It seems there has always been a problem with South Africans trying to stay ahead of the internet business game. This problem is having a way to accept online payments from customers. In most other countries in the world, you have always had a multitude of options, but we always struggle to find an option. Recently, however, many more companies have come to light.
Although I personally don’t use most of them, in one way or form I’ve had to work with each of the following. I do a lot of web development work and 80% of the time a paid solution is also required. Because of this, I have had to implement most if not all of the payment gateways that are available to South Africans. Each of them has its pros and cons.
VCS
This is one of the first payment gateways I had to integrate with a website for a client. What I liked about this was that it provides a simple and secure interface for the customer to fill in their credit card details, and then they are directed back to your site for your software to process the order. You can also customize the interface using your own logo, so the customer feels like they never leave your site.
VCS also offers recurring credit card payments, making it ideal for membership sites. Last time I checked, you still needed to have a special Standard Bank account in order to use VCS.
Setcom / Payment Monster
Setcom was one of the first PayPal-type payment gateways in South Africa that I knew of. When I say PayPal type, I mean that the buyer also had to create an account with Setcom, before being able to buy something from you.
We used this exclusively on our ITC Check website for quite some time. My biggest complaint was that we were losing customers due to people being too lazy to sign up for an account in order to pay for their service. The other problem was that Setcom is always on the buyer’s side. This means that if a customer has a problem with the product or service they received, Setcom will simply refund their money. Sometimes without even consulting us.
If you are looking for a quick and easy way to accept payments, I can highly recommend this service. If you’re just getting started, it also helps that there’s no monthly fee associated with this account.
net cash
The reason we started using Netcash was to have a debit order facility for our business, CM Computer Services. This is a great facility to have if you have monthly customers as it helps with cash flow. There’s a secure interface where you upload your customer’s bank details, and then every month you enter the debit order details that need to go out of their account and into yours.
A client requested that we integrate their accounting system with the Netcash debit order system. This was done and works seamlessly with your accounting software. Each month, the accounting package would simply “tell” Netcash how much to withdraw from each customer’s bank account.
Then they also launched their credit card payment gateway service. It was similar to VCS, with the clear difference that you didn’t need a separate bank account. I think the same afternoon I found out about this new service, I signed up and integrated it into our credit reporting site. The integration was done easily and we have had no issues with them since day 1.
This is the payment gateway that I recommend to people every time they ask me what to use on their site.
I have done a lot of integration with the Netcash credit card payment service. From small 1-product sites to large multi-product shopping carts.
PayPal
Until recently, South Africans could only use the PayPal service to buy things from other countries. I have to say, with the support you get from PayPal, your mind is at ease when you buy something from someone you’ve never met. There have been a few cases where I have requested a refund and PayPal has helped me. There has only been one time that they have not been able to help me, and that has certainly left a bad taste in my mouth.
Anyway, fast forward to the present, FNB has now been able to secure a deal where we can use PayPal’s service to accept payments in South Africa as well. This is definitely something to explore, because after doing a few integrations for customers on their websites, it’s pretty clear that PayPal offers an amazing service. One downside, and a pretty big one, is that if you’re a South African trying to sell to South Africans, you may have a problem. You cannot sell your products for Rands. And while other countries may not see this as a problem, many South Africans will still be concerned when they see a site trying to sell something for $. After all, we’ve been taught that $ is bad.
On international sites, I have not had any problems. In fact, ever since I introduced PayPal as an option on my Karma Sutra Positions website, sales have definitely picked up. The reason PayPal works so well as a payment gateway is because EVERYONE knows and trusts it.
Once you have an account, you can quickly add a Pay with PayPal button on your website that is linked to a unique product code and price that you can easily track within PayPal.
my door
This is another payment gateway where I only have experience implementing the credit card gateway for a customer’s online shopping cart. The documentation and implementation guides are very adequate and it was easy to get up and running. It is also a very similar interface to Netcash and VCS.
An added bonus of this service is that they also offer a debit order service and from what I understand you don’t need to have a separate internet merchant bank account to make use of their service.
payment gate
I haven’t used this on any of my own sites, but I’ve had it work for 1 client. It was to integrate it into your online shopping cart. The developers’ documentation and integration procedure was very similar to Netcash and VCS, so it was pretty fast.
With PayGate you also need to have a special Internet Merchant bank account. And while it’s probably not that important, it makes the whole process of getting the account much longer.
2Pay
Having had this account for a long time, I recently decided to give it a try. I’ve done multiple integrations for other people using 2CheckOut, so I knew the process pretty well. Once you’ve logged into your account, you can easily add and edit the products you want to sell. Then it’s just a matter of adding your links to your website to easily track your sales.
The customer is presented with a simple screen where they enter their details and you select what should happen once the transaction is made. You can send them a simple email or you can integrate it into your website management software.
I’ve noticed they do random fraud checks on transactions as well, so this helps make sure you don’t get screwed over at the end of the month.
2CheckOut is the preferred payment gateway used in the Global Warriors Community.
Just like with ClickBank, you can also list your products on your Affiliate pages, allowing other people to sell your product for a certain commission.
ClickBank
The only time I used ClickBank was as a promoter for their affiliate products. Recently, having developed an illustrated Karma Sutra position eBook, I looked at all the different ways to sell it. ClickBank is one of them, and the advantage is that thousands of people can also promote your product. You should already have a payment system, but this is a nice additional feature for someone to sort out payments for your affiliates. So while it’s not strictly a payment gateway, it’s definitely worth learning about.
Ratings
You’ll notice that I don’t mention the pricing structures for these different services here. The reason for this is simple, they are all more or less the same, or very close to being the same.
Each Payment Gateway Service has its own Terms and Conditions. This will include a list of products and services that you can sell through your service. Always make sure to check it first, before signing up!
I know it can be difficult to choose a payment gateway provider. If you’d like, you can contact me for feedback on which solution will work best for your needs.