A Full List of eCommerce Payment Methods for 2018

Oh, the places your business will grow… as long as you have the right payment methods.

If you’ve stopped by our blog before you probably know we’re huge proponents of global business growth. That’s why we write frequently about things like how cross-border payments work and why so many payments fail in global payment processing.

One of the challenges associated with global payments has to do with the plethora of payment methods available around the world. While some payment methods are known and used everywhere, mostly it’s a jigsaw puzzle of localized payment types. You need the right pieces in place to convert the maximum number of sales, and that means offering all payment methods specific to your shoppers’ regions. If they don’t see the local payment option they prefer on your site, nearly 15% of them will abandon the pursuit, and you’ll have lost another sale.

You need the right pieces in place to convert the maximum number of sales, and that means offering all payment methods specific to your shoppers’ regions. Click To Tweet

On top of the global considerations, new payment methods regularly come on the scene—like eWallets, which are steadily rising in popularity. Then there are other payment methods, like ACH, that have been around for a while but may not have achieved the level of awareness among business owners that they should.

All that goes to say: It’s a big payments world out there.

There’s more to succeeding in global eCommerce than offering the right payment methods. Download this free ebook for more strategies to maximize your global ROI.

 

To help bring you up to speed, we’ve created a complete, current list of all possible payment methods for eCommerce businesses. When you partner with a payment provider like BlueSnap, you get access to all of these—they’re built into our All-in-One Payment Platform. You won’t have to go searching for additional gateways to find the options you need—you can satisfy all your customers, everywhere, with just a single connection to our platform.

If you have questions about any of the payment methods on this list, or want to know more about how our All-in-One Payment Platform accelerates sales, just give us a shout. We’d love to listen to your business needs and see how we can help.

A Complete List Of Payment Methods In 2018

International (Debit/Credit) Cards By 2025, purchase volume for goods and services by Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, American Express, JCB, Discover, and Diners Club is expected to reach $54.9 trillion, which represents an increase in volume worldwide. Card usage varies significantly from one country to the next, with lower usage in Germany, Japan, and Mexico and higher use in Australia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, and the U.K.
Card Name	Comments
Visa	In the category of international credit cards, Visa holds the primary market share of purchase volume in the Middle East & Africa, EU, UK, and Latin America. It has 323 million cardholders worldwide.
Mastercard	It is the second largest credit card network in the U.S, and processes transactions in more than 210 countries. It has 191 million cardholders worldwide.
American Express	One of the preferred methods of payment in the U.S., Mexico, Colombia, and Chile. It has 58 million cardholders worldwide and is active in more than 130 countries. It is geared toward high-income cardholders.
Discover	Discover has 57 million cardholders worldwide. Along with Diners Club, Discover is one of the most popular payment methods in Brazil.
Diners Club International	It is accepted in more than 185 countries, and is among the preferred methods of payment in Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and Argentina.
JCB	An international payment brand based in Japan. There are more than 105 million JCB consumers; the card is accepted in 190 countries.
UnionPay	A Chinese bank card that dominates China’s card market; there are also about 90 million cards issued in 48 countries and regions outside mainland China. It is also the second largest international card brand in Pakistan.

 

Local Debit/Credit Cards
Name	Comments
CartaSi	The most frequently used credit card in Italy.
Dankort	The national debit and credit card and preferred means of payment in Denmark.
Carte Bleue	The leading debit card payment system in France (also known as Visa Debit).
Tarjeta Naranja, Nativa, Tarjeta Shopping, Cabal, Cencosud, Argencard	These are all payment cards local to Argentina.

 

Direct Debit
Name	Comments
SEPA Direct Debit	It is the preferred method of payment by 45% of European shoppers and has 500 million potential users.
ACH	The number of ACH transactions (a U.S.-specific payment method) increased by more than 1 billion in 2017 for the third year in a row.
U.K. Direct Debit	It is the preferred payment method for more than 50% of bill payers in the U.K.

 

eWallets eWallets are becoming a more popular payment method around the world, with some regions, such as India, leading the way. Consumers in many global markets are shifting away from credit/debit cards and toward eWallets and bank transfers.
eWallet Name	Comments
Alipay	Alipay is China’s version of the eWallet; 48% of Chinese shoppers use it. It accounted for 54.1% of China’s mobile payment volume in 2016.
Apple Pay	It is currently the leading eWallet in the U.S. and Canada.
Visa Checkout	As of April 2017, there were more than 20 million active customer accounts worldwide. Shoppers can store and use any credit card in a Visa Checkout ewallet.
Masterpass	As of May 2017, there were 85 million Masterpass-enabled accounts globally.
PayPal	237 million people have active PayPal accounts.
Google Pay	Formerly called Android Pay.
Payment Request API (W3C)	This new payment tool allows eCommerce merchants to request any card-based payment on any supported web browser, and the browser provides the user interface to accept it. (The browser has the shopper’s payment details stored already.)
WebMoney	It is used primarily in Russia and Ukraine.
Skrill	A wallet popular in the EU and UK but available for consumers in over 200 countries.

 

Bank Transfers Bank transfers are initiated when a shopper “pushes” funds to the bank account of the seller. Bank transfer payments cannot be reversed, and the cost to merchants is generally lower than for payment cards.
Bank Transfer	Available in over 200 countries and 30 currencies.

 

Real-time Banking
Name	Comments
iDEAL	Popular in the Netherlands, where it has more than 50% of the market share.
Giropay	Germany’s most-used payment method, used by 14.1 million shoppers.
Sofort	Popular real-time bank transfer payment method used in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
eNets	A popular real-time bank transfer payment in Singapore.

 

Cash & PrePaid Vouchers
Name	Comments
Boleto Bancario	A critical payment type to capture Brazilian shoppers because it accounts for 25% of all online transactions.
Paysafe	A prepaid card used in several European countries.

Get access to all these payment methods with BlueSnap. Talk to us today about these and other ways we can help you make more sales globally!

 

 

Related Resources: 

• Local Currencies – Don’t Go Without Them
• How to Increase Your Margins on Cross-Border Sales 
• 5 Ways to Increase Sales & Reduce Costs in Payment Processing