Choosing a payment gateway is easy to get wrong early and painful to undo later. The provider that actually fits your store isn’t the one with the lowest headline rate or the biggest brand – it’s the one that matches your real transaction mix, supports the markets your customers come from, and gives you transparent reporting without locking you into unnecessary fees.
Key takeaways
- Look past the headline rate: international card surcharges, monthly platform fees and FX markups decide your real cost.
- Confirm card network coverage – Visa and Mastercard plus JCB, UnionPay and Amex if you sell into Asia or to higher-spend segments.
- Check the checkout options you can grow into: hosted pages, payment links and API integration.
- Settlement speed and a single, readable reporting dashboard matter as much as the fee.
- Avoid monthly fees and lock-in contracts; favour providers that charge purely on transaction volume.
You’ve built the product, sorted the packaging, and finally launched your online store. Sales start coming in. Then you look at your payment gateway statement and realise you’re handing over a significant chunk of every transaction in fees – and you don’t even fully understand what you’re paying for.
Choosing a payment gateway is one of those decisions that’s easy to get wrong early on and painful to undo later. The good news: it doesn’t need to be complicated. Here’s what actually matters when you’re evaluating options.
1. Understand the Real Cost – Not Just the Headline Rate
Every payment provider will lead with a number. “2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.” But that number alone tells you very little.
Ask yourself:
- Does this rate apply to all cards, or just domestic Visa and Mastercard?
- Is there an additional charge for international cards?
- Are there monthly platform fees or minimum processing requirements?
- What about currency conversion if you sell in multiple markets?
A provider charging 2.7% domestically with a 0.7% surcharge on international cards – and no monthly fee – can end up cheaper than a competitor advertising a flat 2.5% but tacking on a $50/month platform fee.
Run the maths based on your actual sales mix. For stores with a global customer base, the international card surcharge will hit you harder than you expect.
ONE Payments, for example, publishes its full rate card openly: 2.7% + USD 0.50 for domestic cards, +0.7% for international cards, no setup fee, no monthly fee. Knowing exactly what you’ll pay before you sign up makes a real difference to cash flow planning. See full pricing.
2. Check Which Card Networks Are Supported
Visa and Mastercard are the obvious ones. But if any portion of your customers are from Asia – whether you’re shipping internationally or selling digital products – you’ll want support for JCB (popular in Japan) and UnionPay (essential for Chinese shoppers).
American Express matters too, particularly for higher-spending customer segments.
Gaps in card network support are easy to miss during setup and expensive to discover after you’ve launched a campaign targeting a specific market. Before committing to a provider, confirm explicitly: which networks are supported, and are there any geographic restrictions?
3. Evaluate the Checkout Experience
Your payment gateway is customer-facing. A clunky, slow, or unrecognisable checkout page will cost you conversions – often silently, with no error message and no explanation.
Look for:
- Hosted checkout pages – a fully managed checkout you can redirect customers to, requiring minimal development work
- Payment links – shareable URLs for selling via email, social media, or WhatsApp without a formal cart
- API-based integration – for businesses that want to embed the checkout entirely within their own product experience
You don’t need all three on day one. But knowing your provider supports all of them gives you room to grow without switching platforms.
4. Think About Payout Speed and Reporting
Getting paid quickly matters. Settlement times vary significantly between providers – from same-day to up to a week. Slower settlement cycles create cash flow pressure, especially for stores that are growing fast or managing inventory.
Equally important is reporting. Can you see a clear breakdown of every transaction – fees included – from a single dashboard? Or are you reconciling across multiple systems at the end of the month?
Good reporting isn’t glamorous, but it saves hours of accounting work and helps you spot issues (like an unusually high refund rate on a specific product) before they become serious.
5. No Monthly Fees or Lock-In Contracts
This one is simple but worth saying out loud: be wary of payment providers that charge monthly platform fees regardless of your transaction volume.
When you’re starting out or managing seasonal sales cycles, a monthly fee is a fixed cost you’re paying even when revenue is low. Providers that charge purely on transaction volume align their incentives with yours – they only earn when you earn.
Similarly, check the contract terms. Are you locked in for 12 or 24 months? Is there a cancellation fee? The best providers are confident enough in their product to let you leave if it’s not working for you.
6. Make Sure Support Is Actually Reachable
You will, at some point, have an urgent payment question. A failed transaction during a product launch. A refund dispute that needs escalating. A customer unable to complete checkout.
When that moment comes, you need support that answers quickly and actually knows your account. Check review sites, ask in founder communities, and if possible, test the support responsiveness before you sign up – not after.
Putting It All Together
The right payment gateway for your online store isn’t necessarily the one with the lowest headline rate or the most recognisable brand. It’s the one that fits your actual transaction mix, supports the markets your customers come from, and gives you transparent reporting without locking you into unnecessary fees.
ONE Payments is built for exactly this kind of business: online-first, cost-conscious, and growing. With support for Visa, Mastercard, Amex, JCB, and UnionPay, a hosted checkout option, payment links, and full API access – all on a no-monthly-fee model – it’s worth comparing against whatever you’re currently using.
Compare pricing and see if it fits your store