It is tough to imagine shopping nowadays without E-commerce websites and online payments. Most consumers browse for a required product on an online business and then place the order immediately. Not just that, but a user also prefers paying for the product upfront to avoid missing the delivery if they are unavailable. This shows a significant shift from the old days when shopping meant an elaborate activity of going to the market and purchasing by paying in cash.
The growing popularity of digital payments makes it prudent for businesses to set up a proper payment gateway. However, with the numerous payment gateways in India, choosing the most suitable gateway for the business can become somewhat confusing. This write-up provides a list of the essential questions that every merchant must ask their payment gateway provider before finalizing which one to use.
Questions to ask payment gateway providers
What payment options do you support?
Digital payments can be executed using multiple options – credit cards, debit cards, UPI, net banking, mobile wallets, Pay Later and many more. When paying online, customers look for their preferred option and may quit the shopping idea when their preferred payment mode is not listed on the gateway. As merchants, it is crucial to have all the major digital payment options available with the Gateway services like Zaakpay support more than 100 payment services. So, to avoid any issues later, merchants must check this with the payment gateway provider priorly.
How secure is the gateway?
Before choosing a payment gateway service, merchants should thoroughly check the security certifications the gateway is compliant with. The three most common standards are PCI DSS compliance, tokenization, and SSL encryption. Such gateways encrypt the customer’s sensitive information before transmitting it to the servers. This provides maximum protection against cyberattacks and builds up the trust of the customers in the business. Many times, customers might also abandon the purchase if the gateways seem unreliable. One of the most secure gateways in the affordable payment gateway price range in India is Zaakpay.
How much will the gateway service cost?
It can become a problem for the business if the cost of maintaining the gateway service becomes unaffordable to the merchant. Before signing up for any service, they must clarify the payment gateway price. Generally, there’s a one-time setup fee followed by a transaction charge for each payment. Merchants should also check for hidden or additional costs like monthly or annual maintenance charges, fines for chargebacks, or more volume of transactions. The charges usually depend on the type of business, expected volume and value of transactions, features needed, and others. In India, Zaakpay is a payment gateway that charges no setup or maintenance fee and is one of India’s most affordable payment gateways.
What is the payout policy?
This is the biggest question that merchants usually forget to ask, or simply don’t know about. Among the payment gateways in India, Zaakpay offers a flexible payout policy that caters to the needs of all business sizes, especially small businesses. Payment gateway services don’t directly facilitate a transaction from the customer to the business’ account but stores the amounts with themselves and disburses it in batches. The accumulated amount is usually paid out at regular intervals or when a certain threshold is met. This can significantly hamper the cash flow of the business. Merchants should confirm with the gateway provider about their payout policy before choosing it to avoid any loopholes.
How can the gateway be integrated into the business website?
The gateway can be used after it is integrated into the business website. Clarifying details about this integration process early on is very important. This is because the website would have been built using a particular platform. It has to be checked if the gateway even supports that platform. Then, the exact process and the technical expertise required should be confirmed. It is crucial, especially in the case of small businesses, because they may lack the technological know-how to integrate the gateway if it is too complicated. Zaakpay offers pre-built plugins that make the integration process simple and easy.
What kind of customer service is provided?
Providing active customer service support to the merchant is important because failures in the transaction can take place at any point in time. Such failures bring down the credibility of the business and also dissatisfy the customer. A 24/7 customer support facility can, however, come in handy just like how Zaakpay offers the best-in-class service among the payment gateways in India. The customer can directly call the support staff for immediate resolution of the query. This helps maintain the trust of the customer in the business. The merchant may also need customer service to track down incomplete or suspicious transactions. All these processes can be streamlined if the merchant confirms the kind of customer service the provider has before choosing it. This way, merchants won’t have to face any problems later on.
What are the terms and conditions?
All services come with their terms and conditions. Reading the fine print and understanding it properly can save trouble and disagreements later. Merchants must ask for all the terms and conditions before signing up for the service. This includes technicalities concerning a minimum monthly volume of transaction, any notice period required to terminate service or any other type of terms.
Also read: A beginners guide to YouTube marketing
Conclusion
Merchants must take time to analyze all the available options and weigh them against each other based on the questions mentioned in this blog before finalizing a payment gateway that works the best for them. They must remember to opt for the service that provides them with the best features at an affordable price like the Zaakpay payment gateway.