Taking credit cards in your business can be daunting. From opening a merchant account with your bank, to complete PCI compliance and process your customers’ orders by hand. In this article we’re going to talk about how to accept credit card payments online using free tools available online. This is a great way to start accepting online payments easily, without any code knowledge and be ready in less than an hour.
Stripe to accept credit card payments online
Stripe is a solution for small businesses in dozens of countries that makes credit card processing easy. Also, it’s awesome because you don’t need a merchant account to use it, and is totally free to get started. Stripe charges a small commission fee of every purchase, but takes cares of all the complicated PCI compliance rules.
You will open a Stripe account using your business information and bank account. Most businesses are ready to operate in a couple of minutes. The main downside, is that Stripe requires tech knowledge to implement it to accept credit card payments online. Still, their small price and awesome support makes it the obvious first step in our list.
PayForm to create a simple order form
PayForm allows anyone to create Stripe-powered payment forms without any coding involved. You only need to connect your Stripe account to PayForm and you will be accepting real payments in a matter of minutes. There are a lot of resources on how to get started with PayForm, but our getting started guide is the best place to start.
After you create your first form, simply connect your Stripe account to PayForm and embed your payment form in your website or share it using social media. It’s also free to get started, so give it a go.
Zapier to connect it to a CRM or spreadsheet
We love Zapier. It allows to connect apps between each other so you don’t have to do it manually. The PayForm integration with Zapier allows you to send the data of every person who purchases a product or plan in your order form, to the apps you already use. A great use is to send this data to a Google Spreadsheet, or a CRM like Hubspot (that is also free). This way you can track your customers and see the payments you receive in realtime.
