How to Use Non-Card Payment Methods Supported by Stripe

Facebook Tweet LinkedIn

Are you wondering about what the different non-card payment methods supported by Stripe are and how to use them to expand your business?

Credit cards and debit cards aren’t always the most trusted option in some parts of the world. In fact, they only account for about half of the world’s online transactions. If you want to sell your products and services globally, it’s important to give your customers options to pay with their preferred methods.

Bank redirects, digital wallets, and buy now, pay later (BNPL) services are demanded by customers and in some cases provide additional benefits like low risk and low transaction costs.

In this guide, we’ll take a deeper look at the different non-card payment methods supported by Stripe and how to use them to accept payments on your WordPress site.

Offering Multiple Payment Methods

Offering multiple payment methods aside from traditional credit cards and debit cards is a great way to reach more customers. Additionally, enabling preferred payment methods based on your customer’s location results in higher conversion rates and an improved customer experience.

The best way to collect non-card payment methods on your WordPress site is to use a Stripe payments plugin that offers Stripe’s robust payment method functionalities.

WP Simple Pay is the #1 Stripe payments plugin for WordPress that lets you easily accept payments without having to set up a shopping cart or a complicated ecommerce solution. The plugin is powerful, yet user-friendly and supports tons of non-card payment methods like Cash App, Apple Pay / Google Pay, ACH Direct Debit, Affirm, and more.

One of the best parts about WP Simple Pay is that it allows you to pass the additional Stripe processing fee onto your customers so you can receive the full payment amount.

One thing to note is that if you want to offer any of the following non-card payment methods on your site, the first thing you’ll need to do is download and activate WP Simple Pay.

You can do this by simply going to the pricing page, choosing the best plan for your needs, and uploading the plugin to your WordPress admin dashboard.

Now that you’re more familiar with WP Simple Pay and the importance of offering non-card payment methods on your site, let’s take a deeper look at some of the most popular and widely used options.

ACH Direct Debit

ACH payments are a way of directly charging a customer’s bank account. The main advantage of accepting ACH payments rather than credit cards, debit cards, or digital wallet payments is the lower transaction costs.

The Stripe fee for accepting ACH payments is 0.8% per transaction with the cap set at $5.00 for standard settlement. There’s also a $1.50 charge per transaction for instant bank account verification.

To compare, the typical Stripe fee for cards and digital wallet payments is 2.9% +0.30 USD per transaction, making ACH payments the best option for higher amounts.

Affirm

Affirm is a buy now, pay later platform that lets your customers split up their payments for purchases into four interest-free, bi-weekly installments or monthly installment plans that go up to 36 months.

Affirm is a popular way to increase average order values because both installment plan options offered by the service provider make it possible for your customers to afford more expensive purchases.

Additionally, when you offer the Affirm payment method on your site, you receive the full amount up front.

Using WP Simple Pay, you can easily create payment forms on your site that offer your customers the option to complete their transaction with Affirm.

Cash App Pay

Cash App is a payment service provider owned by Block that allows users to transfer money to each other using a mobile phone app. It’s available in the United States and the United Kingdom.

If you want to ensure that you’re reaching the millennial and Gen Z demographics, offering Cash App Pay as a payment method is essential. In fact, millennials and Gen Zers account for two-thirds of the service’s total monthly transactions.

Thankfully, WP Simple Pay makes it easy for you to offer Cash App as a payment method on your site so you can begin tapping into this market.

Przelewy24

Przelewy24 is Poland’s largest online payment operator. It allows customers to complete online transactions using bank transfers and other innovative ecommerce solutions.

Bank transfers account for 30% of all online payments in Poland and Przelewy24 offers a way to pay with over 165 banks.

Offering Przelewy24 as a payment method on your site ensures you’re catering to these potential customers.

Similar to ACH direct debit and several other payment methods, WP Simple Pay makes it easy to enable Przelewy24 on your site’s payment forms.

iDEAL

iDEAL is a Netherlands-based payment system that allows customers to use their banking credentials to complete transactions online. All major Dutch banks participate in this payment method, which is why it’s the most popular way to pay online in the Netherlands.

When customers use iDEAL, they are redirected to their online banking portal to authenticate the transaction. This means the exact checkout flow they go through is different depending on their bank. While the payment experience isn’t seamless or fast, customers find it reassuring. Businesses like this payment method because payments are irrevocable and immediately confirmed.

WP Simple Pay Lite allows you to create payment forms that accept iDEAL in Stripe Checkout for free.

Giropay

Giropay is a non-card payment method that was introduced in 2006. It allows customers of German savings banks and cooperative banks to complete transactions online. Funds are debited directly from their bank account. Customers use a second-factor authentication or PIN to confirm the transaction. Payments are immediately confirmed to the business and irrevocable.

Why offer Giropay? Because it reaches a lot of people in one of the world’s largest economies – 17 million German online banking customers and about 60% of all commercial bank accounts.

Since the funds are guaranteed, it’s a great option for ecommerce stores that worry about chargebacks.

With WP Simple Pay Lite, you can offer your customers the Giropay payment method for free in Stripe Checkout.

Alipay

Alipay is a popular digital wallet based in China. It’s operated by ANT Financial Services Group, which is an affiliate of Alibaba, the world’s largest ecommerce company. It currently has over 450 million active users. Transactions most common with AliPay are ecommerce, education, gaming, food, and travel.

If you plan to sell to a Chinese audience, Alipay is an important payment method to implement. It’s a relatively safe digital wallet because payments are authenticated with the customer’s login credentials, which means dispute rates are low.

Similar to iDEAL, Giropay, and Przelewy24, you can use WP Simple Pay Lite to accept Alipay in Stripe Checkout for free.

SEPA Direct Debit

SEPA stands for Single Euro Payments Area. It’s a European Union initiative to simplify payments within and across member countries. It allows for the direct debiting of every EURO-denominated bank account within the SEPA region.

To debit an account, you need to collect the customer’s name and bank account number in IBAN format. When customers confirm the payment, they must accept a mandate that gives the business authorization to withdraw the funds. (Stripe generates this mandate document).

Disputes are a little different in a SEPA transaction as opposed to other non-card payment methods. Customers can dispute a transaction within eight weeks for any reason and funds are automatically returned to them. They can still dispute the transaction after eight weeks, but you and the customer will have to go through an arbitration process.

Klarna

Klarna is a flexible payment method that gives customers multiple options to choose how and when to make a payment. Customers have three payment options:

Pay Later – The customer pays the full amount at a later date within 30 days. Klara runs a quick credit check on the customer to evaluate the likelihood of payment.

Pay Now – The customer completes the transaction immediately using the stored payment credentials of a credit card or bank transfer. If the user doesn’t have payment credentials stored already, they are prompted to set them up.

Slice It – The customer divides the purchase into several installments over time. Klara runs a quick credit check on the customer to evaluate the likelihood of payment.

As the seller in a Klarna transaction, you don’t have to worry about getting your money. Klarna pays you immediately and assumes all the risk of getting paid. You get your money right away and there’s no risk of fraud.

Using WP Simple Pay, you can easily accept Klarna and other Buy Now, Pay Later service providers.

Apple Pay / Google Pay / Microsoft Pay

Apple Pay is one of the leading digital wallets in the US that lets customers pay for online and in-person purchases using their Apple device or Mac OS. A customer must link a credit or debit card to their Apple account, but they don’t need to use their card during the transaction (or even have it on them). To make a payment, customers authorize the transaction via Touch ID, PIN, or a passcode.

To make the checkout process smoother (less friction is always good!), customers can also store their billing and shipping address, email, and phone number in their Apple account. These values will automatically populate on the checkout form.

Google Pay is similar to Apple Pay. It’s a digital wallet linked to another payment method such as a credit card or debit card, which eliminates the need for customers to remember their card numbers or enter payment information manually. Google Pay works in Android native apps and across the web on every major desktop and mobile browser.

A button to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or even Microsoft Pay (depending on the browser and device combination) is easy to add to your payment forms when using WP Simple Pay Pro.

Bancontact

Bancontact is a popular payment method in Belgium that allows customers to make online payments using a debit card or mobile app linked to a Belgian bank account. It is currently the most popular payment method in Belgium with over 15 million cards in circulation.

With WP Simple Pay, you can easily create payment forms for your site that accept Bancontact.

FPX

FPX stands for Financial Process Exchange, which is a secure online payment gateway system based in Malaysia that allows customers to make real-time payments using their bank credentials.

To make payments using FPX, customers are required to have an Internet banking account with any of the FPX participating banks.

In addition to iDEAL, Giropay, and Przelewy24, WP Simple Pay Lite offers pre-built templates to help you get started accepting FPX payments on your site.

Bacs Direct Debit

Bacs stands for Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services. It works similarly to how ACH Direct Debit payments work in the U.S., allowing UK bank account customers to make payments online that debit their bank accounts.

Bacs is the preferred non-card payment method for UK customers who make large purchases or recurring payments.

The Stripe processing fee for Bacs is 1% starting at 20p and capped at £2.00.

Giving Your Customers Payment Method Options

If you can implement the non-card payment options we listed above, you will put yourself in a good position to accept payments from anyone, all over the world.

All of the above payment methods are supported by Stripe and work using WP Simple Pay.

Additional Resources

If you want to accept any or all of these non-card payment methods on your site, be sure to follow our step-by-step guides on how to accept each of them using WP Simple Pay.

What are you waiting for? Get started with WP Simple Pay today!

To read more articles like this, follow us on Facebook and Twitter.