Online payment is a crucial feature for every tour company nowadays. In order to implement it, you’ll need a good payment gateway. From the sea of payment gateways, it’s important to choose the right one. This article will help you choose it wisely.
Payment gateways bridge customers money to your tour company’s account. They approve online payments.
This is how a payment gateway process works:
The payment goes through the payment gateway, then to the payment processor and afterward to the customer’s bank.
If the bank gives the green light to this transaction, the funds will be transferred from the customer’s credit card to a tour company’s account.
Your tour business account is an online account where the funds are deposited. From there you can transfer them to the normal business bank account.
This transfer means scheduled action, which occurs periodically i.e. weekly or monthly.
Therefore, you need to choose one of payment gateways. Besides that, your tour company has to have an account to successfully accept online payments.
Services like PayPal and Stripe include both and we call them payment service provider (PSP).
Global online travel sales has been growing steadily in the last several years. Projections say it will grow to 755.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2019.
According to research, the travel industry will have the highest percentage of online payments by 2020, in relation to all sales than any other industry.
Millennials, a truly digital generation, are among the biggest users of online payment services. They will drive 50% of all business travel revenue by 2020.
These results show the importance of having integrated payment gateway. So, this feature has a huge future potential.
Your tours and activities are available for booking 24/7. The entire booking process is fully automated. As a result, a customer can book and pay a tour without your intervention 24/7. Imagine how much time and tedious bureaucracy work that takes away off your shoulders!
A customer can book and pay for tour or activity instantly. Payment gateways accept a wide range of credit cards. This simplifies and facilitates customer’s experience. As a result, you’re left with more time to spend on truly creative and fun work! Focus on providing the best experience to travelers and tourists on your tours.
Payment gateway systems are specialized in data security and fraud prevention. They work according to the latest standards for safety of credit card payment. Thus, no need to worry about security.
You get your money on time, without the delay. Cash flow and sales are harmonized. Furthermore, the payment gateway allows you to apply cancellation policy. So, it makes refunding easy.
Payment gateways are pre-installed and paired with the booking system. Hence, you only have to decide which one to use. But, make sure to select one that people in your target market prefer.
Also, you can consider the combination of two or more payment solutions. It’s always good to have an alternative option.
Here is a brief overview of the most prevalent solutions.
Of course, everybody heard about it. PayPal is a synonym for online paying and widely trusted payment gateway. It has 192 million accounts worldwide.
PayPal is available in 202 countries and accepts 25 currencies around the world. So, there is a big chance that your customer is among them. It thus poses no geographical limitations to where your tourists are coming and paying from!
As I already wrote, PayPal gives you a merchant account and gateway in one. It is very simple payment gateway to configure. Usually, it redirects customers to the PayPal website to make their payment.
PayPal charges 2.9% + $0.30 for most transactions and a 3.9% + fixed fee per international transaction. Some additional add-ons may require other fees.
Stripe is probably the biggest rival to PayPal. The base fee is similar. It charges 1.75% + $0.30 for domestic cards and 2.9% + $0.30 for International cards, per successful transaction. But, there are no any extra fees.
Like PayPal, it gives you a merchant account and gateway in one.
Because Stripe is designed for developers, it is a bit delicate to configure. But, if you know what you are doing, then Stripe is doubtless one of the best solutions.
Especially for international businesses, because you can accept more than 100 currencies.
Braintree, a subsidiary of PayPal, becomes popular payment gateway.
Again, base fee is similar to competitors. It charges 1.9% + $0.30 for most transactions. Another great option for tour businesses is re-billing. For example, you can charge deposit first, and later complete payment without asking the customer again for card details.
Authorize.Net is one of the oldest and hugely popular payment gateways. Unlike previously described, Authorize.Net doesn’t provide you with a merchant account. It just provides a payment gateway. However, they can set up a merchant account for you provided by a third-party processor.
Authorize.Net charges a $49 setup fee, a $25 monthly gateway fee, and a $25 chargeback fee. The transaction fee is 2.9% + $0.30.
It offers many extra features like Advanced Fraud Detection Suite, Automated Recurring Billing & Sync for QuickBooks.
Mercado Pago is used in more than 150 thousand online businesses. It’s the most popular payment gateway in Latin America. When receiving payments, Mercado Pago charges 4.55% of each accredited payment (VAT not included).
It is crucial for your tour business to offer online payment to the customers. Also, you can combine multiple gateways because they aren’t mutually exclusive.
So, give customers the option to pay how they like. And give them a choice.
Reach out to us if you’d appreciate some help! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact us or share it right here.
Finally, if you liked this article, share the love with your colleagues!
ORIOLY
on January 30, 2017
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