12 Ways to Accept Online Payments in 2024

Getting paid online isn’t as difficult today as it was in the past. In fact, it’s pretty straightforward and easy for anyone to figure out.

But deciding how you’re going to get paid online is another story.

What types of online payments are going to be accepted? Which methods are you going to use for online payment acceptance? 

These are valid questions, and this guide has the answers. I’ll walk you through the different ways to accept online payments in 2024—including a mix of payment methods, platforms, and payment types. 

1. Credit and Debit Cards

This is an obvious choice, and it’s the preferred payment method of most online shoppers. 

Accepting credit and debit cards online lets you reach the majority of people out there. In fact, 93% of adults in the US have a debit card, and 82% have a credit card. 

Ideally, you’ll want to accept all major card brands—Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. 

It’s possible to accept some without the other, but there’s really no reason to consider that. Fees will vary slightly from one card to the next, but you’ll run the risk of turning away some customers if you don’t take their preferred card. 

2. Digital Wallets

More than 50% of all ecommerce transactions come from digital wallets. These digital payment methods are powered by apps and allow consumers to store their details securely, so they’re not forced to carry cards or manually enter their card numbers when buying something online. 

• Apple Pay
• Google Pay
• PayPal
• Samsung Wallet
• Amazon Pay

These are all examples of popular digital wallets. To add these options as payment methods on your website, talk to your payment processor. 

3. ACH Payments

ACH payments are processed through the Automated Clearing House Network. With an ACH transfer, you can electronically move funds between two bank accounts.

When it comes to accepting payments online for your business, ACH transfers are only common in certain industries. 

It’s usually not an option to purchase a t-shirt or hat online through an ACH transfer. But ACH transfers typically have lower fees than credit cards, so you’ll often see them available for high-ticket B2B transactions, service-based businesses, memberships, and even medical billing. 

4. Direct Debit

Direct debit is a specific type of ACH payment. Unlike an ACH credit, which is a one-time transaction for a pre-determined amount, a direct debit is drawn on a recurring schedule (typically monthly), and the amount isn’t always pre-determined.

For example, you might pay your gas or electric bill online through a direct debit. The amount due varies each month, and you’ve given your utilities provider pre-authorization to pull your statement balance from your bank account on the 1st or 15th of the month.

Direct debits are commonly used for installment payments, utilities, rent, and retainers. 

5. eChecks

eChecks, or electronic checks, can also get processed through the Automated Clearing House (like ACH transfers). But they don’t have to go through the ACH network. 

Due to the Check 21 Act of 2004, any paper check in the US can become digitized and converted to an eCheck for payment processing. 

So if a customer mails you a check and you deposit that check electronically, that’s become an eCheck. 

Most online businesses probably won’t want to wait for checks to come in the mail to exchange goods or services. But some do, especially for B2B payments. 

You can talk to your processor about getting set up for this online. Or you can use a third-party check verification system that essentially converts online checks to ACH payments through a hosted payments page. 

6. Payment Gateway

Unlike the other options on our list so far (which are all payment types) a payment gateway is a method of accepting online payments. 

A payment gateway connects your online store to the processing company or acquiring bank. 

This is the standard and essentially the only way to accept payments online—for all the payment types we’ve discussed so far. You’ll need a payment gateway to accept credit cards, debit cards, ACH transfers, and direct debits. 

Your customers don’t need to know or care that you’re using a payment gateway. It’s just the technology used by the backend to process their payments. So it’s not like you’ll be advertising that you “accept payment gateways” in the same way you would say “we accept all major credit cards.” The payment gateway allows you to accept those cards. 

7. Aggregated Merchant Account

An aggregated merchant account allows businesses to get paid online without a merchant ID number (MID).

This is similar to a payment gateway in the sense that it’s not a payment method but rather a means of accepting payments. Here’s how it works.

Historically, businesses were required to apply for a merchant ID to get a merchant account with a processing company. There would be a lengthy audit, the processor would need to determine the business’ risk, and then either approve or deny the application while setting the corresponding processing fees based on various factors. 

While this is still what payment acceptance looks like for many businesses, you can skip all that by going straight to an aggregated merchant account provider. 

PayPal, Stripe, Square, and Shopify Payments are all common examples of aggregate merchants for processing online payments. 

Rather than giving each business its own unique ID, they bundle your business into a single merchant account with other companies. So you’re able to sign up and start processing almost immediately. 

This can be good for simplicity, as aggregators also provide a payment gateway and the technology you need to get paid online. But this often comes at the cost of higher fees that are tougher to negotiate. 

8. Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency payments are becoming more and more popular each year. It’s no longer just a novelty or something that businesses are doing to be cool or make the news—it’s a legitimate way to get paid online.

Over 15,000 businesses worldwide accept Bitcoin, including 2,300 in the United States. 

But this payment acceptance method is far more popular for larger merchants. Research shows that 85% of companies with more than $1 billion in annual sales accept crypto. 

If you’re just starting an online store, it’s unlikely that you’re in this category. 

But it’s pretty easy to accept crypto online, and it’s similar to accepting credit card payments. You just need to integrate a crypto processor to your website, and customers can pay using their encrypted wallets. 

9. Email Invoicing

Email invoicing only makes sense for online businesses that would otherwise be sending a paper invoice through the mail. It’s a common way to accept online payments for freelancers, B2Bs, and healthcare organizations.

But email invoicing is far superior to paper invoices. 

The delivery is instant. You can track whether or not the recipient opened it. And the recipient can pay using their preferred payment method in just a few clicks. You can also set up things like automatic reminders, overdue schedules, and invoice tracking. 

This is also a great way to get paid online without having to set up a complete ecommerce store.

10. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

BNPL services have recently surged in popularity. Customers buy something today and then pay for it over time (often interest-free). 

Many BNPL companies split the purchase price into four equal payments—so a $200 item gets paid in $50 installments over six weeks.

This can work well in industries with higher average order values. We tend to see them used for things like travel, hospitality, home appliances, and furniture. 

As a merchant, you simply sign a contract with a BNPL provider and then pay a fee for each purchase that’s made using this method. Just be aware that these fees are often higher than accepting a credit or debit card. 

11. Recurring Billing

Recurring billing works really well for memberships and subscription services. 

The customer’s payment information is kept on file, and then processed on a recurring basis. 

You can get recurring billing for any schedule, but it’s most commonly used for monthly or annual payments—sometimes quarterly. 

12. Mobile App Payments

As the name implies, this online payment acceptance only works for businesses that have a mobile app. 

If you do have an app, you can simply integrate your payment acceptance capabilities directly through that platform. This is much better than forcing your app users to navigate to a third-party web page.

With mobile app payments, you can even let users save their favorite cards on file. 

Think about how you use Amazon to shop online. Do you manually enter your credit card each time you buy something from the app? I don’t. 

You can offer your customers this exact same experience through your own mobile app with built-in payment functionality. 

Final Thoughts

There are plenty of ways to accept online payments. 

Some of you may choose to implement just one or two of these, while the rest of you may offer as many as possible. Just make sure you strike the right balance that works for your business type, industry, and average order value—as not all of these ways make sense for every business. 

Regardless of how you get paid online, one thing remains the same: you’re going to pay processing fees.

That’s where we come in. We can help lower your costs without changing how you accept payments online. We’ll simply audit your statements and negotiate with your processor. It’s that easy.