It is widely accepted that card payments outperform cash. Even before the pandemic, BBC.
Many customers also shop online. Statista records that in February 2021 a whopping 71% of UK customers shopped more online than before the pandemic.
Obviously, the pandemic is accelerating the shift towards a cashless society. Cards are not only practical, but contactless payment also reduces the possibility of virus transmission.
Charities that haven’t invested in the technology to accept card payments are missing out. By taking stock of the best payment systems, we go into how the card systems work and what advantages they have.
Stripe offers the full range of options for demanding and simple operations. The payment system has two main components that are useful for charities. It can accept card payments from both digital and physical infrastructure. The benefit here is that Stripe can offer charities both point-of-sale (POS) machine rentals and online transaction support.
Pricing: The processing of non-European cards starts at 2.9% of the amount plus 20 pence per transaction in pay-as-you-go format.
Opayo processes online and physical transactions. In addition to mainstream payments, Opayo can also process payments over the phone. The main benefit for charities is the ability to connect to existing accounts on the Sage platform (Opayo is the renamed version of SagePay). Invoicing and cash flow tracking are made easier by the link.
Pricing: Flexible pricing plans start at £ 25 per month.
PayPal offers services for accepting fundraising donations. PayPal accounts allow charities to accept payments, but they are not linked to any operations. The services are best suited for purchases made over the Internet or individual events rather than wholesale transactions.
Pricing: There are discounted prices for charities. Payments are accepted at a rate of 1.4% of the amount plus 20p per transaction.
Square’s payment system offers the latest technology for charities. Payments can be made through traditional card insertion, contactless typing, online, keyboard entry, and invoicing. The software system also turns desktop computers into payment terminals. Additional hardware can also be rented from Square.
Pricing: Fees vary by plan, but start at 1.75% of the transaction amount and increase from there.
The main benefit of using LibertyPay is its customized features for charities. In addition to payment processing for online and bulk payments, the payment platform has ready-to-use donation boxes. LibertyPay also operates a credit and debit card gateway provider CharityGateway, whose profits are donated to charity.
Pricing: Charities can negotiate bespoke plans based on requirements.
Banked is the newcomer to ecommerce payment options. Unlike the more traditional hardware providers, Banked is an API software broker that can be pinned on charity websites. The payment platform uses real-time bank account information to complete transactions. Charities could benefit from the platform’s ability to process high quality transactions.
Pricing: Charities can request more information.
