How to Accept Credit Card Payments Online for Your Business

Whether you run an online store, sell services, or just want customers to pay an invoice by card, accepting payments online is easier than ever. The choices you make at setup, though, affect your costs, your approval odds and how smoothly your account runs later.

The four common ways to take payments online

1. A checkout on your website

If you sell through a website or e-commerce platform, a payment gateway connects your checkout to your merchant account. Customers enter their card details on your site, or on a secure hosted page, and the payment is authorized in seconds.

2. Payment links

A payment link is a URL you send by email, text or social media. The customer clicks it and pays on a secure page. It is ideal for one-off sales, deposits and businesses without a full website.

3. Invoicing

Service businesses can send invoices with a built-in "pay now" button, so clients pay by card instead of mailing a check.

4. Recurring billing

Subscriptions, memberships and payment plans charge a stored card automatically on a schedule. We cover this in detail in our guide to recurring billing.

What you need to get started

• A merchant account that receives card payments and settles them to your bank.
• A payment gateway that securely passes card details from your checkout to the processor.
• A business bank account for deposits.
• A website with clear policies. Processors look for visible pricing, a refund policy, delivery times, a privacy policy and contact details.

Keep online payments secure

Online payments are "card-not-present" transactions, which carry more fraud risk than in-person sales. A few basics go a long way:

• Use a hosted or tokenized checkout so raw card numbers never touch your servers. This greatly reduces your PCI compliance scope.
• Turn on address verification (AVS) and security-code (CVV) checks.
• Use 3-D Secure for higher-risk orders. It adds a verification step with the card issuer and can shift liability for certain fraud chargebacks away from you.
• Watch for warning signs such as many attempts with different cards, mismatched billing and shipping countries, or rushed shipping on large first orders.

Reduce disputes before they happen

• Use a billing descriptor customers will recognise on their statement.
• Send order confirmations and shipping notifications with tracking.
• Make it easy to contact you and request a refund.
• Describe products accurately, with clear photos and delivery times.

Understand what it will cost

Online transactions usually cost a little more than in-person ones because of the extra fraud risk. Ask for a full breakdown of processing rates, per-transaction fees, gateway fees and any monthly charges. Our guide to interchange fees explains where those costs come from.

Start accepting payments with Zeyla

Zeyla supports online payments, invoicing and payment links, as well as in-person payments, so you can sell wherever your customers are. Applying is free and takes about 3 minutes, and a payments specialist reviews every application. Start your application.