Benefits of Accepting Crypto Payments from Customers
As cryptocurrency continues to increase in popularity, more online merchants are starting to consider it as a payment method for their customers. The more methods of payment you have available on your site, the more customers you have access to. If you’re skeptical at all about accepting crypto for payment, here are some of the benefits of doing so.
Lower Transaction Fees
Cryptocurrency is a digital currency that usually has no central bank issuing or otherwise authority regulating it. Instead, it is based on a decentralized system to record transactions and manage the creation of new units. As a result, there are far fewer transaction fees involved when accepting crypto payments. Most payment processors have fees for account maintenance, transaction processing, and more. Additionally, the banks involved in a transaction will also charge fees, either as a flat fee or as a percentage of sales.
The decentralized nature of crypto bypasses all of these fees and makes it simple for merchants and customers to exchange money. Since each entity involved in a crypto transaction only needs an eWallet, the process is fairly simple. As long as your eWallet can accept whatever type of crypto your customer is using, you can take their payment. Note – this is why you should make sure your crypto payment processor offers a multi-currency crypto wallet.
The key consideration from a fee perspective is how much your bank will charge you to exchange your crypto into fiat currency. You can opt to leave the crypto in your wallet as a form of investment, use it to pay bills or purchase things for your business, or ask your bank to exchange it for fiat currency that you can take out and use. Either way, the fees are much lower than with traditional payment methods.
No Chargebacks
This is a huge benefit of accepting crypto for payments on your website. If you’re an online merchant, specifically one that is considered high-risk, there is no substitution for this benefit. It can save you a ton of money in fraudulent chargebacks over the course of time.
Crypto is chargeback-free because of its blockchain technology. Crypto payments are inscribed on a virtual ledger called blockchain that cannot be edited, deleted, or reversed. This means that once a transaction is complete, it cannot be changed. If a customer is truly unhappy with your product or service, they will have to go directly through you to get a refund, instead of filing a chargeback that will hit your merchant account, sometimes without your knowledge.
This is important for high-risk merchants due to the volatility of their business. Many high-risk industries suffer from frequent chargebacks, which makes them a liability for merchant account providers and other lenders. If you’re accepting crypto as one of your payment methods, it can decrease this risk significantly.
Easily Accept International Payments
Traditional payment methods can make it very difficult to accept payments from international customers. This is because different countries have different policies governing the purchase of goods and services from companies overseas. There are also different policies amongst banks in the same country, making the process even more complicated. Businesses accepting a large percentage of foreign transactions will generally require a high risk payment processing service to manage their financial transaction services.
Aside from the different laws and regulations, you also have to be concerned about hefty fees and long processing times for international payments. Depending on where your customers live in the world, you may have to set up accounts with banks in those countries just to accept payments. You may even have to register your company as a business in those countries!
With crypto, all of these issues virtually disappear. Since crypto is not a type of currency that belongs to or is governed by any specific country, no one can put those types of regulations on it. Cryptocurrency can be traded freely across borders without concern for international policies. The biggest concern you’ll have, as we mentioned before, is the exchange rate. Once you have the crypto in your wallet, you need to figure out how much your bank will charge you to exchange it for fiat currency in your own country.
Quick Transactions
Cryptocurrency payments are quick and easy for all parties involved. When a customer transfers crypto into your eWallet, the transaction is completed instantly in most cases. The currency simply moves from one wallet to the other through an electronic transfer and is instantly available for you to access. Crypto is always liquid in form, meaning it can be spent, transferred, exchanged, etc.
Merchants using traditional credit card processing or check processing services can experience several days or even a few weeks to process payments. This can be dependent on the amount of money involved and the policies and procedures in place for the issuing and receiving banks. As a merchant, you are also responsible for reconciling daily purchases, which can also take time. Crypto payments bypass all of this and simply put the money into your account immediately.
Conclusion
Cryptocurrency is a growing form of payment that can make a lot of sense for you as an online merchant. Not only will you save tons of money in processing fees and chargebacks, but you will also be able to access your money quickly and easily. In addition to that, your customers will have another payment method available to them.
Being easy to do business with is the name of the game in online retail. The easier you make it for customers to make a purchase from you, the more sales you’ll make and the better your bottom line will look. If crypto sounds like a great avenue for your business, we recommend opening an eWallet and integrating it into your payment process on your website.
