How Can Consumers Pay
for Goods and Services Online?

In an effort to overcome shopping cart abandonment and become as appealing as possible to all types of potential customers, online merchants and service providers offer a wide variety of payment options, from traditional methods that have been around for decades to innovative payment alternatives.

Each payment method offers its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of convenience, security, speed, cost – both from the customer’s and the vendor’s point of view.
Each consumer has his own needs and preferences and customer demand is a key driver for accepting new forms of payment by merchants.

The following list contains the most popular billing methods that can be used on the internet:

Credit Cards
A small plastic card issued by a financial institution, allowing the user to purchase goods or services on credit.
Major credit card companies include names like Visa, MasterCard and American Express.

Debit Cards
A plastic payment card that eliminates the need to carry cash and allows its holder to transfer money electronically directly from his checking account when making a transaction.

Electronic Payment
Digital payment services (such as PayPal) that enable users to send and receive money, shop and pay bills electronically.

eChecks
An electronic check, is a form of digital payment that serves the same function as a conventional paper check.

Cash on Delivery (COD)
A transaction method in which the recipient makes payment for an ordered good at the time of delivery, rather than in advance.

Wire Transfers
A wire transfer is a way to send money electronically from the payer’s bank account to the payee’s account at a different bank.

eGift Cards
Virtual gift cards are electronic certificates issued to the recipient digitally via email, or other electronic means and can be used online to pay for a purchase.

Mobile Payment
M-payment providers are commercial services that enable to make monetary transactions via a mobile device.

Cryptocurrencies
A digital or virtual currency, in which encryption techniques are used to secure and verify the processes involved in generation of units and conducting transactions.