Everything about online payments: what it is, how it works and who is it for

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Useful information for entrepreneurs to help them choose the right tool for accepting online payments.

What are online payments?

Online payment - the ability to pay for goods or services on the Internet or through a mobile application without using banknotes. Usually carried out directly on the website or in the seller's mobile application.

Typically, the online payment algorithm looks like this:

• The buyer chooses a product or service.
• The seller sums up the purchases and issues an invoice.
• The buyer agrees to pay the bill and confirms this by entering bank or other payment details.
• The bank or payment provider confirms the identity of the buyer and the availability of funds in the account to pay for the purchase.
• The seller confirms the purchase, and the bank or payment provider transfers the funds to the seller's account.

What types of online payments are there?

Internet acquiring

This is the most popular way to make online payments. It is a transfer of funds from the buyer's bank card to the seller's account with the participation of the bank and the processing company. The processing company provides an interface for making an online purchase and performs the procedure for debiting or crediting money. It can be owned by a bank or be an independent business.

Payment information is confirmed using 3D-Secure protection technology, which allows the buyer to be authenticated, for example, by sending an SMS to the phone.

Electronic wallets

They require the seller and the buyer to have a wallet to transfer electronic money. For example, these are Yandex. Money, QIWI and WebMoney. Companies provide plugins for sellers' websites for ease of calculations.

WebMoney charges a commission from 1, 8 to 5, 75% for each payment, and for $ 5 offers to create a button or widget that can be placed on the site. You can find out the commission for QIWI only upon signing the contract. When transferring in the Yandex. Money service, a commission is charged from the sender in the amount of 0.5% of the payment amount, but not less than 1 kopeck. Payment data is transmitted using SSL or TLS cryptographic protocols.

SMS payment

This is the withdrawal of money from the mobile phone account for purchases or services. For example, paying for content in games. Suitable for businesses where there are many payments with a small check.

This method is used quite rarely due to its high cost and small amounts on users' mobile accounts. The commission of the SMS aggregator, depending on the category of payment and the operator, ranges from 14 to 27%.

Pay via Apple Pay, Android Pay or Samsung Pay

These mobile payment systems use tokenization of card payment data. The smartphone contains a token, which is access to the data of the buyer's card from which the funds are debited. You can confirm your purchase with Touch ID, Face ID, or a password.

Online payment using terminals

It implies independent interaction between the client and the terminal. Payment terminals QIWI, "Svyaznoy" or "Euroset" are suitable for this. The seller must first conclude an agreement with the terminal operator, which will connect the payment for business services.

How to work with Internet acquiring?

You will have to interact directly with the bank after signing the agreement and going through the integration procedure. As a rule, this method is not profitable for small and medium-sized businesses, as banks prefer to work with large companies.

Internet acquiring services are provided by Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, Russian Standard Bank, Promsvyazbank and Raiffeisenbank.

Payment gateways act as providers for Internet acquiring. They connect buyers, sellers and banks and act as a kind of payment terminal. Payment data is transmitted via SSL (Secure Socket Layer).

The advantage of payment gateways is the ability for an online store to accept card payments simultaneously through several banks using a single simplified integration with the gateway.

This interaction improves the conversion of payments and allows you to instantly switch from one bank to another in the event of a failure or routine maintenance in the bank's processing. Another advantage is the ability to get more favorable financial conditions and quality of service: obtaining financial reports for accounting, analytics on accepted payments, information on conversion and ways to improve it, round-the-clock support.

Payment gateways include Fondy, ASSIST, PayOnline, ChronoPay, CyberPlat, Uniteller, UCS (United Card Services).

Payment aggregators are intermediaries between different payment systems. They provide the merchant with different methods of accepting payments under a single agreement. Payment aggregators include Robokassa, PayU, Yandex. Kassa.

How much does it cost to connect to Internet acquiring?

A direct agreement with the bank provides for a commission for each operation, which most often depends on the turnover of the business. For example, Sberbank offers a commission of 2% if the turnover is less than a million rubles per month. With a turnover of 7 million rubles a month, you can count on a commission of 1, 8% and below. For RosEvroBank, the commission is 3% for those stores that show a turnover of less than 100,000 rubles per month, and 2% with a turnover of over 10 million rubles.

Payment gateways also charge a commission for the transactions they carry out. In the case of ASSIST, you will have to pay 2,950 rubles for the connection and pay an additional commission for the operation. ChronoPay has a free connection, but there is a commission of 0.5%. At Fondy, the commission is 3% with a turnover of less than a million rubles per month, 2.9% - up to 3 million per month and an individual rate with a turnover of over 3 million.

Payment aggregators offer different commissions depending on the company's turnover. For example, Yandex. Kassa will take from 3.5 to 6% with a turnover of less than a million rubles per month and from 2. 8 to 5% with a turnover of over a million.

Can I set up SMS payment myself?

You will not be able to set up SMS payment on your own. Operators do not work with small and medium-sized businesses, so you need to contact intermediaries. The third party is an SMS aggregator, which provides a short number and a code word for making a payment. Examples of such companies: SMSCoin, SMSZamok, Russian Billing, SMSOnline.

The buyer sends an SMS to a short number with a specific word. The purchase amount is debited from the mobile phone balance. For the provision of services, the SMS aggregator charges a commission, which can be more than 35%.

What are the features of working with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay or Android Pay?

To work with Apple Pay or Samsung Pay, you will need an SDK, which is a set of programs for a developer that integrates payment into a website or application, or a payment aggregator / gateway that works with these technologies. For example, Sberbank offers support when connecting payments through an online store or app.

For their services, banks charge an acquiring rate of up to 3% of the payment.

Tinkoff, Sberbank, ASSIST, PayOnline, Yandex. Kassa, Uniteller can work with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Android Pay.

How to work with online payment using payment terminals?

There are three large players on the Russian market - QIWI, Euroset and Svyaznoy. There is no information on tariffs in the public domain. These service providers offer to send a commercial proposal, upon consideration of which they decide to cooperate with a particular company.

Only after the decision on cooperation is the tariff scale being worked out. After a request, waiting for a response can be up to 3 days.

What if I want to connect online payments?

To connect Internet acquiring, you will have to apply to a banking organization. First, the application is made on the website of the selected bank. Then the managers contact to confirm the connection, after which they are invited to the department or conclude an agreement using an electronic signature.

An electronic agreement is drawn up through the section "Electronic document management" on the bank's website using an eToken signature or via SMS confirmation. An electronic signature can be obtained at a center accredited by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation. After receiving it, it is necessary to scan the completed agreement and send it to the bank along with the electronic signature. Next, the verification and business integration procedure begins.

The procedure for connecting Internet acquiring can take several weeks, depending on the bank.

To work with payment gateways, an application is filled out on the website of the selected provider company. After its approval, the business owner receives a code that is embedded on the site to receive payment from customers. The user will see the payment form with the specified purchase price. Payment aggregators work in a similar way.

Payment providers may offer additional features. For example, provide analytics for payments or a large selection of modules for CMS systems. Typically, these features are free for entrepreneurs. For banks, the software is created by a third-party vendor for the needs and tasks of large businesses.

In the case of e-wallets, it is enough for the seller and the buyer to have these same wallets.

You can register them on the website. For example, Yandex. Money and QIWI wallet do not require additional software. But WebMoney will ask you to install a special program.

The seller can invoice directly, create a payment form, or initiate a P2P payment from the buyer's side. But there are limitations in wallets. For example, the initial level of a QIWI wallet allows you to keep only 15,000 rubles on your account. In addition, a commission is charged for deposits and withdrawals - up to 3%.

What kind of online payments is right for a business?

The bank's Internet acquiring service is not suitable for all entrepreneurs, since the bank considers each company individually and may refuse to cooperate if it considers it unprofitable.

Payment gateways have broader functionality than banks. They work not only with bank accounts, but also with electronic wallets that customers use. In addition, they provide ready-made modules for popular CMS, which are used by small and medium-sized businesses for online stores and e-commerce sites: Joomla, WordPress, 1C-Bitrix.

It is better for micro-businesses to process online payments through payment aggregators.

They are the easiest way to build document flow, since aggregators combine payments by bank cards, using electronic currencies and SMS. All reports are generated in a single module, also provided for popular CMS.

Payment via Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay services is used for online stores or mobile applications of the merchant.

Neither SMS aggregators nor payment terminals are profitable for use due to commissions or the opaque policy of service operators, when each application is considered individually within up to 3 days.

What risks and difficulties can arise when working with online payments?

The most common problem is the refusal to accept payment for technical reasons. Still, online payments depend on the quality of the communication channel and the stability of the servers. So, on September 28 and October 9, there were disruptions in the work of Tinkoff Bank, and in August 2017, FC Otkritie showed unstable work. Therefore, it is advisable to choose a payment gateway or aggregator that offers to conclude an SLA (Service Level Agreement) - an agreement that guarantees the level of performance of the payment service.

An entrepreneur can connect the reception of online payments by all available means: bank cards, SMS, electronic money. A study by Mediascope notes that most often people use bank cards - 82, 8% of respondents pay with them at least once a year. Electronic money is used by 66, 3% of respondents, contactless payment systems - only 8, 6%.

When choosing payment methods, you should rely on their popularity with buyers. Additional payment methods can be connected as required by customers.