some top payment gateways to make international payments.