There are tons of eCommerce gurus out there who can teach you how to build eCommerce sites in a matter of minutes but may not share with you the mechanics of the E-Payment gateways used to transact the orders placed on your site. Â As a relatively “newbie” in eCommerce (20 months and counting), I just want to share my knowledge on three E-Payment gateways I used. Â I am not saying one is better than the other, but this will give you a better idea which you can use for your business purpose.
The three E-Payment gateways I have tried are:
1. PayPal
2. SmoovPay
3. Stripe
Here’s a snapshot on the features I identified for comparison:
| Service | PayPal | SmoovPay | Stripe |
| Setup Fees | Free | Free | Free |
| Monthly Fees | Free | Free | Free |
| Selling Fees | 3.4% + S$0.50 (or less) | 2.9% + S$0.25 (or less) | 3.4% + S$0.50 (or less) |
| Accept American Express | Same rate as other cards for Standard; 3.5% for Pro or Advanced | Same rate as other cards | Same rate as other cards |
| Subscription Collection | Yes | No | Yes |
| Chargebacks | $28 | Free | S$25 (approx) |
| Refunds | Free | Free | Free |
| Withdrawal | Free | > S$500 (FREE) | Free |
| International cards | 1% to accept funds, *plus 2.5% currency conversion fee | Free to accept funds,*plus 2% currency conversion fee | Free to accept funds,*plus 2% currency conversion fee |
| Card Verification Transactions | S$0.50 | Free | Free |
| *Fee only applies if you charge in SGD. | |||
As I am using Woocommerce for my eCommerce sites, it comes with PayPal as an E-Payment gateway, so the setting up is quite easy. Â And when it failed to accept a particular transaction via its PayPal Express Checkout (non-PayPal users who wants to pay via their Credit Cards), I decided to research further on Stripe. Â I must say the the instructions provided to set up Stripe was quite a breeze as it was already available as an extension on WooCommerce.
SmoovPay is made in Singapore and I must say it is definitely a cheap and good alternative to PayPal and Stripe.  It does not allow “recurring subscription” at the moment which can be a bummer for “Paying Membership Sites”.  I have not integrated SmoovPay in all the sites I built except one.  Reason: Can only withdraw for Free if amount above S$500.
If you would like  to learn more about the respective E-Payment gateways, you can click on the links below:
1. Â PayPal.com
2. Â Smoovpay.com
3. Â Stripe.com
Stay tuned for more updates!  🙂
