Shopify Payments: These payment options can be offered by Shopify merchants

According to a Statista survey from 2018, 59% of online customers abandon purchases if their preferred payment method is not offered. So it's no wonder that Shopify has upgraded significantly since then and now boasts an impressive range of payment options for its merchants.

So if you're an online store owner who wants to accept credit card payments from customers, for example, you can use Shopify Payments or an external payment provider. However, you can also offer your clientele to pay via Paypal, Facebook Pay, Amazon Pay, or Apple Pay, for example.

What are Shopify Payments?

Shopify Payments is the official payment gateway of Shopify. It is fully integrated with all Shopify stores and its features allow managing all payments from one dashboard. With this in-house alternative, customers can pay reliably and securely using the following payment methods:

Purchase on account with Shopify Payments: Klarna

One of the most popular payment methods in the D-A-CH region - especially in this country - is purchase on account. With Shopify Payments, this is possible with Klarna.

PayPal

PayPal is also very popular. It allows payments by credit card, bank account, buyer credit or PayPal account balance. Once you open your store, you'll get a PayPal Express Checkout account with the email address you registered with your Shopify store. You need to set up your PayPal account before you can receive payments for orders placed through PayPal.

Amazon Pay

Amazon's own payment service is particularly useful for customers with an Amazon account, since they don't have to register with another one. Because many people have an Amazon account these days, it can also make sense for online shop operators to offer this method.

Facebook Pay

Similar to Amazon Pay, it is often easiest and quickest for customers who have a Facebook profile to pay via the associated payment system, Facebook Pay.

Instant bank transfer

Customers in Germany often pay using the instant bank transfer (Sofort GmbH/Klarna) payment method. To complete the payment process when shopping online, they use their online banking access data.

Credit card payments

Online purchases are rarely paid for by credit card in Germany. Quite different from Austria - where it is the most popular payment method. Shopify supports VISA, Maestro, MasterCard and American Express.

Bank transfer with eps

Transfers from Austria via eps are similar to instant transfers. Sensitive buyer data is not disclosed in the process.

Google Pay and Apple Pay

In the D-A-CH region, Google Pay and Apple Pay are currently hardly used. Nevertheless, it can have a positive impact on your business if you offer the payment options of these strong brands. Younger people in particular might find the option of paying via Apple Pay appealing. So your range of payment options should also be geared to your target group.

Shop Pay

Shop Pay is Shopify's own payment method. This allows regular customers to speed up the checkout process in their Shopify online store. That way, they don't have to keep re-entering their payment information, such as email addresses, credit card numbers, and shipping information, which the assistant stores in advance, at checkout.

External payment providers for credit card payments

If you don't use Shopify Payments and prefer to accept credit cards instead, you can choose from over 100 credit card payment providers for your Shopify store.

Shopify supports two different types of credit payment processors: direct providers and third-party providers. If you use a direct provider, your customers can complete purchases directly on your online store without having to pay through an external checkout. If you use an external provider, your customers must complete their purchases on a checkout page hosted outside the online store.

Manual payment method

Some customers do not like the payment method of credit card payment - especially in the online area. If you offer manual payment methods, these customers can also pay by cash on delivery, money order, prepayment or bank transfer.

Orders that are paid manually are marked as unpaid on the order page. After you receive a manual payment, you can mark the order as paid on the order detail page and complete the order as if it was paid online.

For manual payments, you can use the suggested payment method or create a custom manual option.

SEPA direct debit

Direct debit is particularly useful for subscriptions. Customers deposit their bank details and allow you to debit payments from this account. However, the SEPA direct debit procedure is not offered directly on Shopify, but can be used via the payment service providers Mollie, Slimpay or SEPAone, for example. The prerequisite is always the creditor identification number, which you can obtain from the Bundesbank. Depending on the provider, you may also need a direct debit mandate that entitles you to receive money from your customer's account. It is best to ask the relevant provider for this.

Alternative payment options

Beyond the ones described so far, you can also set up alternative payment methods on Shopify. For example, cryptocurrency is a popular option that allows your customers to make payments without a bank or other institution.

Payment solutions that Shopify does not supportt

Unfortunately, despite the wide selection, there are still payment options that you can't use on Shopify. Among them are the following:

• Paydirect

• Billpay

• EC

Whether these payment solutions will be available soon is difficult to predict. Shopify currently seems to focus mainly on its own Shopify Payments. Therefore, expanding the scope of alternative payment solutions may not be a focus. However, this does not mean that payment solution providers will not develop their own integrations if they want to support as many store systems as possible.

Advantages and disadvantages of Shopify Payments

Everything has its pros and cons - Shopify Payments is no exception. We provide you with an overview of the most important pros and cons.

Advantages:

• ✅ Easy to set up: The payment methods can be set up quite straightforwardly and within a few minutes.

• ✅ Additional payment providers possible: Even additional payment providers such as Paypal do not have to fall by the wayside here and can be easily integrated.

• ✅ Transparent fees: All transaction fees are specified by Shopify and can be viewed at any time. When using Shopify Payments, transaction fees are waived when paying via external payment gateways.

• ✅ Separate payments window: If problems occur during payment, the purchase is often cancelled if payment processing takes place in the same window. Shopify opens a separate window for payments with Paypal, so customers can stay in the online store.

• ✅ Express checkout: Because customers don't have to manually enter their information for payment methods like Apple Pay or Google Pay, the checkout process is shortened. This can help you increase your conversions.

• ✅ Fast payout: Payouts to your account are made within a few business days.

Disadvantages:

• Reversal fee: Banks charge a fee of €15.00 for reversals within Germany. If there are frequent chargebacks, this fee quickly adds up. It is worth mentioning here, however, that the chargeback fee is in line with the industry standard and that Shopify will refund it if it is decided in the merchant's favor.

• Limitations: Shopify Payments cannot be used with every product or with every industry. Some industries such as gambling providers or financial service providers are excluded here.

  You can read which other industries are excluded in the Shopify Payments T&Cs.

• Account frozen: In the event of chargeback errors or suspicious account activity, Shopify may temporarily freeze your account while it is reviewed.

Fees when using Shopify Payments

Usually, when making payments through external payment gateways, you have to pay transaction fees in addition to the payment provider's fee. We have listed these for you here:

If you use Shopify Payments, transaction fees are waived.

In which countries are Shopify Payments available?

Shopify Payments can currently be activated in 22 countries:

• Australia

• Belgium

• Denmark

• Germany

• Finland

• France

• Great Britain

• Ireland

• Italy

• Japan

• Canada

• New Zealand

• Netherlands

• Austria

• Portugal

• Sweden

• Switzerland

• Singapore

• Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

• Spain

• Czech Republic

• United States of America

How do I activate Shopify Payments?

In your admin area, go to Settings -> Payments -> Enable Shopify Payments. During the setup process you will need your personal/business registration number / ID and your bank information.

Conclusion

Shopify Payments is Shopify's native payment method. It saves you from setting up an external payment provider or merchant account and entering the credentials in Shopify. However, the e-commerce platform also has other payment options available for merchants, which were presented in the above post. Which one you choose is, of course, up to you. We recommend providing customers with a wide selection of different payment methods. This way, you give them a free choice, so they can choose exactly the method they are used to shopping with. This way, you don't risk customers bailing out while they're still in the shopping cart because they're not satisfied with the choice of payment options.