Top 5 Best BigCommerce Credit Card Gateways
By Sam Nguyen
With the continuously increasing number of e-commerce platforms today, there are more and more credit card gateways available for each platform. The quality of those gateways has also improved substantially.
With BigCommerce, there are over 65 pre-integrated payment gateways available. Besides, there is no additional fee for using a payment gateway, and every pre-integrated BigCommerce credit card payment gateway is PCI-compliant.
Therefore, it is quite difficult for you to decide which credit card payment gateway is best for your online store. Understanding this concern, in today’s article, we will share with you our thoughts on the five best BigCommerce credit card gateways to help you make a sensible decision on the gateway services.
What are credit card gateways? How do they work?
A credit card gateway is a trading service for e-commerce platforms and conventional brick-and-mortar shops that processes credit card payments. A credit card gateway allows you to offer multiple payment methods (PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, etc.) to your customers.
When it comes to payment gateways, you cannot skip the concept of a merchant service provider. A merchant service provider (MSP) is a company that provides payment gateways. MSP functions as an intermediary between your BigCommerce store and credit card companies/banks.
As to how credit card gateways work, they perform the following tasks in less than a few seconds during a transaction:
- Allows you to process payment details submitted by customers by integrating with your store.
- Securely transmits payment information by encrypting it.
- Responds whether the payment was accepted or refused to your store, allowing you to redirect the customer to a confirmation page or prompt them to use a different payment method.
3 Types of BigCommerce credit card gateways
There are basically three main kinds of credit card gateways for BigCommerce:
1. Redirects
Redirects or hosted payment gateways basically mean sending customers to another site to process payment.
It is particularly suitable for small businesses and also very easy to set up.
One of the most common examples is PayPal. Lots of large businesses also opt for PayPal because of its enormous popularity and the ability to set up recurring payments.
2. Checkout on site, payment off-site
With this type of gateway, the merchant’s site does the processing and checkout, but the final payment is handled by a redirect site such as Stripe. This, like the redirects option, provides convenience but minimal user interface customization.
3. On-site payments
On-site payments are for larger businesses that are willing to take on further responsibility and have enough resources to handle the work. This simply means that all payment and processing takes place on your own server.
Everything ranging from the design of the checkout page, loading time, ease of access to overall user experience is up to you and handled by your team only. Thus you have more options to customize, but it also means you have more things to worry about.
5 Best BigCommerce Credit Card Gateways
1. PayPal
PayPal is a payment aggregator that provides a payment gateway called PayFlow. BigCommerce itself provides native PayPal integration (powered by Braintree) to businesses in more than 45 countries. Businesses using this native integration could benefit from reduced credit card processing fees.
However, the success of BigCommerce’s partnership with PayPal is varied based on the plan your business chooses. As you know, BigCommerce’s pricing is tiered. Therefore, its “Standard” (cheapest option) has a processing fee of 2.9% + $.30, while its most expensive plan costs about 2.2% + $.30.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Customers find this payment method to be convenient and prominent. | PayPal charges fees to receive funds. |
| It is a trustworthy and secure payment gateway service provider. | Some account holders were locked out of their accounts, so they lost lots of money. |
| Integration that works right out of the box. | Chargebacks are costly for PayPal and can take a long time to arrive, which is around 75 days. |
| PayPal operates in over 190 markets around the world. | It can take some time for your money to arrive in your bank account. |
| PayPal is available to a limited extent in more than 200 countries and regions. | Currency exchange rates are harsh. |
| It can receive payments in more than 20 currencies which helps simplify foreign trade. | Although support is available 24/7 from PayPal’s customer service help center, many users have complained online that PayPal’s representatives are less than responsive. |
| You can get access to loads of PayPal’s free templates, a broad range of payment methods, and an automated framework to handle invoice payment details, which makes invoicing fast and easy. | PayPal has previously been involved in an email or “phishing” scheme that has annoyed many users. |
| PayPal allows you to create both a personal and a company account. |
2. Stripe
Stripe is a strong competitor for BigCommerce. It focuses on providing online payment processing for mobile e-commerce, SaaS, non-profits, etc.
Lots of large companies use Stripe such as booking.com, Deliveroo, and Xero. Therefore, Stripe is definitely powerful but it is just not as well-known as PayPal.
One great feature of Stripe is that it offers reliable and strong APIs which are easy to use and customize. This makes it a really useful and versatile payment gateway provider.
There are more than 13,000 API requests per second on Stripe. About 90% of the US population has used Stripe to complete an order, according to Stripe.com, although they are possibly unaware of it.
Stripe’s processing fees are currently 2.9% and $0.30 per successful transaction.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Payment choices are flexible, and there are a variety of currencies to choose from. In reality, Stripe users have over 135 options at their disposal. | Payment processing times are quite long (slower than PayPal). |
| Stripe is now accessible in 42 countries around the world. | In certain cases, settling a Stripe disagreement will take a long time. |
| Setup time is minimal. | An additional 1% is deducted from international card payments. |
| Processing fees are competitive as opposed to industry standards. | There’s a lot of information on Stripe that can be confusing to certain users. |
| Chargeback insurance from Stripe protects companies from cyber fraud. | Stripe does not have an affiliation network, so you would not be able to benefit financially from referrals. |
| For certain consumers, the ability to make a deposit while being on site may be reassuring. | |
| Stripe is developed with programmers in mind. | |
| There is a subscription billing option available. | |
| Checkout in only one click. | |
| European cardholders pay much smaller processing fees (1.4%+ $.30), which is a benefit for those doing business on this continent. |
3. Square
Square is a credit card processor and also a payment system that provides gateway services. Square’s services are geared towards small businesses that need credit card processing, particularly for in-person purchases.
One great feature of Square is its security, thanks to its PCI compliance and end-to-end encryption. Besides, Square also has an edge in ease of use and simplicity.
Currently, its processing fees are 2.75% for swiped transactions and 3.5% + $0.15 per manually-entered transaction.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Square is a great option for low-volume retailers because of its flat rate. For instance, startups and small enterprises. | For high-volume retailers, Square’s flat rates will make it a costly choice. |
| It’s easy to set up and use. | Customer service isn’t great, with some sources claiming that calling Square’s customer service staff costs money. |
| For in-person sales, there are some excellent POS choices. | There is a limited amount of time to submit payment documentation. |
| You can make instant deposits for a fee. | The card reader will sometimes crash. |
| For door-to-door and market sales reps, the contactless card reader is useful. | Square’s transaction costs for non-profits are high, but they are also lower than those of many of its rivals. |
| Square provides e-commerce website builders with online store building functionality that works well with checkout. | Selling in many currencies is not possible. |
| Invoicing is simple. | It is not 3d secure. |
| Credit card information cannot be saved. |
4. Authorize.net
Authorize.net is an online solution that provides gateway services. Merchants’ accounts are allowed to accept card, contactless, and e-check payments.
Authorize.net has strong security features with many fraud protection extensions such as Velocity filters, SAQ-A level PCI compliance, IP filters. Despite several security breaches in the past, it is deemed to be a reliable and secure payment processor for BigCommerce.
Every user can get access to support by phone 24/7 and documentation is available via the all-in-one payment platform’s support center.
Besides, its current transaction fee is 2.9% with an extra of $0.30 with the all-in-one payment provider option.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| There are no hidden costs, and the net price is reasonable as compared to the rivals and other alternatives. Authorize.net’s offering is unquestionably efficient. | Security settings cannot be used to optimize security functionality. Certain fraudulent transactions cannot be blocked until features that also prohibit legitimate transactions are enabled. |
| A highly secure system. | Website design needs more improvement. |
| A smartphone option that allows access to transaction data from every location on the planet. | Some websites, especially the administration tab, are excessively cluttered, making handling consumer transactions unnecessarily challenging. |
| A good choice for billing and generating account reports. | It costs quite a lot of money to set up Authorize.net. |
| Connecting Merchant accounts is simple enough by using Authorize.net’s API. | Since Authorize.net was founded in 1996, many developers have complained that its API is clunky and out of date. |
| Overall, the customer service provided by Authorize.net appears to be good. | It is quite difficult to use Authorize.net due to its UI falling well short of the “industry standard.” |
| The AuthNet virtual terminal can be used to read USB cards. |
5. Adyen
Adyen is an excellent option for both online and brick-and-mortar stores. When taking payments remotely, please keep in mind that Adyen is considered an Enterprise-level solution, and therefore can be very costly.
It is unquestionably a reputable firm that collaborates with well-known brands such as Uber, Booking.com, LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Spotify.
Adyen has all of the same key features as 3d secure support, control panel funds capture, refunds, multi-currency selling, the ability to store credit cards, the option to embed checkouts, and is available in various countries around the world.
Adyen offers data analysis through financial reports, which assists you in getting a better understanding of your consumer analytics and gives you an advantage over your rivals.
Adyen’s current processing fees differ greatly depending on the type of payment method chosen.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Adyen provides all of the core features found in well-known payment processing solutions like Stripe and PayPal. | In some situations, it is slightly harder to use Adyen than PayPal and Stripe. |
| In general, it is easy to use. | In terms of design, the interface is quite poor. |
| The setup isn’t too complicated. | There’s a little shortage of API. |
| Adyen helps to sell from every location around the world. | A solution for enterprises is not suitable for small volume retailers. |
| It accelerates transaction and billing speeds. | The results of the fraud rating are ambiguous which require so many clicks and hovers to retrieve simple information from a user’s profile. |
| It has a flexible fraud defense. | Even if your gateway is not in use, you still have to pay, which is not good if you are someone who does not sell a lot. It would be cheaper for low-volume vendors to be paid per transaction. |
| It is a reliable and secure platform. | |
| Customer transactions and refunding processes are straightforward and simple. |
Tips for choosing the best credit card gateway for your business
Even though we have just talked about the top five credit card gateways for BigCommerce, we want to emphasize that you should base your buying decision on the features your business needs, support, and pricing.
Below are some tips to help you choose the best gateway service.
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Conduct research with core goals and specific needs of your business. To ensure security, remember to check the PCI compliance of your expectant payment solution. Besides, do not forget to search for transaction rates to see how the gateway will affect your income.
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Recognize your customers’ preferences to choose a suitable credit card gateway for them as well. Ask yourself important questions. For example, which payment methods do your customers favor, and how do you accommodate these needs in the most convenient way?
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Stack various gateways to find out what’s right for your business. You don’t have to limit yourself to only one gateway for the remainder of your life. You can even stack multiple gateways at the same time to achieve optimum coverage for most customer needs.
Conclusion
In today’s post, you have been introduced to the best five BigCommerce credit card gateways, i.e. PayPal, Stripe, Square, Authorize.net, and Adyen. However, it is you who knows which gateway is best for your business. You should make your buying decision based on your business-specific needs, the support you need, and the costs you have to pay.
Nevertheless, you should keep our following suggestions in mind. Low-volume retailers should take Square into consideration despite it lacking some key features. For the mid-market range, PayPal and Stripe are wonderful options. You should pay more attention to Authorize.net if wanting to have most of the core processing features and a secure, reputable payment gateway. Meanwhile, Adyen is best-suited for enterprise-level business.
If you have any questions, feel free to comment on the comments section below. We are here to help you!
Thank you for reading and good luck with your BiCommerce store.
