How to Accept Payments Online in India (With or Without a Website)

Unless your business is confined to a physical shop, it’s essential these days to have the ability to take online payments. Being able to deal with customers remotely is convenient for them and opens the doors to a far wider marketplace for your products. Whether your business is ecommerce, SaaS or freelance contracting, being able to accept payments online is a must if you want your business to thrive.

How to accept payments online

Before launching headlong into sending and receiving payments online, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the variety of online payment options to choose from. If you want to start accepting payments online, you need to consider which method will work best for you and for your customers – and if possible offer the widest range you can to draw in more business. Below are four common ways.

Digital invoicing

Payoneer and similar payment platforms allow you to issue digital invoices to subscribers and clients. Using the automated features offered by such platforms takes a lot of the work out of batch or mass invoicing, and you can integrate with your accounting software for accurate record keeping.

Direct debits

This is when you have your customer’s authorization to draw funds directly from their bank account for regular payments, making it the ideal way of receiving payment if you run a SaaS business.

Debit and credit cards

Probably the easiest way to accept payments online, accepting debit and credit cards is certainly essential if you run an ecommerce business. Your customer will want to pay using their Mastercard, Visa or American Express cards, and every payment platform will enable you to get paid by clients this way. The card providers will charge a transaction fee, which varies depending on the provider.

Digital wallets

Examples of digital wallets are Apple Pay, Google. Pay and PayPal, and if they are popular with your customers, it’s a good way of accepting online payment on your website.

The benefits of accepting payments online

There are significant benefits to accepting online payments, whether or not you have a website. Online payments are:

• Convenient for both you and your customers
• Offer fast transaction speeds
• Make it easier to keep financial records
• Allow your business to reach further – either within India or even overseas

Choosing how to accept online payments

Which method of accepting payments online will depend upon the types of payments most suitable to your business and to your clients or customers, as well as the typical size and volume of transactions, and whether you need to be able to accept cross-border payments. Transaction costs will vary depending upon the method used – some methods come with a flat monthly fee, while others feature individual transaction charges.

When considering a payment processing provider or tool, check for:

• Whether their fee structure offers the right value for money for the type and frequency of payment you’ll be accepting, and the features they provide – the cheapest isn’t necessarily always the best
• Robust security measures, including the security measures required for your website, and what level of fraud detection they employ – look for encryption, chargeback protection and transaction monitoring
• Whether they integrate with other platforms and software you use, such as ecommerce platforms, freelancing platforms, your accounting package and so on
• Assess their customer support and the customer experience they offer – what contact channels are there, and is support 24/7?
• If you need to accept cross-border payments, check whether they can offer you local receiving accounts and multi-currency accounts, to give you full control over your foreign exchange management

Reasons to use a payment platform like Payoneer

If you have an account with a platform such as Payoneer, accepting online payments on your website, or even without a website, becomes easy. All you need to do is send out an invoice or payment request, and the platform does the rest, ensuring compliance with any necessary regulations, in India or abroad, and ensuring you automatically receive your FIRA/FIRS/NOC directly into your Payoneer account, with no extra fees.

Payoneer can be a trusted partner for your business. It enables you to accept payment online from your clients, safe in the knowledge that powerful security measures are in place to keep your customers’ and your own data safe from breaches or fraud.