Top 10 Online Payment Processing Platforms in Nigeria

  

Being able to receive payment online means using a payment processor which involves using electronic funds, web processing solution as well as database updating when the process is successful. It means the transfer of funds from your buyer's account to your account through a trusted platform. Now for a global audience, there are several ways which have evolved that has allowed merchants to be able to receive money online ranging from merchant's own merchant account to third party payment processing.

For many Small, Medium and Large Scale businesses, accepting payments online offers major benefits. Customers increasingly expect this facility and it can improve your cashflow significantly. Although, people believe it's easy to accept cheques or invoices for your online sales and to process payments in the traditional way, that's why we examine why every business should accept online payment. Infact, this is necessary because buyers often use the internet for a speedy service as most sales are paid for with credit and debit cards nowadays. To accept cards online in Nigeria and Globally, you will have to make special banking arrangements.

As an entrepreneur, it's one thing to be able to conceive an online business idea, create the virtual platform, market your product or service but how do you receive your payment online in Nigeria? If you're already thinking about this then it probably means that you have figured out what to sell to people so receiving the online payment is what is next. How does one receive payments online? As a professional website development company in Nigeria, our Webcentre Team  have conducted this research, and present the  Top 10 Online Processing Platforms in Nigeria below:

 

1.  GTBANK GTPay

GTPAY is a one-stop, safe, secure and convenient web payment solution that enables merchants receive payments from both local and international payment cards.

FEATURES

• International Acceptance: GTPAY accepts both locally and internationally issued cards including Interswitch, MasterCard and VISA.
• Timely transaction processing: Merchants get value next day after transaction takes place.
• GTPAY monitoring log: GTPAY comes with a unique, online monitoring console that allows merchants view transactions as they occur.
• Reduced sign-on fee: GTBank is a certified developer partner so we take on GTPAY integration for our merchants and as such the integration fee is waived for them.

BENEFITS

• Convenient means of payment
• Acceptance of both local and international cards
• Global reach for merchants
• Increased sales
• Promotes cashless transactions
• Instant value for successful transactions

PROFILE:
Guaranty Trust Bank plc is a foremost Nigerian financial institution with vast business outlays spanning Anglophone West Africa and the United Kingdom. The Bank presently has an Asset Base of over 2 Trillion Naira, shareholders funds of over 200 Billion Naira and employs over 5,000 people in Nigeria, Cote dIvoire, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and the United Kingdom.

The Bank has a corporate banking bias and strong service culture that have enabled it record consistent year on year growth in clientele base and key financial indices since its inception in 1990.

WEBSITE: http://www.gtbank.com/

 

2.  INTERSWITCH InternetPay

Interswitch has a secure, reliable, and scalable platform for electronic transaction processing in a multi-institution, multi-functional, Online/Offline environment. We design, implement and support payment infrastructure that deliver the highest level of availability and transaction integrity. Our systems accept transactions from a diverse range of delivery payment channels, intelligently switching them to a variety of external networks.

Interswitchs Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) switching application, supports major networks including Verve, Mastercard, and China Union Pay, besides other proprietary networks. The infrastructure is based on open-system architecture and uses relational database technology, offering clientsportability, and reliability as they expand.Our open-systems architecture reduces/eliminates the considerable expense, of paying for proprietary hardware, software, and PCIDSS compliance.
Interswitchs robust back office systems provide comprehensive settlement and reconciliation services along with free associated reports.

Interswitch currently offers 3 Internet Payment options.

• Paydirect – web with reporting,
• Paydirect – web without reporting
• Quickteller
• Paydirect – web (with reporting)
• Paydirect-web (with reporting) Integrates directly unto your website and Interswitch will provide elaborate reporting (dependent on integration specifications and reporting requirements), to enable you know who paid what, when, which bank it was paid into and what amount was paid online, real time from anywhere in the world.
• Paydirect – web (without reporting)
• Paydirect – Web (without reporting) – Integrates directly unto your website enabling funds to be received into your account, but no elaborate reporting is provided. Paydirect – Web (without reporting) offers cash deposit information and is often the product of choice for medium and small businesses.
• Quickteller (with generic reporting)
• Quickteller (with generic reporting) – is a payment platform that works like a payment shop or supermarket, where you can make online payments for various products and services.
• You may communicate that your services are available at quickteller.com and/or decide to place a link on your website that redirects to quickteller.com so your customers and clients can make payments using the platform.
• Quickteller is great for Internet savvy users who are already used to making payments online as itprovides them the option of enagaging with a host of value added services such as buying airline tickets, online recharge, payment for utility bills and a host of other services.

PROFILE

Interswitch Limited is an integrated payment and transaction processing company that provides technology integration, advisory services, transaction processing and payment infrastructure to government, banks and corporate organizations.

Interswitch, through its Super Switch provides online, real-time transaction switching that enable businesses and individuals have access to their funds across the 24 banks in Nigeria and across a variety of payment channels such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMS), Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, Mobile Phones, Kiosks, Web and Bank Branches.

WEBSITE: http://www.interswitchng.com

 

 

 

3.  ETRANZACT
eTranzact is a multi-application, multi-network and multi-channel electronic payment platform that supports all major networks including AMEX, VISA and MasterCard. eTranzact Platform is designed and built as a credible alternative to all transaction which are currently cash or check based and the platform capability is such that any solution that is driven by consumer payment can be automated on the platform.

eTranzact as a Switch processes payment requests from multiple channels – Web, ATM,POS, mobile, etc using automated procedures. The switching platform validates transaction requests after running security checks on the payment cards. The system ensures there are no security breaches during the transaction processing by encrpting all card information using tripleDES technology, thus protecting the card information. Our payment processing service helps organizations to:

Reduce the administrative overhead of cheque printing and returned cheques
Generate new Revenue streams

PROFILE
eTranzact is Nigeria's first award winning multi-application and multi-channel electronic transaction switching and payment processing platform. eTranzact has operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Cote d'Ivoire, and UK and is currently expanding operations to more and more countries in the world.

ETranzact was launched in September 2003, and has today evolved into a brand with global reach extending its innovative services to include products which cut across virtually all aspects of the e-payment space; ATM, Internet, POS, and Mobile. The company currently has operations in six other countries around the world; South Africa, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Cote d'voire and United Kingdom.

Since Inception, eTranzact has deployed its mobile payment solutions to banks and non bank financial institutions alike and was recently granted the license by the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide Mobile Money services to individuals with a special focus on the unbanked.

WEBSITE: http://www.etranzact.com/

 

 

 

4.  SIMPLEPAY
SimplePay Payment Gateway allows any business or consumer with an email address to securely, conveniently and cost-effectively send and receive payments online. Our network builds on the existing financial infrastructure of bank accounts and credit cards to create a global, real-time payment solution. We deliver a product ideally suited for small businesses, online merchants, individuals and others currently underserved by traditional payment mechanisms.

Simple Pay's service, which lets users send payments for free, can be used from PCs or web-enabled mobile phones.

SimplePay launched this service so that anyone with an email account can send or receive credits. Each credit is valued at N1.00. SimplePay Payment Gateway members may redeem their credits for the cash equivalency at any time by selling these credits back to SimplePay Payment Gateway, in the form of a withdrawal from the system.

You can believe there should be one universal online payment system and will strongly compete to be the provider of choice.

SimplePay Payment Gateway will however suspend any account that is found to be involved in any fraudulent or malicious activity, including impersonating a representative or attempting to gain other users passwords. Any decision made by, its officers, or representatives will be final.

WEBSITE: http://www.simplepay4u.com/

 

 

 

5.  CASHENVOY
CashEnvoy is the safest, easiest and most convenient way to make payment, send money and get paid online. It is an e-commerce business that allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. A Cash Envoy account can be funded with Nigerian debit cards or through online bank transfer from specific local banks.

CashEnvoy performs payment processing for online vendors, auction sites, and other commercial users. It charges a transaction fee for receiving money (a percentage of the amount sent plus an additional fixed amount).

CashEnvoy is owned by Electronic Settlement Limited, an independent, private sector led, limited liability Company located in Lagos Nigeria focused on providing secure and convenient online solutions.

• Merchants, receive Money Online
• Easily pay and settle other merchants on your platform.
• No integration, withdrawal or subscription fees!
• Easy to use, with complete transaction records.
• Receive payment and donations online with ease.
• Accept payment on your online store from debit cards and CashEnvoy account holders.

PROFILE
CashEnvoy is the safest and most convenient means to make and receive payments online, within Nigeria. CashEnvoy.com is a web application that aids the transfer of money from person-to-merchant using the web application and personal email addresses.

The service allows account owners to send money without sharing financial information, with the flexibility of payment using their bank accounts and debit cards. It is safe because account holders will not have to expose account details on the numerous websites they do business on. Convenient, because users don't have to carry about cards to process transactions. Apart from using it to pay for goods and services online, it can also be used to donate money for a cause.

CashEnvoy is approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria to process web transactions – BPS/PSP/GEN/PSM/02/010.

CashEnvoy is owned by Electronic Settlement Limited, a limited liability company located in Lagos, Nigeria. An independent, private sector led, limited liability company focused on efficient, secure online services and facilitating the exchange of value between internet users nationwide.

CashEnvoy is a member of Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria.

WEBSITE: http://www.cashenvoy.com/

 

 

6. UBA UCollect
The UBA U-Collect is an Internet Payment Gateway service which allows Merchants accept online payments for goods and services. This solution accepts multiple card types available in Nigeria – VISA, Verve, MasterCard and e-Tranzact.

U-Collect on the web is the same as POS but on the web for businesses that have presence online. An example of U-Collect is what you see on Aero page when you select to pay for airline ticket online.

The platform support International VISA and MasterCard for selected industries.

PROFILE
United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc is the West Africa's largest banking and financial services group as measured by asset base, number of customers, branch network and profitability. It provides personal and commercial banking, wealth management services, insurance, corporate and investment banking and transaction processing services. The bank employs more than 17,000 staff (Core and support) who serve their over 6 million personal, business, public sector and institutional customers through their offices in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d' Ivoire, New York, London and the Cayman Island.

As a leading player in the African financial services sector, the banks aspiration is to fly the flag of African excellence within the global financial community and to be a role model to other African businesses. The United Bank of Africa (UBA) Plc has largely been a Nigerian and West African Bank. As the largest financial services company (by balance sheet size, branch network, customer base and profitability) in West Africa and the biggest listed company in Nigeria (by market capitalization, December 2007), the group has been recognized as a leader within the financial services industry in the region and a key driving force of the region's economic development. UBA now has presence in seven African countries, spanning West, Central and East Africa, with main operations in Nigeria and Ghana, two of the most vibrant economies of Africa.

Today's United Bank for Africa Plc (UBA) is the product of the merger of Nigeria's third (3rd) and fifth (5th) largest banks, namely the old UBA and the erstwhile Standard Trust Bank Plc (STB) respectively, and a subsequent acquisition of the erstwhile Continental Trust Bank Limited (CTB). The union emerged as the first successful corporate combination in the history of Nigerian banking.

UBA's history dates back to 1948 when the British and French Bank Limited ("BFB") commenced business in Nigeria and the erstwhile STB and CTB both in 1990. Following Nigeria's independence from Britain, UBA was incorporated in 1961 to take over the business of BFB. Although today's UBA emerged at a time of industry consolidation induced by regulation, the consolidated UBA was borne out of a desire to lead the domestic sector to a new era of global relevance by championing the creation of the Nigerian consumer finance market, leading a private/public sector partnership at supporting the acceleration of Nigeria's economic development, and growing the institution from a banking to a one-stop financial services institution, while spreading its footprints across Africa to earn the reputation as the face of banking in the continent.

Today, United Bank for Africa Plc, is one of Africa's leading financial institutions offering universal banking to more than 7.2 million customers across 700 Business Offices in 19 African countries. With presence in New York, London and Paris, UBA is your partner for banking services for Africans and African related businesses globally.

WEBSITE: http://www.ubagroup.com/

 

 

7. ZENITH BANK GlobalPAY
GlobalPay is a web-based payment gateway that enables you accept payments on your website from customers all over the world. With a one-time integration, you can receive payments from a wide variety of locally and internationally issued credit and debit cards. This solution gives your business a global outlook and vastly expands your potential customer base.

If you're open for business on the web, you might as well be open for business to the world, and for that, GlobalPay is the perfect solution.

FEATURES

• Acceptance of locally and internationally issued cards – Interswitch, eTranzact, VISA and Mastercard.
• Online log for monitoring transactions – View transactions as they occur
• Real-time online payments processing – Receive payments into your account immediately the payments are made.
• Multiple card acceptance from one-off integration – One setup fee and one integration enables you accept multiple cards. No need to integrate separately for each card type.
• Real-time transaction reporting and management – Automatically generated records of transactions as they occur enable you keep track of transactions.

BENEFITS

• Provides global reach for your business.
• No delays in receiving your money
• Multiple card acceptances from one integration.
• Reduces administrative overhead
• Increases your purchasing power.
• Enhances security via 3-D Security implementation.
• Provides extreme convenience.
• Increases sales & cashless transactions

PROFILE:
Zenith Bank Plc, a leader in financial services, with headquarters in Nigeria, and subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Gambia, and South Africa (Representative Office), offers premium solutions to its teeming customers. We have been growing our customers' businesses and wealth in the last 20 years and this has since positioned Zenith Bank as a financial institution of choice. Our business is built on our core principle of working in our customers' best interest. Over the years, the Zenith brand has become synonymous with the deployment of state-of-the-art technologies in banking. We define service standards in our environment as we are in business to always deliver exceptional services to our ever expanding clientele.

WEBSITE: http://www.zenithbank.com/

 

 

8.  2Checkout (2CO)

2CO is the authorized reseller for thousands of tangible or digital products and services.
Established in 2000 and headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, 2CO provides turnkey e-commerce solutions to thousands of business customers around the world. 2CO's proprietary technology supports back-office functions including financial reporting, tracking, fraud prevention, affiliate tracking, customer service and sales tracking.
Since inception 2CO has maintained a steady and maintainable growth. The company's approach is geared towards providing quality service to new and existing clients without feeling the need to expand at a rate that would sacrifice service to our clients.

International Payments

• 2Checkout's online processing provides your business the ability to accept payments from customers in over 200 countries.
• Our customized checkout pages allow your customers to make purchases in any of 8 payment methods, 15 languages, and 26 currencies.
• Customers can checkout in 15 different languages: Chinese (Traditional), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovenian, Spanish (Latin), Spanish (European), Swedish
• Multiple Currency Options: Accept payments on your site in more than 20+ different currencies from every corner of the world.
• You can get paid in dozens of currencies and multiple methods including, Electronic Funds Transfer that goes directly to your bank accounts, international Wire Transfer, or a 2Checkout branded Payoneer MasterCard.

WEBSITE: http://www.2checkout.com/

 

Other Online Payment systems that works in Nigeria

Not all online payment methods available that will be suitable for Nigeria but after doing a bit of research, we found out following payment processors would be operational for a Nigerian Merchant and Audience if you intend receiving money online in Nigeria:

• AlertPay
• Liberty Reserve
• 2checkout
• FASTECASH
• VTN
• Softpurse

Apart from Alertpay, Liberty reserve(Lr) and 2checkout which is owned by foreign bigger companies, the others are owned to Nigerian companies and their trading currency is in the naira.

 

 

9.   Alertpay (Now Payza)
The main currency with which your account will be domiciled is in the US dollars and for alertpay (which was later aquired and now Payza), you could withdraw to your Nigerian domiciliary account. Payza also affords you the ability to receive payments not just from account holders but also from credit card holders who may want to pay you with their credit cards. But in setting an Payza credit card platform, you would have to submit your website for verification and approval. Also it appears credit card users from Nigeria would have to verify their credit cards once for a start before they begin using it on your proposed website.

One good thing about Payza is that it uses Instant Payment notification to alert you or your ipn handler that a payment has been made and you could use it to update your inventory as well as send an email (behind the scenes) to your buyer. Alertpay is now known as Payza.

PROFILE

Payza is the leading global online payment platform that specializes in e-commerce processing, corporate disbursements, and remittances for individuals and businesses around the world. The e-wallet platform provides Payza members worldwide with convenient and flexible loading and withdrawal options, such as localized bank transfers, global bank wires, credit/debit card, checks, prepaid cards, among others.

With over 9 million members, Payza offers its services in 197 countries and in 21 different currencies. Payza is proud to provide its merchants around the globe a complete solution for accepting payments and managing their businesses. In addition, Payza offers foreign exchange services, fraud screening services, email invoicing, mass and single remittances and business management tools. Payza also provides under-serviced and emerging markets with an affordable and convenient way to receive international payments, thereby bolstering local economies in a global marketplace.

WEBSITE:  https://www.payza.com/

 

 

 

10   Fastecash, VTN and Softpurse
These ones hold your e-currency in the naira and you can easily make payments and withdrawals by just using your bank account. It allows you to receive money from members who hold accounts with the same processor. One dynamic feature of Fastecash is that it also uses an IPN once you receive payment thus enabling you to satisfy customer's virtual purchases using an ipn handler. We have not used Softpurse yet but it is also a growing means of online payment in Nigeria especially among recharge card online vendors. VTN can be used also for sending and receiving naira online and is also allows you to fund your Graphcard account which could be used for a lot of purposes such as a virtual credit card, US phone number, US address and so on.

Receiving payment online as a Seller
Now assuming you are interested in receiving payment online as a seller, you would need to have something like a store to dispaly your goods, get people to buy and filfil their orders.
Well first in order to be able to receive payment online in Nigeria, you would of course need to have the following:

• Something to sell
• An online platform e.g website or vendor
• Payment processor
• Deliver orders

Receiving payment online from friends and supporters
While most people who receive a lot of money online do so from their buyers, we should also note that one could receive payment online too from friends and families who may want to support you in one way or the other. This may not require any serious setting up of an online platform like a website so all you may need is an email account and then hold an account with the payment receiver such as Alertpal, lr, softpures and others. You could use the platforms to request for funds from your contacts throughout the world and wherever the payment system is operational. People could send you money in minutes and when such payment comes in, you would normally get an email notification about it. One thing you should also need to do is to make sure that the notification doesn't go into spam by adding your payment processor's email into your addresss book. If you receive money in US dollars, you could cash the e-currency into your bank account using bank wire or cheque and if it is naira, you could withdraw with your Savings, Current or Corporate account in Nigeria.

Conclusion
As more and more people in Nigeria get to use the internet, especially with the recent introduction of the Cashless or Cash Lite Policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, chances are that there would be more ways of receiving money online and it would only encourage better service from the existing service providers.

With all this features available and accessible to you, why don't you get something started online today? With an online business, you don't need a big store, furniture, large manpower to get online and sell your goods and services to the Nigerian and International audience. Whether you are a full time Student, full time housewife, NYSC Corper, Unemployed youth, Under-employed among others, you should think of a need you can meet, develop it and sell to the global audience of Hundreds of Millions.

at ediaro.com