Heapest way to accept payments online

Running a small business is no small feat. If you run an enrichment or yoga studio, you would have to jump over the daily hurdles of tracking invoices, managing customer appointments and searching for more customers. With more business processes going digital, you now have much more to do.

Today’s digital business system poses as many cons as its pros. With more people making payments digitally, it is quite inevitable for small businesses to receive instant payment without online payment options. In 2020 alone, as much as 45% of consumers made online shopping transactions using their smartphones.

While there are multiple options for accepting payment online, they do not often come cheap. Many payment portals yank off hefty service charges and maintenance fees. There are some that take small charges from each transaction made, but in the long run, it all adds up to a significant amount.

This leaves a lot of small businesses wondering - Are there cheaper ways to go about accepting payments online?

Top Ways Small Businesses Can Accept Payments Online

1. Enable Direct Credit Cards and Debit Cards Payment

This is probably one of the most effective and basic ways of accepting online payments. All you have to do is to integrate the payment feature on your business website or app. You can either decide to direct payments to an intermediary holding account or your dedicated merchant account.

Some of the most accepted credit cards include Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover. Of all these cards, Visa is the largest with almost 800 million cards in circulation all over the world at the end of 2020. MasterCard is the second largest with about 246 million cardholders in the US and 721 million internationally in 2020.

2. Receive eChecks via ACH Processing

A lot of customers consider this as the second best alternative to paying directly with a debit or credit card. This option allows you to process a direct debit of a bank account with an eCheck, or electronic check, using the ACH payment options.

For this, your customer would be required to input the information from their paper check into an online payment form or software interface. The required information includes routing and account number, name, amount, and authorization. This option allows your customers to process payments without the physical presence of a paper check.

The best part about this option is that its transaction fees are often lower than credit cards.

3. Integrate an Online Payment Gateway

As a service based business, one of the best things you can do is to offer your customers a payment option that allows them to pay you easily, directly from your website. Returning customers can also have the option of creating payment accounts to keep record of their payment details for subsequent payment.

With the help of online payment services like PayPal, Stripe, and other payment processing vendors, your customers can make easy and recurring payments directly from your website.

However, a smart way to accept payments by small businesses like boutique studios is via their booking system. Why is it smart? It’s another way to give your customers a seamless experience as payment options are integrated into the booking system and might offer a lower processing fee.

OClass booking system allows you to easily create an online payment form for your customers to complete transactions. The best part about using the OCLASS

"OClass is a School and Studio Management System Singapore that has all your business needs covered: online payments, membership management, registration and more.