How to Choose an eCommerce Merchant Processor

I wish there was an internet version of putting the first dollar you earn in a little picture frame and hanging it behind the cash register. I actually Googled why people do this and it basically boils down to wanting to have a little reminder of everything they put in to build their business, or as a way to honor their first customer or to motivate them that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. (The pot of gold is getting paid.) 

Online businesses don’t seem to have a similar ritual - maybe because we get paid in digital money versus paper bills? In any event, how you get paid is actually an important decision as it can determine how much you net or even your conversion rates. Choosing how you’re going to get paid may not be as glamorous as framing a dollar bill but it’s definitely just as significant. 

Factors to Consider

• Is it a native integration or a third-party merchant? 

• How easy is it to sign up and get started? 

• How fast is the checkout process?

• Do you have to sign a contract?

• What are the fees? 

• Where are you located and/or where are your customers located?

Options

On Squarespace

• Stripe

• PayPal

• Apple Pay (via Stripe)

• Afterpay - must be on one of the Commerce plans and also use Stripe

• Square - for in-person payments through Squarespace POS 

On Shopify

• Shopify Payments (includes ShopPay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay)

• PayPal

• Accelerated Checkouts (i.e. Amazon Pay)

• Third-Party Providers (varies by country, includes things like Stripe, Affirm, authorize.net, Klarna, and Quickbooks Payments)

• Alternative Payments (i.e. cryptocurrencies like BitPay)

• Manual Payments (such as COD, bank transfer, email money transfer, etc.)

My Recommendation(s)

Some merchants make the mistake of setting up too many payment options because they think that more options = a better experience. This is wrong. Sure, if given the choice I might choose to use Apple Pay but I’m not going to NOT check out if it’s not an option; I’ll just choose my next favorite thing. 

If you’re trying to decide between Squarespace and Shopify… 

I honestly wouldn’t let the fact that Shopify has more options overall be the tiebreaker in looking at it over Squarespace. There are many more important considerations that should drive you to one over the other. That being said, if you’re in a country that has limited access to PayPal or Stripe you may just have more choice on Shopify. For merchants in the US and Canada, I would say this is kind of a draw as both have the most popular options available. 

If you’re already committed to a platform… 

• Getting Paid On Squarespace - I would recommend Stripe. It takes just a few minutes to set up, the rates are competitive and processing is fast and simple. Since you’re using Stripe, go ahead and enable Apple Pay too. IF you want to offer a “Buy Now, Pay Later” option, you can also enable AfterPay with Stripe but read this post first to decide if it’s really for you: Should You Offer “Buy Now, Pay Later” Options on Your eCommerce Website? I don’t really recommend PayPal unless your audience just really seems to prefer it because it’s a pain to have to manage to transfer in/out of PayPal to your bank in addition to adding processing time before you actually have access to your funds.

• Getting Paid on Shopify - Just go with Shopify Payments, which is Shopify’s built-in merchant processor. It’s fast to set up and makes getting started super easy and painless. If you’re on the Basic Shopify plan, the rates are the same as Stripe (2.9% + 30¢ USD) and the rates go down the higher plan you are on. Because Shopify Payments already includes the most popular accelerated checkouts (ShopPay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay) I would only recommend adding in a Buy Now, Pay Later option as an alternative (see link above for more on this!). Other options are nice for international sellers but I wouldn’t recommend them for US or Canadian merchants.

There you go! My recommendations on how to choose an eCommerce merchant processor! If you’re just getting started, you may also want to check out this quick guide to getting started with your first eCommerce site.