The most well-known global payment gateway is PayPal (www.paypal.com). Even though PayPal was developed by a South African, PayPal does not currently offer merchant services to South African based companies. If, however, you have a bank account in the US or UK, for example, PayPal might be a good option for accepting credit cards over the Internet.

Thankfully though, our clever-headed and tech-savvy South African developers have created more payment gateway options.

There are two types of Payment Gateway providers in South Africa – those which require a client to register as an internet merchant with a South African Bank, and those that do not. In this article, we outline those that do not require clients to register as an internet merchant with a South African Bank.

Pay4It (www.pay4it.co.za) provides e-commerce solutions for small to medium businesses. A subsidiary of REDi Internet Services, Pay4It will even host and develop the online retailer’s website and making it entirely ready for e-commerce transactions.

Pay4It is currently running a limited time offer, with a R500 +VAT once-off setup fee, R150 monthly subscription fee, and levying 6% per each transaction. Pay4It does not require online retailers to register a merchant bank account with their bank before registering.

Pay4It is a one-stop-shop for all your online e-Commerce requirements and offers its clients a full portfolio of web design and development services, in addition to its payment gateway services. Pay4It will also happily send clients a full integration guideline document and enable clients’ developers access to the Pay4It technical team, to assist with the integration process.

Netcash (www.netcash.co.za) transacts directly with the 4 larger banks – Standard Bank, First National Bank, ABSA and Nedbank, and through Bankserv, with the smaller banks, and is able to guarantee service levels and payment clearance times. Primarily used by retailers as a debit order collection service, it recently also enabled retailers to add a payment gateway service to their websites.

Netcash requires online retailers to register online, and will then revert with a service agreement for completion by the retailer. NetCash caters both for merchant account holders and for sole proprietors, and is willing to sign up a sole proprietor, once assessed, via their personal bank account.

Netcash prides itself on a quick turn-around time with registrations, and does not lock its clients into a fixed timeframe contract. Further, online retailers can cancel their registration with Netcash at any time, should they be dissatisfied with the service, without incurring any penalties or cancellation fees.

Netcash charges a minimum fee of R35 for 0 to 15 transactions a month, and this fee increases, per number of transactions per month – from R2, 20 for 16 to 499 transactions, per transaction, to R1, 80 for 5000 to 9999 transactions, per transaction. For 10 000 or more transactions, a quote can be made available on request and all credit card transactions are levied with a 5% transaction fee.

Netcash focuses on creating and implementing efficient and easy payment gateway services and as such, the data validation component of their systems is available to all clients, as a web service which can be integrated into the client website or account management software. Netcash’s portfolio of services includes a comprehensive reporting system.

MonsterPay (www.monsterpay.com) (formerly known as Setcom) is the favoured choice for smaller businesses, as it does not require a merchant account to be registered beforehand. Whilst they don’t charge merchants a setup or monthly subscription cost, their transaction fees are slightly higher.

MonsterPay does not charge its clients any fees to open an account, purchase via web or mobile or send money to more than 200 countries. MonsterPay takes a small percentage fee of each transaction made through its services but also does not charge any monthly fees. The MonsterPay service provides Rand and US Dollar credit card acceptance.  Acceptance of Instant EFT via SID and direct deposits are also provided for Rand. This service is unique to MonsterPay and no other payment gateway can provide Instant EFT facilities.

Sending payments and adding funds are both free facilities on the MonsterPay system but, to receive payments funded by Credit Card or Debit Card costs 4.9% of the transaction, plus $0.35USD for US Dollars, and 4.9% of the transaction, plus R2,50 for South African Rands. Receiving payments funded by POLI or Instant Bank Transfer costs 2.9% of the transaction, plus R2,50 for South African Rands. It costs 2.9% of the transaction to receive payments funded by MonsterPay Balance, eCheque or eDeposit. To withdraw funds, it’ll cost $2,50USD for US Dollars; E2.00 for Euros; £1,50 for Pound Sterling and R8,00 for South African Rands.

MonsterPay provides a variety of payment gateway tools and integration tools for clients’ websites. Integration tools offered include: Auto-Redirect; Auto-Post and Synchronisation facilities. A full implementation and integration guide is available for download from the MonsterPay website.

MonsterPay offers a wide range of selling tools for its clients. These include a shopping cart; Buy Now and Checkout buttons; catalogue and mail listing; customizable payment pages; a shipping calculator; tax calculator and downloadable statements.

2CheckOut (www.2checkout.com) enables online retailers’ clients to transact with their PayPal account, and pay directly into a 2CheckOut account. This is a great move forward for online retailers with foreign customers.

With no waiting period and no term contracts, 2CheckOut has also waivered fees for South African online retailers to sign up and test their systems but, it can take a while for your funds to be transferred to your account.

A signup fee of $49USD is levied by 2CheckOut and a 5.5% commission on each transaction, along with a $0.45USD charge per transaction. This signup fee of $49USD has recently been waived by 2CheckOut for South Africans, in an effort to further empower and promote e-commerce in our country. With just a 5.5% and %.45USD charge per sale, no monthly, gateway or statement fees, 2CheckOut also makes it possible for customers to purchase products with PayPal, as well as the most popular online payment methods.

2CheckOut provides its clients with an easy to integrate payment gateway service, which will work with existing shopping carts and includes a range of comprehensive account management tools. 2CheckOut clients are required to maintain a website containing complete marketing, advertising and product information themselves.

Payfast (www.payfast.co.za) does not charge monthly fees – only per-transaction fees. Offering four types of accounts, Payfast is geared entirely towards payment processing for South Africa only.  Payfast does not require a client to register as a merchant with a South African bank.

Payfast’s Basic Account is intended only for users who only send money, whilst the Personal Account is geared towards regular users who need to pay online stores, and receive small amounts of money for online goods or services.  A Premier Account is intended for use by online retailers who need to accept money from customers and who are able to accept credit card payments. The Business Account focuses on larger businesses, who send and receive larger amounts of money on a regular basis.  The Basic Account does not require you to have a South African Bank Account but, the Personal, Premier and Business accounts do.

PayFast does not charge setup or monthly fees, or charge users a fee to send money. To receive funds, however, Payfast charges a minimum of 2% on an Instant EFT and PayFast Voucher transaction. For a credit card transaction, Payfast charges 4.9% of the transaction plus an extra R2, and 7% of the transaction amount on a Ukash transaction. Payouts cost R8,77 and all selling tools offered by Payfast are free to use.  Payfast accepts payments from South African clients; by credit card and by UKash clients from all over the world.

PayFast provides a number of pre-built modules for a number of e-Commerce engines/shopping carts. These include: OSCommerce; VirtueMart, ZenCar and CubeCart. PayFast enables you to simply and quickly add their facilities to your website, and provides a full, easy to read integration guide on their website. PayFast has also enabled UKash (www.ukash.com) on their systems. UKash enables a client to buy things online without needing a credit card or even a bank account.

A myriad of options is available for those wanting to enable their e-commerce website, and clients are offered a wide variety of options and account types.

Related: South African Payment Gateways that require bank registration.