Time is money and as a business owner you know that the longer your customer waits for anything, the more chance that you will lose them. Time management is a skill that is vital for both personal and business growth. With good time management skills comes more money for your business.
In the world of financial transactions, delay in payments is a source of great frustration and missed opportunities. But this headache has been dealt with since the introduction of online payment solutions. The benefits of online payments are not merely for saving time, these types of transactions are safe and convenient in comparison to other forms of payment.
An online transaction does not require physical currency or checks making it convenient to transfer large amounts of money seamlessly. Unlike cash payments that require you to keep a physical record of the transaction, online payment records are kept online and can be accessed anytime in the future. Advanced fraud prevention and encryption features on online payment solutions protect your money from cyber threats.
That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to listing the benefits of online payment. We will explain more in-depth as we read further on this blog.
Benefits of Online Payment
There are a plethora of benefits of online payment solutions. Here are some of the benefits;
- The most obvious one is convenience. Online payment solutions make carrying and transacting money from one place to another easy. Without the need for physical cash, you don’t need to be worried about overspending. Besides being convenient, you don’t have to worry about theft as well.
- From a business owner’s perspective, online transactions help them grow their business exponentially. Some online payment solutions allow businesses to accept international currencies and provide the opportunity to expand these businesses on a global scale. All businesses should integrate online payment solutions for growth and revenue.
- Online payment solutions come in different shapes and sizes. Each of them will have their own features. Keep an eye out for online payment service providers who have features like automatic billing, recurring payments, fraud detection etc.
- Since there is no physical currency or transaction happening with online payments, it is considered the most sustainable way of payment. There is no need for receipts and wastage of paper, neither do you have to worry about the transportation required to make a transaction.
Convenience of Online Payment
Setting up an online payment solution for your business allows for a quick and easy transaction process. If you are a restaurant you can utilize restaurant online ordering systems to manage both your dine-in and online orders efficiently. With online payment you can reduce the employer headcounts by lessening manual tasks and prevent human errors.
Having an integrated online payment solution for your establishment will help you save significant time and money. Your customers will be happy to know that there are multiple payment methods to choose from in case one of the methods might not be available for them. In most cases online payment solutions come with loaded features to help prevent fraudulent transactions.
If your business works in providing services on a membership basis, you should have recurring payment as a feature on your payment solution. With recurring payment, customer’s will be charged their monthly, weekly or even customized payment schedules automatically. By utilizing an updated and user-friendly online payment solution your business functions in a more smoother way while not stressing on the bottom line. Your business is here to make a profit and that’s what you will have with an online payment system.
Convenience for Consumers
As much as online payments help businesses with their day-to-day functioning, it also makes life easier on the consumer’s end. For consumers, making purchases from the comfort of their own home and getting products delivered to their home helps them save a lot of time and money. Ever since the pandemic happened and people were forced to stay home, online transactions have grown exponentially and it’s here to stay.
Nowadays, people only use it for necessities or for enjoyment reasons. Most of us work from home, do our groceries online and watch movies on streaming platforms. People discover new businesses through the internet, research on the internet and finally make the purchase via the internet. Any business that does not offer online payment and delivery is often looked down upon.
There are also the 9-5 working class people who rarely get time off their work on weekdays to go visit their local store, but now they can still enjoy the products, thanks to online delivery options. Online payments are specifically important for people who have disabilities and are unable to travel to certain places, now they can order things from their favorite places without breaking a sweat.
Example of an Online Payment System
There is no doubt that online payment systems have a major impact on the fintech industry. With the rise of more and more eCommerce stores coming up both new and old, the demand for online payment solutions that are safe and efficient has skyrocketed. RapidCents is one prime example of a reliable online payment system. WIth its easy to use interface and security framework, RapidCents has grown popular steadily.
Here are some benefits of using RapidCents for your business’ online payment solution;
- RapidCents offer a simple and convenient way to receive payments. It’s fast and secure. Now customers can pay from anywhere in the world. With this both the business and the consumer can save time and money.
- It is a known fact that online payments are considerably more secure than other forms of payments. RapidCents uses advanced encryption and fraud prevention methods to ensure that all the online transactions go through securely.
- Integrated online payment solutions help businesses run seamlessly reducing the need for manual processes and reduce the risk of errors. RapidCents provides tailor made solutions for your businesses.
Security of Online Payment
Since the introduction of the internet, online fraud has grown along with it. This goes the same with online payments. Even though online payment exists to make life easier for consumers, there are people out there who want to do online theft. In order to prevent fraudulent activities that will leave consumers with lost money, both government regulations and private companies have introduced robust security features to prevent hackers from looting money.
Hackers usually intercept an online transaction while in the process of transferring from one account to another. Encryption protocol was introduced in order to prevent hackers from deciphering the data that is being transferred. Without the decryption key, hackers will not be able to understand the data even if they receive them.
Two factor authentication was introduced to prevent other people from accessing your account pretending to be you. In this process, when you try to access your account through a device, you automatically receive a code on a second device that you have access to. If you are the person trying to access your own account, you will not have a problem entering the code that you just received, but for the conman it will be impossible to access without the code.
Risks Associated with Traditional Payment Methods
When we say traditional payment, we are talking about cash, check and wire transfer. These are all physical things that you have to carry and deposit in-person. There are plenty of risks associated with traditional payments in comparison to online payments. The most common threat with carrying large amounts of cash is getting them stolen. Whereas, checks can be duplicated easily and it is hard for a bank teller to recognize a real one from a fake one.
Wire transfer is almost similar to online payment in the sense that money is transferred from one account to the other without the requirement of any physical papers. There are two problems with wire transfers, it takes a long time to get the money deposited from one account to the other and it can easily be hacked during the process of transfer.
These risks associated with traditional transfers can lead to loss in financial transactions and identity theft. Online payment on the other hand makes transactions fast and secure with no need for physical currency or in-person presence in a bank. Every time an online transaction is done, there is always a record of the details which can be easily retrieved any time in the future.
Tips for Safe Online Payments
Prevention is better than cure and it is the same with online payments. It is an undeniable fact that cyber crimes are innovative and always in search of new ways to intercept online payments. Online payment’s main goal is to help you make online transactions at the comfort of your home. So it is important as the consumer to double check the legitness of a website before you make any transactions via them.
The easiest thing you can do as a consumer before making an online transaction through a website, check for the ‘padlock’ symbol on the address bar. It tells you whether the online payment portal is secure or not. These days every website you visit requires a username and password to access the content. It might be tempting to use the same username and same password for every website, but you must refrain from doing so. Try to assign unique passwords for each account.
Don’t share personal details like social security number while making a purchase, and always get in touch with your bank immediately if you sense fraudulent activity on your account. Check your bank accounts and statements to regularly monitor all your transactions.
Efficiency of Online Payments
Integrating online payments for your business does not require any expensive hardware. You can literally turn any device that you have in-store or online into an online payment processor. Let’s say you run a small boutique store that sells custom made pendants. You receive both online orders and in-store orders, but instead of having a POS system for offline purchases you can utilize a virtual terminal to process payments.
Another example is an online payment solution for businesses like towing which requires a lot of traveling. With an online payment solution, you can accept payments no matter wherever you are. When it comes time to check your billings and receipts, you can easily find them because they are all stored in cloud-data for easy retrieval.
If you are in the business of selling goods and services via membership, you can use the recurring payment feature via online payment. With recurring payments, customers will be charged the amount in accordance to the frequency you have set up. If in any case a customer’s credit card expires, the auto updater option will automatically renew the existing credit card information on file with the new one.
Future of Online Payments
The growth and development of the internet is very exciting. It influences the interactions between businesses and consumers on multiple levels. Online payment moves with the changes of the internet and the interactions that happen between the sellers and consumers. eCommerce has enabled the small and emerging stores to compete on a global scale with bigger brands.
Consumers already have the convenience of ordering things online and getting it delivered, but in the future of online payments, consumers would just have to think about anything and the order could be placed automatically. AI will act as the virtual shopkeeper to assist with customer queries and help them choose the right products. Amazon is one such online vendor who has opened up physical stores entirely controlled by AI.
Security will be at the forefront of online payments in the future. Enhanced security features like biometrics will be required to do transactions in the future. A better encryption protocol will be followed to prevent hacking. Online payment will become the standard form of payment and traditional payment might become obsolete. New forms of payments like cryptocurrency and bitcoins will become standard.
Conclusion
The benefits of online payments weigh in heavily for both consumers and business owners. For consumers online payment adds to the convenience factor while also assuring that security is maintained during a transaction. For Businesses, online payment solutions help to streamline their operation better while reducing the manual errors.
For both consumer and business owners, it is important that they keep themselves updated about new developments in the online payment industry to prevent unwanted fraudulent activities from surfacing on their accounts. With RapidCents online payment solutions, you can be rest assured that your online transactions are secure and fast. RapidCents adapt to the changing landscape of the eCommerce industry in order to provide merchants with the latest security features via regular updates.
At RapidCents we understand the struggles both business owners and consumers face when they realize that an online transaction was hacked or fraudulent, and hence we assure you that we will prevent that from occuring again. Sign up with RapidCents today to learn more about our enhanced security framework that has helped plenty of people prevent fraudulent transactions.