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The 10 Best Online Payment Processors For Small Business

The eCommerce credit card processing providers on this list serve high-risk, high-volume, low-volume, international, or new businesses, among other criteria.

    Jason Vissers
  • Last updated onUpdated

  • Frank Kehl
  • REVIEWED BY

    Frank Kehl

    Senior Staff Writer

Advertiser Disclosure: Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity.

There are more online payment processing options than ever before, from traditional merchant accounts to third-party pay-as-you-go processors. Given the variety of options, choosing the best credit card processing company can be tricky for new eCommerce merchants.

Whether you’re launching a new eCommerce business or you want to add online sales to your brick-and-mortar store, this detailed summary of the best online payment processors for small business will help you find the provider that meets your unique business needs.

Learn More About Our Top Picks

CompanyHighlightsNext StepsHighlights
Square Online

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  • Best for newer and low-volume businesses
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate pricing
  • Best for newer and low-volume businesses
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate pricing

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PaymentCloud

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  • Best for high-risk businesses
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available
  • Best for high-risk businesses
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available

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Helcim

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  • Best all-in-one platform
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Best all-in-one platform
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing

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Stripe Payments

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  • Best for custom payment and checkout support
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate and interchange-plus pricing
  • Best for custom payment and checkout support
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate and interchange-plus pricing

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CDGcommerce

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  • Best for low rates and scalability
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Flat-rate, interchange-plus, and membership pricing available
  • Best for low rates and scalability
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Flat-rate, interchange-plus, and membership pricing available

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Host Merchant Services

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  • Best for online service businesses
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Best for online service businesses
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing

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Shopify Payments

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  • Best for multiple sales channels
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate pricing
  • Best for multiple sales channels
  • Third-party processor
  • Flat-rate pricing

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Dharma Merchant Services

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  • Best nonprofit credit card processor
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Best nonprofit credit card processor
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus pricing

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Durango Merchant Services

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  • Best for offshore merchant accounts
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available
  • Best for offshore merchant accounts
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available

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Treati.io

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  • Best for online cannabis & CBD processing
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing
  • Best for online cannabis & CBD processing
  • Full merchant account provider
  • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing

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Read more below to learn why we chose these options.

Table of Contents

What You Need For eCommerce Credit Card Processing

There are three main components required to launch an online store.

Payment Processors

Online payment processors fall into two categories:

  • With direct processors (a.k.a. merchant accounts), you’ll typically need to process $5K-$10K in monthly transactions to justify the cost. However, you’ll run a lower risk of account freezes and holds. You’ll be thoroughly vetted prior to approval, though, which can take some time.
  • With third-party processors (a.k.a. payment service providers (PSPs) or aggregators), you’ll undergo little vetting before approval, so while getting signed up is faster, you’ll run an increased risk of account holds and freezes. Our guide to finding a third-party processor contains more information.

Payment Gateways

A payment gateway allows you to accept online credit card payments — you can’t sell online without one. Third-party processors such as PayPal and Stripe combine their services with a built-in gateway. Meanwhile, some merchant account providers have their own gateways available for an additional fee, while others may set you up with a different gateway provider.

Our guide to using a payment gateway goes into further detail.

Online Store Builders

eCommerce platforms are used to build online stores. Traditionally known as “shopping carts,” eCommerce store builders come in two forms: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or self-hosted. For a monthly fee, SaaS store builders — the most common type of online store builder — offer web hosting and storage, SSL certificates, and other tools to build and maintain an eCommerce website.

Self-hosted solutions are typically free to download and offer a lot of paid features and customizability but require technical know-how.

The 10 Best eCommerce Credit Card Processor Options For Small Business

Which provider offers the best online credit card processing for your small business? The answer will depend on your particular business needs, but the companies profiled here collectively offer the most value for your money while providing honest, ethical payment processing.

How The Best eCommerce Credit Card Processors Compare

Monthly Fee Pricing Type Account Type Included Online Store Builder?
Square $0 Flat-rate Third-party
PaymentCloud Varies Interchange-plus, tiered Merchant account (integrations available)
Helcim $0 Interchange-plus Merchant account
Stripe $0 Flat-rate, interchange-plus Third-party (integrations available)
CDGcommerce $0-$199 Flat-rate, interchange-plus, membership Merchant account
Host Merchant Services $14.99 Interchange-plus Merchant account
Shopify Payments $5-$299 Flat-rate Third-party
Dharma Merchant Services $15 Interchange-plus Merchant account (integrations available)
Durango Merchant Services Varies Interchange-plus, tiered Merchant account
Treati.io $20 for low-risk online sellers Interchange-plus Merchant account (integrations available)

Square: Best Online Payment Processing For Low-Volume & New Businesses

Square Online


Start Trial

Cost

Free to $79/month

Contract

None

Equipment Cost

$0-$799

Pros

  • Free online store builder
  • Predictable flat-rate pricing
  • No (mandatory) monthly fees
  • Strong POS support

Cons

  • Occasional account stability issues
  • Advanced features come with a monthly fee

Why Square Is Great For Low-Volume Businesses & Startups

Square earns a spot on our list by offering a remarkably broad range of features for a payment processor with no monthly fees. Add in Square Online, and you get an easy-to-use online store builder that provides a lot of value for free while offering more features and storage to paid subscribers.

Lower-volume merchants stand to gain the most from Square, but this processor offers something for everybody, including those looking to sell CBD online. To top it all off, signing up is easy and quick, allowing you to start selling almost immediately.

Square Features

Square may be best known for its convenient POS hardware and expansive support software for small businesses. That said, Square does offer respectable eCommerce support and infrastructure, including a freemium online store and shopping cart support, which is ideal for businesses that are primarily brick-and-mortar but also do a portion of their business online.

  • Cryptocurrency processing
  • Currency conversion
  • Invoicing
  • Premade online checkout form
  • Native eCommerce integrations
  • Sell on multiple channels
  • Sell internationally
  • Marketing features
  • Inventory management

Square Pricing

Square’s pricing makes it a great all-in-one solution for businesses with a relatively low transaction volume.

  • Online Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (2.6% + $0.30 with a Premium Square Online subscription)
  • ACH Bank Transfers (Via Invoices): 1% with a minimum of $1 per transaction
  • Online Rate For CBD Merchants: 3.8% + $0.30 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee: $0-$79/month, depending on your subscription level

What To Watch Out For

Remember that Square is a third-party processor and does not provide individual merchant accounts to businesses. This means that you’ll want to take steps to minimize the risk of account holds and terminations.

Additionally, while CBD sales are supported, CBD merchants must first apply to Square’s CBD program and undergo extra scrutiny. Furthermore, other business types considered high-risk in the processing industry are not supported by Square.

When To Choose Square

  • You run a startup or an online business processing under $5K-$10K/month
  • You're looking to add an online component to your brick-and-mortar business
  • You want to start selling CBD online

Get Started With Square Online

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PaymentCloud: Best Online Payment Processing For High-Risk Businesses

PaymentCloud


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Exclusive Promo: PaymentCloud will give you $200 if they can't beat your current rate. Get Your Quote

Pros

  • Reasonable rates and fees
  • Free credit card terminal
  • Excellent customer support
  • Online store integration

Cons

  • No publicly disclosed pricing
  • High-risk businesses will likely have a monthly minimum

Why PaymentCloud Is Great For High-Risk Businesses

There are plenty of shady operators in the high-risk payment processing space. Among high-risk processors, PaymentCloud distinguishes itself with its reasonable rates, stellar reputation among merchants, and dedicated account managers.

Plus, the fact that PaymentCloud works with so many banks and back-end processors means you'll have a higher chance of approval than with many competing processors.

PaymentCloud Features

PaymentCloud is available to all online merchants but specifically caters to businesses in high-risk industries (eCommerce merchants have a greater chance of being classified by banks as “high-risk” than other merchants).

Here’s some of what PaymentCloud offers to online businesses:

  • Payment gateway (Authorize.Net, which includes a developer toolbox with an open API for customizing your site’s integration, is available and is one of the best payment gateway and API platforms around)
  • Virtual terminal
  • Shopping cart integration (PaymentCloud integrates with a wide variety of popular online shopping carts)
  • eCheck and ACH processing
  • Contactless payment requests
  • PCI compliance
  • Data migration
  • Dedicated account manager for support

PaymentCloud Pricing

PaymentCloud offers both tiered and interchange-plus pricing models. Like many other high-risk specialists, the company has no pricing information on its website, but we’ve gathered some sample pricing ranges for low-risk eCommerce merchants (high-risk merchants will pay more):

  • Interchange-Plus Rate: Interchange + 0.10%-0.50% + $0.15-$0.25 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee: $15
  • Gateway Fee: Variable, depends on the gateway
  • Address Verification Service (AVS): $0.05 per online transaction

What To Watch Out For

Depending on just how high-risk your business is considered to be, you may have to accept a tiered pricing scheme, and you might possibly have to accept a multi-year contract with an early termination fee (ETF) as well.

While we recommend that low-risk businesses pursue month-to-month agreements and avoid tiered pricing when seeking a merchant account, high-risk businesses may have to accept these terms to find a back-end processor willing to take on the risk of working with them.

Thankfully, PaymentCloud partners with numerous acquiring banks and processors to find you the best deal possible. It never hurts to ask for interchange-plus pricing either.

When To Choose PaymentCloud

  • Your online business is considered high-risk and you want the best processing deal possible
  • Your low-risk businesses is seeking competitive interchange-plus pricing and personalized support/guidance

Get Started With PaymentCloud

Read our in-depth review

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Helcim: Best All-In-One eCommerce Credit Card Processor

Helcim


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Pros

  • Exclusive interchange-plus processing rates
  • No long-term contracts or early termination fees
  • No monthly account fees
  • Excellent customer support

Cons

  • Not cost-effective for merchants processing under $1,500/month
  • No high-risk business support

Helcim is now available with NO MONTHLY FEE. Start Here!

Why Helcim Is A Great All-In-One Credit Card Processor

Canada-based Helcim is one of the best merchant account providers for Canadian businesses and a top-tier provider for US businesses. With its integrated online selling platform, completely transparent pricing, and stellar reputation, Helcim should be considered by any online merchant needing a full merchant account.

What's more, Helcim is rare among full merchant account providers in that it does not charge the monthly/annual fees commonly charged by such providers. Helcim has even eliminated its monthly fee for ACH/eCheck processing, charging slightly more per transaction instead.

Helcim Features

Helcim offers payment processing services to US businesses and is also one of the best credit card processors for Canadian merchants. Helcim’s integrated payments platform (Helcim Commerce) combines the functions of a payment gateway with other ancillary services that you’ll need to run your online business.

  • Interntional payments
  • Hosted online store builder
  • Hosted payment pages
  • Online food ordering
  • Helcim API
  • Virtual terminal
  • Recurring billing
  • Tokenization
  • Product and inventory management
  • Optional surcharging program available

Helcim Pricing

Helcim uses interchange-plus pricing exclusively. Your rates will decrease as your monthly processing volume increases.

  • Online Transactions: From interchange + 0.15% + $0.15 to interchange + 0.50% + $0.25 per transaction
  • Chargeback Fee: $0-$15 (depends on the outcome)
  • Monthly Fee: None
  • eCheck/ACH processing: 0.5% + $0.25 ($6 maximum) per transaction

What To Watch Out For

As with most merchant account providers offering interchange-plus pricing, Helcim is most cost-effective for businesses processing $5K to $10K/month and above. Process less than that, and a third-party processor with flat-rate pricing like Square/Stripe/Shopify Payments may be a better deal for you.

When To Choose Helcim

  • You want a full merchant account, a comprehensive payments package, and ACH processing without paying monthly/annual fees
  • You're processing at least $5K to $10K per month

Get Started With Helcim

Read our in-depth review

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Stripe Payments: Best For Customizable Payment & Checkout Support

Stripe Payments


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Pros

  • Excellent developer support
  • Predictable flat-rate pricing with interchange-plus pricing available for larger sellers
  • Advanced reporting, marketplace, and subscription tools
  • Can take international transactions

Cons

  • Occasional account stability issues
  • Needs technical skills to implement

Why Stripe Payments Is Great For Customizable Payments & Checkouts

If you only need a simple online store, there are better processing solutions than Stripe (learn how Stripe works). However, if you have unique eCommerce needs and your team has the knowhow to take advantage of Stripe's extensive developer tools, integrations, and international eCommerce capabilities, the company may be a great fit for your business, which is why we're including Stripe in this list.

Stripe Features

Stripe Payments has always been closely tied to eCommerce and is known for its international acceptance, wide selection of integrations, and exceptional array of developer tools.

Other PSPs (such as Square and PayPal) are easier to use when you’re just starting your eCommerce business. However, if you’re planning to use a web developer to design a top-of-the-line, slick-looking web store (and/or to add in-app payment functions), Stripe gives you more tools to integrate into your platform.

  • Payment gateway
  • Cryptocurrency processing
  • Accepts payments in 135+ currencies
  • Dynamic currency conversion
  • Recurring billing and subscriptions
  • Invoicing
  • Developer tools (some of the best in the industry)

Stripe Pricing

Being a third-party processor, Stripe offers simple, flat-rate eCommerce pricing.

  • Online Transactions: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
  • International Transactions: +1%/transaction
  • ACH: 0.8% (capped at $5)
  • Chargebacks: $15
  • No Monthly Fees

Larger businesses with higher sales volumes can apply to get interchange-plus pricing with volume discounts. Stripe is a processor that can be made to fit a vast array of business types, sizes, and needs.

What To Watch Out For

Stripe requires some serious technical skill to implement. Don’t think you can just open an account and start selling — you’ll need developer expertise on hand, and the more advanced customization you require, the more expertise you’ll need. But if this isn’t a problem for your business and you have unique needs that can’t be met by a more cookie-cutter solution, it may be time to set up a Stripe account.

When To Choose Stripe

  • You need a custom online payments package built around your particular business needs
  • You're looking to sell internationally and you want extensive multicurrency support

Get Started With Stripe Payments

Read our in-depth review

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CDGcommerce: Best For Low Rates & Scalability

CDGcommerce


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Pros

  • Free payment gateway and virtual terminal
  • Month-to-month billing with no early termination fees
  • Excellent customer support
  • Scales well

Cons

  • Only available to US-based merchants

Why CDGcommerce Is Great For Low Rates & Scalability

CDGcommerce is an obvious choice for our list of great eCommerce credit card processors. Featuring three different pricing schemes and services that evolve to match the needs of your business as it grows, plus a reputation for ethical service, CDGcommerce is a very strong choice for online sellers of all sizes.

CDGcommerce accepts some high-risk merchants as well.

CDGcommerce Features

With CDGcommerce, you get your choice of free payment gateways, including Authorize.Net and the company’s proprietary Quantum Gateway. You’ll also get the following:

  • Shopping cart software
  • Virtual terminal
  • Detailed online reporting
  • High-risk processing
  • Recurring billing
  • A security service (cdg360)
  • A Fraud Loss Reimbursement Plan (FLRP) for users of the Quantum gateway

CDGcommerce Pricing

  • Online Transactions: 2.90% + $0.30 with the flat-rate plan, interchange + 0.30% + $0.15 with the interchange-plus plan, and interchange + $0.05 to interchange + $0.10 with the membership plans
  • Monthly Fee: $0 with the flat-rate plan, $19-$49 with the interchange-plus plan, and $49-$199 with the membership plans

With CDGcommerce, your pricing plan will depend on your sales volume and whether or not your business is considered high-risk.

  • Flat-rate pricing is for merchants processing $1,000-$10,000/month
  • Interchange-plus pricing is for those processing $10,000-$200,000/month
  • Membership pricing for merchants processing over $200,000/month
  • High-risk merchants may be accepted but will pay more than low-risk merchants (pricing for high-risk merchants is not specifically disclosed)

What To Watch Out For

CDGcommerce is only available to US-based merchants.

When To Choose CDGcommerce

  • You want an online credit card processor with pricing that scales with your business as it grows
  • Your business is based in the United States

Get Started With CDGcommerce

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Host Merchant Services: Best For Internet-Based Service Businesses

Host Merchant Services


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Pros

  • Transparent interchange-plus pricing
  • Exceptional customer service
  • HMS helps match you to an eCommerce store builder
  • No long-term contracts or early termination fees

Cons

  • Can be expensive for low-volume merchants

Why Host Merchant Services Is Great For Internet-Based Service Businesses

We added Host Merchant Services (HMS) to our list because its processing services are competitively priced, and its ACH processing and recurring billing make it especially well-suited to those running a web hosting or cloud service provider business (and other SaaS businesses).

HMS has a lot to offer other online businesses as well, as the company will provide a basic website at no additional cost and will work with your business to match you to the shopping cart that suits your needs.

Host Merchant Services Features

HMS offers full merchant accounts, transparent interchange-plus pricing with no yearly contract, great customer service, and a robust suite of eCommerce features, including:

  • Virtual terminal and payment gateway (Transaction Express) offering tokenization and encryption of customer data
  • ACH processing
  • Recurring billing
  • Check-imaging
  • Wireless processing
  • Shopping cart integrations
  • Free basic website with hosting

Host Merchant Services Pricing

  • Online Transactions: Interchange + 0.35% + $0.10 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee: $14.99
  • Annual 1099 Reporting Fee: $24

What To Watch Out For

Like most merchant account providers exclusively offering interchange-plus pricing, HMS may be on the pricey side for lower-volume businesses, though HMS does say that it offers customized rate packages for lower-volume accounts.

When To Choose Host Merchant Services

  • You want an online payment processor that offers recurring billing, ACH processing, and a free hosted website

Get Started With Host Merchant Services

Read our in-depth review

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Shopify Payments: Best For Multiple Sales Channels

Shopify Payments


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Pros

  • Predictable flat-rate pricing
  • Multicurrency acceptance and international transactions
  • Sync data from multiple sales channels
  • Excellent online store builder

Cons

  • Occasional account stability issues
  • A monthly fee is charged

Why Shopify Payments Is Great For Multiple Sales Channels

Shopify is well-established as an eCommerce powerhouse. It offers a complete online selling package for merchants large and small, making Shopify an obvious fit for this list. And with Shopify Payments, you'll pay less per transaction than if you use another processor with your Shopify store.

You can create a new eCommerce store with Shopify, but using Shopify's most basic plan, Starter, with your existing online store can also be beneficial. If you sell on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, or other sales channels, you'll be able to sync and manage your listings in a single location, and you can generate all your sales data and shipping through Shopify.

Shopify Payments Features

While Shopify Starter is great for managing your existing sales channels, Shopify’s full online stores are feature-packed as well. Plus, with the numerous integrations Shopify offers for dropshippers and suppliers, eCommerce merchants of all stripes have many reasons to like Shopify.

  • Omnichannel selling
  • Shop Pay (Shopify’s accelerated checkout flow tool)
  • Developer tools
  • Security features and PCI compliance
  • Chargeback management
  • Shopify shipping
  • Local and curbside pickup
  • Local delivery

Shopify Payments Pricing

If you have a Shopify online store, using Shopify Payments for website payment processing lets you avoid paying a Shopify per-transaction fee of 0.5%-2% (on top of the processing fee) with each sale.

Plus, if you’re building a non-Shopify online presence, you can still subscribe to Shopify Starter ($5/month) to add buy buttons to your website or your social media posts.

  • No 0.5%-2.0% Shopify transaction fee when you use Shopify Payments for processing
  • Online Transactions: 2.4% + $0.30 to 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, depending on your subscription level
  • Monthly Fee: $5-$299 (pricing for plans that include a Shopify online store builder start at $29/month with annual billing)

What To Watch Out For

While Shopify’s base services are reasonably priced for small to mid-sized businesses, if you need additional functionality, the cost of add-ons can, well, add up.

Additionally, Shopify Payments is a third-party processor, which carries some inherent account stability risk.

When To Choose Shopify Payments

  • You need to build an online store and you want a service built around enabling that goal, with numerous built-in features and over 8,000 available add-ons
  • You want to sync and manage your existing online sales channels

Get Started With Shopify Payments

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Dharma Merchant Services: Best For Nonprofits

Dharma Merchant Services


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Pros

  • Interchange-plus pricing offered exclusively
  • No annual fee or monthly minimum
  • Month-to-month billing with no early termination fees
  • Outstanding sales transparency and highly ethical business practices

Cons

  • Not recommended for businesses processing under $10K/month
  • No support for high-risk or international merchants

Why Dharma Merchant Services Is Great For Nonprofits

Dharma Merchant Services -- a long-time Merchant Maverick favorite -- is a great online merchant account provider for most businesses, particularly those processing over $10,000/month. Its transparent pricing, personalized support, and ethical business practices have made it extremely easy for us to recommend them to a wide range of businesses.

Additionally, Dharma may be the best processor around for nonprofits. The company offers discounted pricing for nonprofit organizations and partners with 4aGoodCause to provide nonprofits with donation pages and event registration services.

Dharma also donates a portion of its profits to charity. For the civic-minded organization, what's not to love?

Dharma Features

As a part of its eCommerce offerings, Dharma uses MX Merchant as its integrated payments platform. This all-in-one service combines the features of a payment gateway and a virtual terminal into a single product. You’ll have access to the following:

  • Online reporting
  • A customer information database
  • A mobile processing app
  • Recurring billing
  • eCheck/ACH processing

Dharma Pricing

  • Online Transactions: Interchange + 0.20% + $0.11 per transaction
  • Online Transactions (Nonprofits Only): Interchange + 0.10% + $0.11 per transaction
  • Monthly Fee: $15 ($12 for nonprofits)
  • Chargeback Fee: $25
  • Retrieval Fee: $5

What To Watch Out For

Dharma is excellent for countless business types, but it is only available to US-based organizations, does not accept high-risk merchants, and isn’t cost-effective for those processing under $10K/month. Notably, Dharma itself acknowledges this last fact, recommending Square or PayPal as cheaper options for smaller merchants.

When To Use Dharma Merchant Services

  • You want an online processor that offers an excellent integrated payments platform and an unmatched public reputation
  • You run a nonprofit organization and you want an online processor offering nonprofit-specific discounts and features

Get Started With Dharma Merchant Services

Read our in-depth review

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Durango Merchant Services: Best For Offshore Merchant Accounts

Durango Merchant Services


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Pros

  • Specialists in placing high-risk and other hard-to-place merchants
  • Offers offshore merchant accounts for some international merchants
  • Fair pricing and excellent contract terms
  • Dedicated account manager for customer service

Cons

  • No pricing disclosures on the website

Why Durango Merchant Services Is Great For Offshore Merchant Accounts

Durango is one of the few high-risk providers of website payment processing that enjoys a great reputation for fair prices and contract terms.

With solid services, a high degree of fraud and chargeback protection, and excellent customer support, Durango is an outstanding choice of online processor for the right kind of business -- and as an offshore merchant account provider, it's among the best of the best.

Durango Features

Durango is an excellent choice for high-risk businesses needing online credit card processing. Durango also offers offshore merchant accounts for international merchants. Let’s go through what else Durango offers:

  • Proprietary cloud-hosted Durango Pay gateway
  • A variety of shopping cart integrations
  • eCheck processing
  • Cryptocurrency support
  • Fraud protection

Durango Pricing

Durango Merchant Services specializes in servicing high-risk businesses. The company does not disclose any pricing information or contract terms online; Durango works with numerous back-end processors, so these factors will be highly variable and subject to negotiation.

If yours is a high-risk business, expect to pay higher processing rates than a similar low-risk business. Although interchange-plus is sometimes available, you’ll likely be placed on a tiered pricing plan.

What To Watch Out For

While you’ll likely have to accept tiered pricing to get an offshore/high-risk merchant account, that’s just an unfortunate reality when it comes to this type of payment processing — though it never hurts to ask if interchange-plus pricing is possible for you.

When To Use Durango

  • You're seeking an offshore merchant account with the most reasonable account terms and pricing possible
  • You want a domestic high-risk merchant account with reasonable rates and terms

Get Started With Durango Merchant Services

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Treati.io: Best For Online Cannabis & CBD Sales

Treati.io


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Pros

  • Interchange-plus pricing offered exclusively
  • Low monthly fees/few extraneous fees
  • Month-to-month billing with no early termination fees
  • Free virtual terminal

Cons

  • Only available to US-based merchants
  • Processing rates are on the high side

Why Treati.io Is Great For Cannabis & CBD Sales

Treati.io is a newly established merchant account provider that caters to both high-risk and low-risk US merchants. We chose Treati.io as our favorite online credit card processor for cannabis and CBD vendors due to its willingness to work with these merchants when many providers will not.

On its website, Treati.io describes its ability to set up a Venmo-like P2P payment system for cannabis dispensaries -- one which, by necessity, bypasses Visa and Mastercard's networks.

With transparent interchange-plus pricing and a full range of countertop terminals, POS systems, and mobile processing setups for online sellers who also do business in person, we're happy to include Treati.io in this list.

Treati.io Features

Treati.io offers numerous eCommerce-focused features for online businesses:

  • Proprietary payment gateway
  • P2P payment system for cannabis sales
  • Mobile processing APIs
  • Virtual terminal
  • Numerous online store builder integrations
  • ACH/eCheck processing
  • Fraud protection
  • Quickbooks Online integration
  • Surcharging and cash discounting programs

Treati.io Pricing

Treati.io offers interchange-plus pricing exclusively. The company discloses its rates on its website, which is always good to see. However, high-risk merchants will require a custom pricing quote and will almost certainly pay higher rates.

  • Monthly Fee: $20 if a majority of your transactions are online; $10 if most of your transactions are in-person
  • Card-Not-Present/eCommerce Rate: Interchange + 0.75% + $0.20 per transaction

What To Watch Out For

Treati.io is new to the payment processing scene, so its customer service options aren’t yet on par with some of the other options on this list.

When To Choose Treati.io

  • You need an online payment processor that supports CBD sales and/or is willing to create a custom cannabis payment system for you

Get Started With Treati.io

Read our in-depth review

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Our Methodology For Choosing The Best Online Payment Processors For Small Business

Merchant Maverick rates payment processors by assessing their pricing, contract terms, features, sales practices, and user reviews. Using these criteria, we give processors an aggregate score that measures their overall suitability relative to providers with a similar target audience.

For this list, we selected processors that offer feature sets tailored to online merchants, placing importance on the availability of a virtual terminal, payment gateway, and online store builders (whether available in-house or as third-party integrations). We also selected processors with competitive rates for online transactions.

Finally, we made sure that our selections were suited to a variety of business types, sizes, and industries. Note that high-risk specialists partner with acquirers that offer varying levels of services and pricing schemes, making it more difficult to succinctly summarize their offerings. For these providers, we relied more heavily on the public reputation and user reviews of the companies in question.

What You Should Look For In An eCommerce Credit Card Processor

Let’s examine some eCommerce-specific issues related to online credit card processing:

Pricing

Online credit card sales are card-not-present (CNP) sales by definition, which means that online transactions cost more than card-present sales. That said, you can still minimize your per-transaction fees. Flat-rate pricing is fine for low-volume merchants.

Higher-volume merchants should try to get interchange-plus or wholesale pricing. Avoid tiered merchant account pricing if possible — though if your industry is considered high-risk, you may have no choice but to settle for tiered pricing.

Finally, if you’re looking to understand credit card processing fees, our comprehensive guide is an invaluable resource.

Fraud Detection Tools

Because CNP transactions have higher incidences of fraud, fraud detection naturally becomes more important for online businesses. While most credit card associations have fraud detection tools, it’s a good idea to consider additional fraud protection, whether offered as a part of the standard package or available for an extra fee.

Ease Of Use/Technical Knowledge

You should also consider how easy/hard it might be to integrate a particular processor into your web store. If you’re technologically inclined, you might not be worried about buying a domain, building a website, or loading your products or services onto the site. If you’re not, choose a provider with good shopping cart integrations.

Merchant Account VS PSP

One of the first things you must decide is whether you should use a traditional merchant account provider or a payment services provider/third-party processor. It takes longer to apply with a merchant account provider, but you’ll have better account stability once approved.

By contrast, you could be approved for processing with a PSP in just a few minutes, but you’ll face an increased risk of account holds, freezes, or even terminations.

Alternative Payment Methods

Credit and debit cards are far from the only payment method for online businesses. Ask yourself whether your customers might prefer using an alternative payment method. Consider implementing methods you think they might use.

Accepting ACH payments is popular among B2B companies, while PayPal payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and cryptocurrency payments are popular with consumers.

Tokenization

Keeping your customers’ payment information secure is more critical than ever. Credit card tokenization can help you achieve this goal.

The process involves replacing the customer’s credit card information with random letters and numbers. Instead of storing a customer’s unique credit card number, tokenization lets merchants store a “token” that only works within a merchant’s system.

Reliability & Customer Support

You should expect both reliability and excellent customer support from your payment processor as well as your shopping cart/recurring billing provider.

See if the available support channels match your preferences. The more reviews there are that tell a consistent story, the more confident you can be in their accuracy.

How To Choose The Best eCommerce Credit Card Processor For Your Small Business

When building your online business, you have a wide range of eCommerce credit card processors to choose from. At first, a flexible, pay-as-you-go third-party processor like Shopify or Square may be ideal. Once you have a higher transaction volume and you want a better processing rate or more account stability, consider moving to a dedicated merchant account.

Don’t compare on price alone, though!

Consider all the features you need, as well as compatibility with shopping carts and other services that benefit your business. Know what features you absolutely must have immediately and what you anticipate requiring later on as your business grows and its needs evolve.

FAQs About eCommerce Credit Card Processors

How much does it cost to accept credit cards online?

The cost of credit card processing online depends on the following factors:

  1. Your payment processor
  2. Your pricing model
  3. Your sales volume
  4. Your average ticket
  5. The portion of your sales that are domestic vs. international
  6. Whether your business is considered high-risk or not

How can I process credit cards online?

  1. Choose a credit card processor
  2. Choose an eCommerce platform
  3. Offer the payment methods your customers use
  4. Make sure your online store is secure
  5. Market your online store
  6. Make sure your pricing plan is appropriate for your sales volume

What is the best payment method for a website?

  1. Credit/debit card payments
  2. PayPal payments
  3. Mobile payments, such as Apple Pay and Google Pay
  4. Payment links
  5. QR code payments
  6. eChecks
  7. ACH
  8. Cryptocurrency payments

Can I add a payment method to my website?

No matter how many payment methods you accept on your eCommerce website, you can always add another, provided your payment processor supports it.

In Summary: The 10 Best eCommerce Credit Card Processor Options For Small Business

  • Square Online:
    • Best for newer and low-volume businesses
    • Third-party processor
    • Flat-rate pricing
  • PaymentCloud:
    • Best for high-risk businesses
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available
  • Helcim:
    • Best all-in-one platform
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Stripe Payments:
    • Best for custom payment and checkout support
    • Third-party processor
    • Flat-rate and interchange-plus pricing
  • CDGcommerce:
    • Best for low rates and scalability
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Flat-rate, interchange-plus, and membership pricing available
  • Host Merchant Services:
    • Best for online service businesses
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Shopify Payments:
    • Best for multiple sales channels
    • Third-party processor
    • Flat-rate pricing
  • Dharma Merchant Services:
    • Best nonprofit credit card processor
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus pricing
  • Durango Merchant Services:
    • Best for offshore merchant accounts
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing available
  • Treati.io:
    • Best for online cannabis & CBD processing
    • Full merchant account provider
    • Interchange-plus and tiered pricing
Jason Vissers

Jason Vissers

Senior Staff Writer at Merchant Maverick
Jason has been writing about small business software platforms, services, and financing since 2015. Jason’s expertise has been featured in Yahoo Finance, Time/NextAdvisor, Home Business Magazine, CreditCards.com, GoBankingRates, TheLadders.com, and other publications. He has a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from San Diego State University and currently lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Jason Vissers
View Jason Vissers's professional experience on LinkedIn.

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