Online Payments for individuals

Introduction

Today, people all around the world are no more skeptical to use the online payments services. They are increasingly comfortable paying online because it is just making it easier to exchange funds in the best convenient way for them. Yes, this really applies to everybody who need to quickly and easily : Get paid, Sign up, Register for an event, or make a donation.

Online payments are faster than manual payments, since you don’t have to wait for the check to arrive or for it to clear, the whole process – from submitting an online payment to updating your bank account – can take a matter of seconds. The end result is improved cash flow for all, and almost immediate confirmation of transactions.

In this post we will explore the most known & legit online payments services and platforms that allow to exchange fund between them. The post contains some affiliate links and we may receive a commission for purchases made through these links but without extra cost to you and we thank you for your support.

Online Payment Terminology

There are several terms that are used almost interchangeably when describing online payments. Each of them facilitates the completion of online transactions, and the processing of online payments. We can list the following:

• Payment gateway: It’s a service that receives the online payment request from your website and directs it to the payment processor. It is equivalent of the point-of-sale machine you’d put your card in at the grocery store.
• Payment processor: It’s a service that validates the purchaser’s data and checks if they have sufficient funds to cover the payment. If valid, the transaction is authorized, and the funds are transferred from the customer’s account. The status of the transaction is transmitted back to the payment gateway which then sends a status message to your website.
• Payment provider: It’s the company that operates the payment gateway or payment processor services. Some will operate both.
• Merchant account: It’s special kind of bank account created by payment provider and used exclusively to hold funds received from purchaser’s transactions. Funds accumulating in are transferred to your bank account on a regular basis.

P2P payment, short for peer-to-peer or person-to-person payment, means a transaction that enables society to transfer their money to people in online mode with the help of personal bank, credit unions and similar accounts or mobile apps.

How Does P2P Work? To make a P2P payment you only need a mobile phone, PC or laptop connected to the internet! The process is as simple as creating an account on social media sites and sending a message to your friend and the action plan is as following:

• Select any P2P payment service (may download and install its mobile app or simply use website)
• Sign up for a personal account
• Link it with your bank or credit union account, debit or credit card
• Do all required actions for protection and safety
• Enter information of the receiver (name, phone number, email,..)
• Enter the amount of money you want to transfer. (may ask you to enter the reason of transfer)
• Confirm your payment

Security of P2P Transactions: All P2P services encrypt the personal information of their consumers and most of them apply the procedures of fraud tracking that prevent information leak and hacking attacks. Therefore, there are no reasons to worry about the safety of P2P payments, but in case of any suspicious operations in your account, you should immediately contact the support group. So it is better not to select those P2P service that have no support group.

The most popular P2P payment problems that may occurs are :

• It is rather difficult to cancel your payment.
• Any P2P facility can be hacked, no matter what rate of protection it has but also you can be victim of a robbery when you carry cash with you! However, in order to do your best to protect your P2P account you should:
  • Send money only to those personalities whom you actually know.
  • Always link your P2P mobile application to a bank account or debit and credit cards otherwise, you depend only on providers’ terms and conditions, which do not usually want to help users with money back problems.
  • Create a reliable password for your P2P account and try to change it periodically (at least each 6 months!).
  • Set up notifications for all actions conducted in your P2P account

Choose the appropriate P2P service

We are listing a couple of them but all have their peculiarities, advantages, and drawbacks so before make your choice, you need to review the main characteristics as well as terms and conditions offered by each electronic wallet system.

The popular P2P services

• PayPal: it’s one of the old and most widely used payment providers, chances are most of us including you already have accounts with PayPal, and can make payments with ease. PayPal also takes all security concerns onto themselves, meaning you won’t be storing any credit card information (like most other payment processors). Costs: 2.9% + $0.30 per Credit/Debit transaction
• Apple Pay: It is widely used receiving payment online, users can instantly pay using their existing Apple secure digital wallets
• with the touch of a button (or fingerprint scan). Note that they are not a payment provider, though, so you’ll need to be set up through one of the others in this list if you want to accept other kinds of payments. Costs: No additional fees charged on top of normal credit transaction fees (1.5 – 5% average in USA)
• Venmo: Even though PayPal acquired Venmo, the fundamental principles are different between the two. PayPal is used for making simple transactions for either personal or professional purposes. Venmo is used by individuals who consider themselves social spenders. This means that whenever a friend pays a friend back using Venmo, it gets shared publicly. Additionally, if you are a business owner that accepts payment in cryptocurrencies too, Venmo could just be the right choice. Pricing: Click here to find your answers related to the account fees.
• Google Pay: Once known as Google Checkout, Google Pay lets shoppers choose from saved payment methods in their Google account in order to checkout quickly and smoothly on third-party sites. On top of this, your customers can also store branded gift cards, loyalty cards and offers with Google Pay, helping you to build brand affinity and provide a seamless shopping experience that is entirely online. It is trusted worldwide, safe, simple, and speedy way to transfer money from a browser, smartphone, or Gmail account.
• Zelle: it was previously known as clearXchange, and now, it cooperates with banks and credit unions. U.S. checking or savings account required to use Zelle.
• Cash App: is a mobile payment service available in the US and UK that allows users to transfer money to one another using a mobile phone app.

Some platforms offering physical and virtual Debit Cards

• Wise: A cheap and fast way to send and receive money (salary, pension, ..) between 80 countries but also spend in local currency with Wise debit card. All this with the best possible exchange rate and always with a low and transparent fee.
• Ogpaywallet: A multi-lingual multi-currency platform to safely and cost effectively manage your money around the world. You ca send/receive, pay for goods/services, buy/sell digital currencies through knowing your cash is FDIC insured and your personal and financial information are secure.
• epay: coming soon

Other legit and popular platforms

• Payeer: Is an e-wallet, operating since 2013, designed to manage Fiat and Cryptocurrencies through MasterCard, VISA, or Paypal. It has more than 20.000.000 PAYEER accounts from 200 countries worldwide! (may not accept US residents!)
• perfectmoney: Another popular worldwide e-wallet that you can use for free.
• OKPAY: An e-wallet to convert fiat currencies only!
• Advcash: Is a payment system that allows fast and easy transfers in multiple fiat currencies. It is popular among the cryptocurrency community.
• Payoneer: It’s one of the oldest global payment processing services. It is available in more than 200 countries and accepts 150 different currencies. Receiving payments is free, and the platform includes a flexible API. Like PayPal, you can receive a plastic MasterCard if you aren’t ready to go 100 percent digital. It also offers the most helpful customer service team that further simplifies the use of this tool. Pricing: Payoneer charges 3% on credit card transactions, irrespective of the currency, and 1% on ACH Bank Debits.
• Skrill: has become a popular alternative to PayPal thanks to features like instant withdrawals and deposits, low transaction fees, exclusive offers, the ability to accept from 40 currencies, and being able to send text messages directly from your account. Whether it’s using cards, digital wallets, or instant bank transfers, you can do it all with Skrill.
• Neteller: They provide one of the safest online payment processing services. What sets Neteller apart is its zero fees on transactions that take place using a debit card in addition of the ability to trade cryptocurrencies. It offers around 100 different ways for you to buy/sell twenty-eight different cryptocurrencies supporting 22 currencies, making international transactions accessible. Pricing: There is no setup or hidden fees. Neteller charges a 2.5% transaction fee on credit card transactions.

Centralized crypto-exchange platforms

The following short list show some of popular centralized cryptocurrencies exchanges, for more please read this article.

• Paxful: A leading NY, US peer-to-peer crypto-exchange as well as a wallet with different payment methods.
• Poloniex: is one of the oldest and most trusted crypto exchanges in the industry! Founded in 2014, security, new features, and user interface are some of our top priorities.
• Kucoin: A low fees platform, operating since 2017, to manage cryptocurrencies and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
• Blockfi: Join and get sign-up bonus. It’s a trusted platform with low fees and managing $10b in assets, borrowing money and offering rewards visa card.
• Bittrex: Another amazing low fees and secure cryptocurrency exchange.
• Coinbase: Good but not available globally (if you’re from USA, UK, EU this maybe best choice).
• Kraken: A low fees cryptocurrency exchange for experienced traders.
• Uphold: A good platform to buy precious metals and cryptocurrencies.
• Binance: is the best place to buy, sell, trade. and hold BTC. It is secure & trusted by 28.6 million users (as of October 2021) and has the biggest liquidity ($7.7 trillion) across multiple crypto- pairs.
• Bybit: A cryptocurrency spot and derivatives exchange offering many card payment options.

Decentralized crypto-exchange platforms

There is also decentralized cryptocurrencies exchanges that allow you do the exchange transaction while keeping your funds safe in your proper wallets with no meddle man or third party to trust for your money.

• Uniswap (UNI): It’s first and one of the largest DEX build and work on Ethereum (ETH-ERC-20) network.
• PancakeSwap (CAKE): It’s a low fees with staking options and high liquidity DEX allowing BEP-20 token swaps on the BNB Chain. It employs an automated market maker (AMM) model, allowing users to trade against a liquidity pool.
• Quickswap (QUICK): It’s a Uniswap fork and Automated Match Maker (AMM) on the Polygon network. It takes full advantage of the high speeds and low fees that Polygon is offering to DEX.
• SushiSwap (SUSHI): Like Quickswap, Sushiswap is another fork of Uniswap. It ran on Ethereum (ETH-ERC-20) and Polygon networks and has its own governance token called SUSHI.
• Socialswap (SST): It’s a Low fees, safe and fast DEX ranning on tron block chain, No KYC needed for transactions.
• Snowfallprotocol (SNW): It is a cross-chain transfer ecosystem that enables users to swap assets easily across the most widely used to be followedup EVM and non-EVM compatible chains. It includes bridges for stable-coina and NFTs with stacking option (this is styl under radar!)

Selected instant Crypto-exchange platforms

Now if you want instant exchange, then we’ve selected the following list for you to chose from. This is the available trusted platforms that have been tested as of the date of writing this article.

• SimpleSwap: An intuitive simple and reliable crypto exchange service without sign up.
• changelly: An amazing secure market place where you can buy, sell and exchange cryptocurrencies instantly.
• alfacash: Another trusted platform to buy, sell, swap and exchange cryptocurrency, digital assets and blockchain tokens.
• coinatmradar: This is a good ATM reference if you want to buy cryptocurrencies through Crypto-ATM s.
• bestchange: Monitors exchange rates in several reliable exchanges with all the information you need to select one to transfer your money.