The Best Payment Processors: Past, Present And Future Ways To Pay
Moving your money from point-to-point via the Internet has never been easier. Thanks to a plethora of established and emerging payment processors, the average online consumer can now pay for goods and services in a safe and secure way that suits them.
From pioneers such as PayPal that let you buy now and pay later to Bitcoin based processors, there are options galore out there for everyone.
Naturally, along with choices come decisions and in this article we’ve taken the time to highlight some of the top payment processing options, what they do and why they’re an ideal choice.
The Past: PayPal
After becoming the method of choice for eBay users when it launched in 1998, PayPal was then listed as an official subsidiary of the company in 2002 and that enabled it to roll out some interesting initiatives.
Aside from all the security features PayPal boasts, one of its most impressive innovations was the “pay after delivery” feature. Designed to counteract cases of fraud, this system basically allows a user to purchase for something online, whether it’s eBay or some other online shop, and PayPal will cover the cost.
Then, after 14 days, assuming the item has been delivered and there are no instances of fraud, PayPal will then collect the money from you. This helps to protect users and ensure paying for things online is a lot safer.
The Present: Skrill
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Much like PayPal, Skrill is an online wallet (eWallet) and payment processor that acts as an intermediary between a user’s bank and an online shop. One of the major benefits of Skrill was that it allows users to move money across continents without incurring massive costs.
Unlike moving money from an English bank account to an international account, processing times are virtually instant and the amount you have to pay in processing fees is extremely low (1% fee to transfer, no fees to receive).
In addition to low processing fees, Skrill is also highly secure and that’s something online casino and poker players have come to realise. Because money is an integral part of the iGaming world, using a payment processor that offers a 100% money back guarantee if you’re subject to fraud is perfect.
In fact, Skrill has actually branded itself as the payment processor for online casino players. For example, when a player creates an account at a live casino platform such as Smart Live Casino, then can choose Skrill as their deposit option.
Doing this will allow them to move cash to and from their account in an instant, but it will also allow them to avoid losing their money to fraud. Indeed, because Skrill is so confident in its RSA tokens and Two Factor Authentication (2FA), it will refund you any time your account is comprised illegally.
The Future: BitPay
When it comes to new kids on the payment block, BitPay is one of the most interesting. For those that don’t know, Bitcoin is a virtual currency (cryptocurrency) that’s created online and only exists online.
In a nutshell, Bitcoin is basically a unique string of digits that are part of a network of similarly unique codes. Thanks to the way Bitcoin is created (mined) and processed, it’s highly secure as each unit can be tracked and traced at all times.
Because of this, people are now using Bitcoin for a plethora of online purchases and one of the best payment processors in this arena is BitPay. Founded in 2011, BitPay basically allows people to spend or accept Bitcoin and then convert it to their native currency.
Moreover, one of the most impressive features of BitPay is that it’s free. Back in July 2014 the company announced that it would offer free and unlimited payment processing forever and that’s not only made it an easy choice for Bitcoin users, but it’s helped the currency become an emerging player in the online payment arena and an option you should definitely add to your online arsenal.
