Top 10 online payment gateways/portals in Nigeria & their setup fees

2016 Review of 10 best online payment gateways and aggregators in Nigeria

In 2014, I wrote a review of the top 20 online payment processor platform in Nigeria while in 2015; I narrow the review down to the top 10 best online payment gateways in Nigeria and setup fees. Since then, my email box is constantly being flooded every day with new questions and comments relating to online payment processor platform in Nigeria. Many new clients are now requesting more than ever before to hire us for setting up their online payment gateway in Nigeria. This goes far to show me that Nigerians have begin to embrace the online payment system.

Without doubts, Nigeria has grown and now matured enough for use of online payment gateways and aggregators.  No e-business based in Nigeria in this 2016 that will likely fail considering the huge population of Nigerians and large number of Nigerian populace that are internet connected. Frankly speaking, nobody with sound knowledge of online businesses who invest in Nigeria e-commerce industry in this 2016 and receives online card payment that will not succeed even if it was only Nigerian audience that is being targeted.   Virtually, all who sell stuffs online now know that they need a payment processor to actually take care of the processing of the transaction.

Many companies, Organizations and institutions in Nigeria as well as online business investors are queuing in to welcome online payment processor platforms by building websites and web portal that accept credit/debit card for payment. Many more Nigerians are likely going to be expose to different types of epayment system in this 2016 as the Federal government introduces Treasury Single Account (TSA) that accept payment through online payment processing platform and Federal Government licensed partner, REMITA.

Nigerian online payment gateways industry has grown tremendously when compared to our 2014 and 2015 reviews. So many new Nigerians companies and multinational payment processors/aggregators have emanated and are now struggling to gain ground in Nigeria online payment gateway industry.

With diligent care and effort, I have reviewed the entire Nigeria payment gateways and portals. After my careful assessment and evaluation, I came out with the 10 best. So, here below is the top 10 best online payment gateway/portals in Nigeria 2016 and their setup fees.  My assessments and review are based on;

• Easy integration work flow and documentation
• Fast responding and Technical support
• Usage and level of acceptability
• Setup convenience and setbacks
• Setup fees and charges
• Vulnerability (security)
• Compatibility with Banks
  

Read now: Top 5 challenges facing Nigeria online payment gateways/Aggregators

The top 10 online payment gateways/aggregators in Nigeria and setup fees are;

1. GTBANK GTPAY

On the 1^st position on this list is GTBANK GTPAY. GTBank GTpay has maintained the topmost position on the list of online payment gateways in Nigeria for our three times review.

GTPay is online payment gateway provided by Guaranty Trust Bank. Merchant integrates GTPay on their e-commerce website to accept payment online using debit Cards issued by banks on the Interswitch Network. The GTpay payment platform support Nigerian Cards such Visa, MasterCard and Interswitch Verve card

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

The GTPay platforms have a better integration work flow, and codes have been simplified for developers. GTBank is a certified developer partner; hence GTPAY Integration for merchants’ fee is waived. Their customers get a waiver for integration – reduced sign-on fee. GTPay integration documents and coding has been upgraded to make it easier for integrators to understand. However, the certification and approval process takes quite a very long time.

• Fast responding and Technical support

GTBank has a dedicated, responsive and good technical support team that attend to issues timely. Emails are responded timely after sent by customers. One of our clients confirms this to be true.

• Usage and level of acceptability

GTPay payment gateway is one of the most widely used online payment gateways in Nigeria. The GTBank gateway has over 4000 customers using the gateway to process local and international transactions. It supports Visa, MasterCard and Interswitch Verve card. GTPay payment gateway also supports international cards (Visa and MasterCard).

• Setup convenience and setbacks

A critical requirement for activating GTBank GTPay for international card acceptance is that customer must open and maintain a corporate domiciliary account for a period of 6 to 12 months, before being approved. This is annoying and frustrating as customers are not being notified on time. Even after the 6 to 12 months period, international card acceptance still comes with a condition of 3% charge per transaction (no cap) and a N5, 000.00 monthly subscription fees. This is no doubt a huge amount for small medium enterprise and discouraging for a customer that doesn’t regularly do large volume turnover transactions. This is the reason why many of GTPay customers don’t subscribe to the international card acceptance.

Again, the certification and approval process takes quite long and lengthy time (i.e. time frame for integration to go live is quite long). Customer has to apply through GTBank to Interswitch, before test ID will be created. After which, TEST integration document and link will be sent to customer with long checklist of requirements. Customer will integrate, and send the checklist to GTBank for verification, then send to Interswitch to set their test date. Interswitch will fix a date for the test, conduct the test before approval and onward live integration details sent to GTBank, GTBank will then setup the customer on their site. This is a very long process; it takes time and can be complex if you don’t understand what you are doing very well. GTBank GTPay integration process and DIY integration document is quite lengthy.
GTPay platform for selecting card type can be difficult for a customer that doesn’t read everything on the page when they want to check out and make payment. This can lead to higher shopping cart abandonment rate. Customers paying online may not know they have to click their preferred card and then enter email below the page, before proceeding to payment page to enter their card details. This stage can be bypassed for customers that want to accept only local cards. Unfortunately, the stage cannot be avoided by customers that want to accept International cards. The bank should have made it like a simple radio button or something easier for the customer to know they must click, and no need to enter email address again (since it can be bypassed for local cards).
Customer has to open a corporate account with Guaranty Trust Bank Plc to be able to use this service

• Setup fees and charges

SETUP FEES

GTBank GTPay platform supports both wordpress themes and e-commerce website. The initial setup cost is N75, 000 and integration cost varies depending on your                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            developer.

CHARGES

MasterCard/Visa (local) –TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2, 000)
Interswitch Verve (local) –TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2, 000)
MasterCard/Visa (International) – TRANSACTION FEE: 3% of transaction amount; no cap on
International Gateway Monthly Charge – N5, 000

BEARER:  MERCHANT—————MERCHANT

• Vulnerability (security)

The system is highly safe

• Compatibility with Banks

GTBank is a certified developer partner. The gateway supports Visa, MasterCard and Interswitch Verve card. It also supports international cards (Visa and MasterCard).

How to get started with GTBank GTPay

To get started with GTBank GTPAY, visit official  GTBank GTPay  web page
• Complete the GTPay Application form.
• Send filled form along with Certificate of Incorporation to your Account officer.
• For further enquiries, kindly send an email to epay@gtbank.com

2. INTERSWITCH WEBPAY

On the 2^nd position on this list of top online payment gateways/portals in Nigeria is Interswitch Webpay.  In our 2014 review of top online payment gateways in Nigeria, Interswitch Webpay made the first position. In our 2015 review, Interswitch Webpay slide two-step down to position 4. Interswitch WebPAY has now moved up from 4th position in 2015 to 2nd Position in 2016.

WebPAY is an Internet Payment Gateway developed by InterSwitch to facilitate payments on the Internet using debit cards issued by member banks on the InterSwitch network.

When you talk about online payment processing platform in Nigeria, Interswitch is the grandfather of all online payment processing platform. They are the forerunner of online payment platform in Nigeria. Those Guys there are actually doing great. They process both online and offline payment for virtually all commercial banks in Nigeria.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

Interswitch webpay payment system adopts the same process as GTBank GTPay. The process is a bit lengthy and also uses a DIY integration document. Their documentation is not usually enough for you to easily execute the integration. Their documentation is not so helpful; they need to do more work on their documentation. However, the payment processor has partnered with many developers to assist customers with integration at a low cost.

• Fast responding and Technical support

They have a fairly good technical support team. However, response to issues when using Interswitch WebPAY is slow. They delay in responding and resolving customer issues and challenges.

• Usage and level of acceptability

The company has over 5000 customers using the online payment gateway to receive payments. The Interswitch WebPAY gateway support Verve cards, Visa and MasterCard. However, this payment gateway platform only supports Nigerian interswitch compliance cards. International cards such as VISA and MasterCard are not accepted on WebPay gateway. A service many Nigerians merchants and online investors are now demanding for.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

To use the Interswitch WebPAY to accept payment online, the customer has to register and be setup on the gateway in demo mode. Thereafter, the customer will go through a certification process; once the test process is passed, they will be migrated to a live mode to start accepting real-time transactions on their website. To enrolled, the customer requires a bank to generate Merchant ID on their platform before Interswitch will then synchronize them together. The whole setup process is a bit lengthy and time consuming.

• Setup fees and charges

The setup fee for Interswitch Webpay on website is N150, 000 (One Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira Only). This, to us is quite high especially for small medium enterprise (SME).

• Vulnerability (security)

The system is absolutely safe.

• Compatibility with Banks

WebPAY plugs-in seamlessly with existing websites; acts as a bridge between a merchant’s website and banks to process payment transactions. The card details are sent in an encrypted manner to InterSwitch for real-time authorization at the issuing bank. All Nigerian banks have an Interswitch license for processing Interswitch cards online and through other platforms such as POS, ATM etc.

How to get started with interswitch webpay/Quickteller: To get started with interswitch, visit the interswitch website: www.interswitchng.com

3. STANBIC IBTC myBluepay

Stanbic IBTC Bank Mybluepay payment gateway claimed the third (3^rd) position on the list of this year’s review.

Stanbic IBTC Bank Mybluepay payment gateway is an online payment gateway provided by Stanbic IBTC Bank. Stanbic IBTC Bank mybluepay payment gateways are of two types; Consolidated Internet Payment Gateway (CIPG) and MasterCard Internet Gateway Service (MIGS). These two payment gateways of the bank have fascinating features.  CIPG is a basic payment gateway, while the MIGS is the premium version of CIPG. CIPG support merchants receiving payments via multiple card variance cards; including MasterCard, Visa, Verve, and Etransact. It also allows receipt of payment via direct bank transfers with the use of CentralPay which rides on NIBBS instant payment platform. It clears and settles the funds to the customers/merchant Stanbic IBTC account. MIGS enables Merchants to process local and international cards using the MasterCard platform

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

Integration and documentation of this gateway is simplified.

• Fast responding and Technical support

They have good technical support. They respond and resolve customers’ queries fast. The gateway has a dedicated email customer service – for customers receiving payment online

• Usage and level of acceptability

CIPG supports cards such as MasterCard, Visa, Verve, and Etransact. MIGS accepts local and international transactions. It support selective profiling per risk level for merchants and comes with unique Payments Processing features; among which are: Purchase – outright authorization and  settlement, Pre-Auth and Capture – Authorize now pay later, Void/ Reversals – Before settlement, Refunds – After settlement, Tokenization – card storage in the form of a token which would be used for future transactions, Recurring payments – Merchants can set recurring payments with historic data of the initial transaction done by card holder.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

Setup for international cards is usually fast and seamless. However, some customers complain of downtimes, recent decline of cards (especially international cards) and settlements being delayed which is greatly affecting their business especially when they have to pay their vendors and suppliers on weakened basis. They are making timely effort to improve in this area.

• Setup fees and charges

The cost for setting up of this payment gateway is cheaper than many other banks payment gateway currently excluding UBA UCollect which is free.

Setup Fee

Setting up of CIPG STANBIC IBTC myBluepay is N50, 000 (Fifty Thousand Naira)
while setting up of MIGS STANBIC IBTC myBluepay is N250,000 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Naira)

Charges

MasterCard/Visa (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2, 000)
Interswitch Verve (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2, 000)
MasterCard/Visa (International) – TRANSACTION FEE: 4% of transaction amount; no cap.
International Gateway Monthly Charge (MIGS only) – N5, 000

• Vulnerability (security)

CIPG (Consolidated Internet Payment Gateway) and MasterCard Internet Gateway Service (MIGS) are secured payment gateway. MIGS comes with security and Fraud Solutions such fraud screening.  Gateway comes with a basic payment gateway fraud prevention tool which allows the Bank control merchants acceptance based on the type of transactions, black-list look-up and behavioural pattern blocking. Other fraud prevention tool are Cardholder verification such MasterCard secure code, Verified by Visa, J/Secure (JCB) and Enable 3D secure blocking.

• Compatibility with Banks

Stanbic IBTC Bank Mybluepay payment gateway is a payment gateway provided by Stanbic IBTC Bank

To get started with Stanbic IBTC Bank Mybluepay payment gateway; visit; Stanbic IBTC BANK bluepay website.

4. 2Checkout

On the 4^th position on this list is 2Checkout. The gateway has tremendously improved; jumping from position 8^th in 2015 to 4^th position in 2016.

2checkout is a USA based company established in 1999. 2Checkout has been around for the past 14years. The company has over 50,000 trusted merchants.
The payment platform supports transactions in 196 countries through 8 payment methods, 26 currencies, and 15 languages, forming one of the leading processors of online transactions in the world. In addition to this, experience has taught them to build 300+ Fraud rules over time and this met PCI Level 1 compliance.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

The documentation is very easy to implement. It usually include a pre-integrated payment gateway, a merchant account, PCI level 1 compliance, international fraud prevention tool, and plug-ins for 100 of the most popular carts.

• Fast responding and Technical support

At least, they are good.

• Usage and level of acceptability

They have served over 50,000 Sellers across the globe. 2Checkout accept the following cards: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Diners Club, JCB, PIN debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo, Debit cards with the Visa or MasterCard logo, PayPal, Discover.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

Approval to use the gateway is discretionary and the gateway can be suspended or blocked without good reason(s). Prohibited products come in a long list which discourages setup. Again, to access funds takes a longer period when compared to Nigerian payment processors and gateways.

• Setup fees and charges

SETUP FEES

Setup is FREE for Merchant account. You will be required to sign up with 2Checkout by submitting an application. Your application will be processed and your website will be reviewed by underwriting team. Some of the things consider during the review include your products and services, marketing techniques, price, refund and privacy policy. After review, and your application approved; if your site is up running, you can start selling with 2Checkout.

Charges
MasterCard/Visa (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 5.5% + 45¢ successful transaction
Interswitch Verve (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 5.5% + 45¢ successful transaction
MasterCard/Visa (International) – TRANSACTION FEE: 5.5% + 45¢ successful transaction

• Vulnerability (security)

The gateway having been on service for the past 14years, have learn from experience to build 300+ Fraud rules over time. They have also met PCI Level 1 compliance.

• Compatibility with Banks

A merchant can choose to receive Payments in their preferred currency – United States for Dollar if set as default currency) at the admin dashboard. This is a best solution to many Nigerians and International customers who are requesting to simplified payment option that will display USD or other preferred currency at 2CO. Upon settlement of fund and maturity, the Merchant can request to receive funds in their Nigerian domicilliary account or transfer to their Payoneer MasterCard which can be withdrawn via ATM machines.

Merchants can use the payment gateway to receive payment from Nigerian customers since many Nigeria Banks now give their customers International Visa and MasterCard tied to their usual Savings and Current account. However, the problem here is that it takes a longer time to access the fund.

To get started with 2checkout, visit the website; www.2checkout.com

5. Cash Envoy

Cash Envoy made the 5^th position. Cash Envoy has maintained the 5^th position twice. In our last review, CashEnvoy made the same 5^th position.

Cash Envoy is a Nigerian payment aggregator, owned by Electronic Settlement Limited. The payment aggregator has been endorsed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (BPS/PSP/GEN/PSM/02/010) to process web transaction. They are member of Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria.

They began operation November, 2009 as the First web payment aggregator in Nigeria. The company has grown some interesting customer base. CashEnvoy can settle fund to customers account within 24hours.

Cashenvoy vision statement is to create the magical payment processor that customers will always want to pay with and merchants always want to receive payments with. CashEnvoy is the only Nigerian Payment Aggregator/Processor this is accepted on Shopify.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

I should say they are the best because they have shown to be so. Practically, you will not need the help of anybody to understand the integration process. You will find everything you need in the documentation. You can only contact them when you are going LIVE with the payment aggregator. Although, you will only need an experience as a developer.

I will at this juncture suggest that all payment platforms learn from this company on how to make documentation simple and straight forward. No ambiguity, no obstruction.

• Fast responding and Technical support

There is no significant improvement on this area. They are quite slow for my liking. It may take them some days before they respond to your mail. They need to improve on their technical support. When developers send a support mail, they wouldn’t want to waste a second before receiving response.

• Usage and level of acceptability

Cashenvoy doesn’t charge for online different variants of cards.
Merchants can accept local and international card such as – VISA, MASTERCARD, eTranzact and Interswitch cards.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

Virtually everything is automated. The company simplifies the setup process by just receiving basic details and forms. You don’t need to call anybody to get a merchant account. There is always a sandbox for your test and the test accounts are made available online. With this, you can’t just be doing it wrong. I see this as a perfect choice for those who need to choose a platform that would not require them to keep calling technical support. They power website with the UAT document, customers have to pass their test phase of site integration – that is to test your website before going live.

• Setup fees and charges

Setup fees

Registration fee, admin, fee— 0
Withdrawal fee- 0
Activation fee- 0

Setting up Business account is Free, except to receive payments which comes with a competitive rate of 2.5% + N12.60 fee for a Nigerian payment aggregator presently. The Business account features includes: Accept payment on your online store via debit cards, internet banking and CashEnvoy wallet, Receive payment and donations online with ease, Easy to use, with complete transaction records, No integration, withdrawal or subscription fees and Easily pay and settle other merchants on your platform.

Charges

Send Money
To Business Account only – Free
Make Payments
To Business Account only – Free

Transaction fee 2.5%+ N12.60 to a maximum of 3500
No hidden charges

International Cards

Commission = 3.9% +?2.60, maximum of? 5000.

• Vulnerability (security)

Their implementation work flow (as given by them) is lovely but some careless developers do implement it with room for vulnerability.

• Compatibility with Banks

All websites that are integrated with CashEnvoy can accept payment from all the major Nigerian debit cards, international Visa/Mastercards and also from the CashEnvoy wallet.

How to get started with Cash Envoy: To get started with cash envoy, visit cash envoy official website www.cashenvoy.com

6. Zenith bank Globalpay

On the 6^th position on this list is Zenith Globalpay. When compare with our last review, Zenith bank Globalpay slide down from the 3^rd position to the 6^th position. This is attributed large to the lengthy time (one month – two months) it takes the bank before enrolling their customer on the payment gateway platform. This is even worst when the customer is requesting for International card acceptance.

Zenith Globalpay is payment gateway owner by Zenith bank plc.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

There are two ways to take advantage of GlobalPAY:
• Direct Integration with Website: The payment gateway is integrated into your website enabling you receive card payments on the website from cardholders from any bank in Nigeria or internationally.
• Storefront Page: A payment page is hosted for your business on the GlobalPAY Storefront at www.globalpay.com.ng.

The integration work flow and documentation is commendable

• Fast responding and Technical support

Those guys respond quickly to issues. They have a good customer setup process and technical support.

• Usage and level of acceptability

The payment gateway support local and international cards such as MasterCard, Visa and Verve Cards. They have manageable customer base.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

They accept multi-card with just a single integration.
They use Highest levels of data protection via PCI Compliance
Setbacks: As a matter of fact, deployment of this gateway started with N250, 000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand naira), they made a promo and deploy it for 75,000 (Seventy five thousand naira). Currently, the platform has been reviewed upward back to N150, 000 (for Visa, Mastercard and Interswitch card support). Monthly charge is discouraging for customers with international card acceptance. Customer verification, KYC and approval process for international card acceptance can be delayed.

• Setup fees and charges

SWITCH -SETUP FEES -TRANSACTION FEE-BEARER
MasterCard/Visa (local) – N75,000.00 -1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2,000)- MERCHANT
MasterCard/Visa (Int’l) – N75,000.00-3.5% of transaction amount; no cap- MERCHANT
Interswitch Verve – N75,000.00-1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2,000) -MERCHANT
Monthly Access Fee – N5, 000.00
Foreign Settlement Charge – $50 (per settlement).

The Bank monthly Access Fee – N5, 000.00 and Foreign Settlement Charge – $50 (per settlement) combination are the highest so far. Setup fee of N150, 000 – is also high.

• Vulnerability (security)

It is safe. It utilizes the highest level of data protection via PCI Compliance

• Compatibility with Banks

Globalpay is owned by Zenth bank. The gateway accepts all banks local and international cards such as MasterCard, Visa and Verve Cards.

www.zenithbank.com

7. Voguepay

On the 7^th position on this list is Voguepay. Vaguepay move from 6th position in 2015 to 7^th position in 2016.

Voguepay is a Nigerian payment aggregator that allows customers to accept payment on their website. The system support automatic withdrawal to the merchant bank account, unlike most payment processors that merchant has to manually request for withdrawal.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

They have pre-developed Plugin which merchant can just download and install to their existing website for selected shopping carts. This minimizes the stress and energy of having to integrate the gateway to your website. Sites without a readymade plugin or code, the company has an integration document you can use for custom integration with your website. You can integrate Voguepay payment gateway into wordpress blog.

• Fast responding and Technical support

They are not fast in response. One of my clients informs me that he reaches voguepay support on phone but the responses he got from them is not quite commendable. They do not show some level of seriousness in their business.

• Usage and level of acceptability

The gateway Supports both Local and international cards. It has wallet Funds Transfer for local and international merchants. Voguepay enables Merchants to display the paying currency for the customer at payment page. So, merchant can choose to display Naira or United States Dollar. In our last review, we see that it was impossible to change the display currency from Naira (NGN) to United States Dollar (USD), but now it’s possible.  VoguePay USD MasterCard/VISA channel has been disabled. This is due to the fight against fraud and unauthorized card usage, Merchants who wish to have the channel enabled for them will have to request for it by contacting their support team

• Setup convenience and setbacks

Voguepay’s comprehensive integrated solutions and services are quite understandable. The setup process is faster as customers don’t have to go through the Interswitch network Certification process. The gateway accepts recurrent billing which simplifies the payment process.

• Setup fees and charges

Setup fees

NIGERIA – Business Account
Business Account opening – Free
Merchant Fee – Free
Merchant Verification N1500 (with Corporate Affairs Commission Certificate) and N2500 (with Government issued Identity cards)

Charges

Transaction Fee Transaction Fee Naira Cards – 2.5%USD MasterCard & VISA Card – 4.5% (No Gateway Fees Applicable)
Withdraw Money 1% + 120 Naira
Integration Free (Fee may apply for customised Integration)

• Vulnerability (security)

VoguePay distinguishes itself from other online payment aggregator with its array of features guided by its core values: Security and Reliability. Voguepay has multiple security tools such as SSL, IP monitoring, encryption, User ban and suspension management, risk evaluation management system, email and phone number verification. All this will help minimise fraud by monitoring fraudulent IP addresses, securing the payment page, user authentication and host of others.

• Compatibility with Banks

Voguepay can process local and international Visa, Mastercard and Verve card. The system support automatic withdrawal to the merchant bank account.

How to get started with voguepay:To get started with voguepay, visit voguepay official website: www.voguepay.com

8. Simplepay

On the 8th position in this list is Simplepay. Simplepay moves from the 7^th position in 2015 to 8^th position in 2016 review.

Simplepay is a Nigerian payment aggregator founded in 2013. The company is located in Abuja Nigeria. The gateway utilizes international acceptability of Zenith Globalpay to allow their customers accept payments online using their local and international Visa Card, MasterCard and Interswitch cards.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

The company also has developed integration Plugin for different variants of shopping carts and Content Management System, in addition, the integration document is available on the website for custom integration. Getting your website running to accept online payment is simple – it takes a non Technical Person 2hours, for a Developer, you should result in minute.

• Fast responding and Technical support

Their response to issues is slow. Customers complain about their recent poor service delivery, delay and incomplete remittance of fund among others.  Simplepay attributed this to their ongoing upgrades on their entire infrastructure, certification, and global expansion plan among others.

• Usage and level of acceptability

Accept local and international cards. With simplepay, customers must not have an account with any specific bank in Nigeria to used Simplepay. You can choose any bank of your choice; unlike GTBank GTPay, Zenith GlobalPay and UBA UCollect and others. The payment platform does not also insist on SSL, DEDICATED IP among others like UBA UCollect

• Setup convenience and setbacks

Integration plugin are available for download and where plugin is not applicable, easy to implement documentation are available on the website.

However, the ticket support page link cannot be foundd simplepay4u.com.  There is no telephone number on the site and it takes long time to respond to customer queries via email. The system keeps debiting customers card severally for transaction charges, this leads to so many complains. The amount credited is lesser than amount withdrawn, all efforts to correct proves unsuccessful.

The system only allow N100, 000 (One Hundred thousand naira) per withdrawal. With this, a customer withdrawing above that will have to do this multiple times and pay withdrawal charges several times a. So the charges are much higher if you are doing huge transactions

This takes more time to withdraw. Unfortunately, when the fund is withdrawn to account, the total sum expected is not credited. When contacted to reconcile and refund the outstanding balance, no response heard.

• Setup fees and charges

Fees

Signup fees: FREE
Integration: FREE

Charges

DEPOSIT:
Verve Card/ Naira MasterCard – 1.50% plus N10.00 per transaction
Etranzact Card/Web – 1.50% plus N0.00 per transaction
Visa (Vpay) integration – 1.50% plus N0.00 per transaction
International Payments via Credit Card Visa and MasterCard (Zenith Bank Transfer) – 5.00% plus N10.00 per transaction
Withdrawal: Wire Transfer – N300.00 per transaction;
Receive Money: 1.00% plus N10.00 per transaction
SMS: N2

• Vulnerability (security)

Vulnerability is on a high side though they claim to have an intelligent system that constantly check and monitor transaction flows. The company has an amazing fraud review system

• Compatibility with Banks

Their customers accept payments online using their local and international Visa Card, MasterCard and Interswitch cards. The system support automatic withdrawal to the merchant bank account.

How to get started with Simplepay: To get started with simplepay, visit their official Website: www.simplepay4u.com

9. UBA UCOLLECT Payment Gateway

On the 9^th position is UBA UCOLLECT Payment Gateway. The gateway slide down from 2^nd position in our 2015 to 9^th position in 2016.  This is largely attributed to slow resolution of customers issues, rapid decline in customer service, deactivation of customers from UCollect payment gateway without notification of Merchant, cumbersome setup process and even delay of customer application for UBA UCollect payment gateway especially when customer is requesting for international card acceptance. The new bank policy makes running of UBA UCollect more difficult, even for existing customers having UCollect. The Bank sometime ago sent an email requesting that all Web merchants (except for top corporate) should be disabled until they comply with UBA Merchant Acquisition and Evaluation framework. Hence, the bank is requesting for so many irrelevant documents; which obviously is discouraging and frustrating. All these recent changes complicate and make operation of UBA UCollect difficult for a merchant.

UCOLLECT is an online payment processor platform offer by United Bank of Africa. United Bank for Africa Plc has upgraded and partially moved their entire payment gateway – UBA UCollect to a whole new system.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

The integration workflow is superb and easy for good developers. There are three ways to connect your HTTP post (in a different way), XML and JSON. The documentation is quite detailed and explanatory, except there are few other things they would have added.

• Fast responding and Technical support

Zero! They never respond fast as you may want them.

• Usage and level of acceptability

You can use all bank cards on this payment platform.
Customer can get their local and international transactions credited to their Naira and US Domiciliary account.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

The Bank finally published product detail of UBA UCollect on their official website.
There are few incomplete files and link missing, which can make it cubersome for a new web developer to integrate to the site. In addition, the gateway lacks a test site, which means even when integrating, you need to be using a live card for every test process. You need to understand the programming to get the integration.
Guy! everything is just manual. You need to approach a customer technical support person in the bank for setup. Their system is not all that complex so I wonder why they wouldn’t allow their setup process to start and finish online.
The customer don’t have access to the backend where they will set RETURN URLS – Success, Failure and Pending URL, you need to fill the URL on the form – for the bank to update and you need to do this consistently anytime you want to do any update on the site.
Customer has to open a corporate account with United Bank for Africa Plc to be able to use this service, like all other Banks that acts as a payment processor in Nigeria.
Information about UCollect is not sufficient among staff at the branch level; you have to call or email the head office for enquiries and support.
The Bank still maintains old and new UCollect payment gateway, which can raise suspicion for potential customer occasionally when they see two different interfaces and links to on different merchants’ site.
Customer needs to spend extra Naira installing an SSL security on their website. Since the UCollect platform is already secured there is no need for an SME to install SSL again.
UBA UCollect charges are quite higher: 1.5% for local transactions – with no cap and 4% for international – no cap.

• Setup fees and charges

They have partner with developers who can develop a website and integrate UBA UCollect for the bank customer FREE.

No setup FEE

SWITCH: MasterCard/Visa (local)

SETUP FEES:  FREE

TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of transaction amount – No CAP

BEARER: MERCHANT
SWITCH: MasterCard/Visa (Int’l)

SETUP FEES:  FREE

TRANSACTION FEE: 4% of transaction amount – No Cap

BEARER: MERCHANT

Interswitch Verve 1.5% of transaction amount (subject to a maximum of N2, 000).

• Vulnerability (security)

The system is safe.

• Compatibility with Banks

UCollect payment gateway is provided by UBA.  U-Collect is a Consolidated Internet Payment Gateway Solution which integrates multiple payment solutions available in Nigeria – VISA, Verve, MasterCard, and e-Tranzact on the Bank website. However, the gateway does not support an Interswitch Verve card which is the indigenous and widely used card option in Nigeria. There is usually no need for OTP code sent to email or phone as the gateway is not powered by Interswitch.

How to get started with UCOLLECT

 To get started with ucollect, visit official Ucollect web page

Website: www.ubagroup.com

10. REMITA

Remita made the 10^th position on this list.

Remita is an e-Payments and e-Collections solution developed by SystemSpecs Limited. It enables Merchants and Customers to receive and make payments on a single multi-bank platform.
Remita is in use by many individuals, public and private sector organisations that process over 500 Billion Naira worth of transactions on a monthly basis. The Central Bank of Nigeria endorses Remita for the payment and collections of funds on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria. Remita is used by 22 commercial banks and over 400 micro finance banks in Nigeria. Remita has significantly to revitalise the e-payment industry in Nigeria.

• Easy integration work flow and documentation

Remita can be integrated into a website, portal or ecommerce store. The gateway provides a standards-based REST interface which enables application developers to interact in a powerful, yet secure way with their Remita account. Developers may call the API directly over HTTPS using the language of their choice. Integration enable the corporate or merchant leverage on Remita’s diverse and seamless payment options to complete customers’ transactions in a handshake implementation known as Remita integration. Available methods of integration include;

1. Downloading of Remita Plugin and checking of plugins for compatibility with your eCommerce or CMS store and download the appropriate one. Integration with a plugin is simple and doesn’t require any custom integration.
2. Use the integration specification to adapt Remita to your specific needs.

Every detail of integration, documentation and setup process are available at remita website.

• Fast responding and Technical support

• Hmmmmmm! Their response to issues is slow. Sometimes, they ignore customers when contacted.

• Usage and level of acceptability

The gateway supports multiple card variants – Verve, MasterCard, Visa, Unionpay.  It also supports China Unionpay. Remita is an award winning Software Company which has received award from the Central Bank of Nigeria, Nigerian ICT Centenary Awards, and Beacon of ICT awards. Their customers includes: Nnamdi Azikiwe University, University of Nigeria University of Abuja, and Department of Petroleum Resources, Vconnect, Manufacturers Association Nigeria, National Open University of Nigeria, Corporate Affairs Commission and many others.

• Setup convenience and setbacks

• Remita presents a “Push” and “Pull” model of receiving funds. The Push model empowers you to push an e-Invoice to your payers to empower them to pay you easily electronically. The “Pull” model empowers your payers to either visit your website and click a “Remita-Pay-Now” button or select you as a beneficiary at remita.net. In either way, they would be requested to complete a pre-defined form requesting for their details before proceeding to pay you easily electronically. Meanwhile, their minimum of N100 per transaction is higher than bank gateways whose charge is 1.5% flat on the average.

• Setup fees and charge

Setup Fees

FREE SETUP (No setup fee paid by customers)

Charges
MasterCard/Visa (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of total transaction (subject to N100 minimum and N2,000 maximum)
Interswitch Verve (local) – TRANSACTION FEE: 1.5% of total transaction (subject to N100 minimum and N2,000 maximum)
MasterCard/Visa (International) – TRANSACTION FEE: Additional 2% (Minimum of N100 and a Maximum of N2,500)

NOTE: Remita Prices are VAT exclusive

• Vulnerability (security)

Security of transactions shouldn’t be a problem as there are multi-level security and control features on the platform, according to Remita. Such as: Application Secured server, Data encrypted (at rest and during transmission), multi-layer authentication features, authorization check and balance, pre-defined approval workflows (up to ten levels) and user validation (at the point of initiation and up to remittance). They have a comprehensive multi-party and multi-channel transaction real-time monitoring, screening and reporting structure (inclusive of the above security features). Example; no single person can initiate and finalize a single transaction on the platform. A combination of soft and hard tokens, biometric authentication and multiple approval levels among other security and control features are natively built into the system.

• Compatibility with Banks

Remita support multiple card variants includes: Verve, Visa, MasterCard and China Unionpay

Remita also comes with an optional Payroll and HR solution for full integrated processing.

Remita, developed by SystemSpecs, and voted many times as Nigeria’s Software of the Year, is indeed a success story and a pride to Africa.

What Can Remita do for you?

Make Payments from All Your Accounts in All Banks on a single platform
Receive Funds through Debit/Credit Cards, Branches of all Banks Nationwide, etc.
Automate your Payroll and deliver Payslips to all Staff.
Who Can Use Remita?

Individuals to manage their personal finances

Public and private sector organisations of any size, structure and complexity

To get started with Remita integration, visit the website: www.remita.net/developers/

 

For your questions and comments, you can use the comment box below.

To develop or re-develop a website to accept online payment, contact us to setup your business, wordpress site, Company ecommerce website for you and start accepting payment online real time on your website, email us @ immax2005@gmail.com or call (+234) 070-388-444-64 for more information.

Some few questions and comments from my email box

Anierobi Eziolise <…….>to:immax2005@gmail.com

date: Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 5:07 AM

subject: Payment Portal Advice:

Hi Emma,

I’m a start up looking for advice on which payment portal to deploy on my website, The main problem i have with most payment portals is the fact that they charge for items purchased on the website and also charge when you withdraw from the wallet.
The reason i have a problem with this is that i proffer services on my website instead of just selling goods.

The basic business model is one in which there will be thousands of small 100 naira services being paid for in a week, and thousands of 1000 naira and above being paid out.
The problem is if every 100 naira paid in is charged, and every 1000 paid out is also charged then i lose a lot as its just small numerous transactions.

The best example is “nairabet”, lets imagine that the owners of nairabet were charged every time someone put 100 naira in his account, and once again when he withdraws 1000 naira the company would operate at a loss.
I wanted to know if there’s a away to find out the e commerce platform they employ, and also if there is an ecommerce platform that charges only when i withdraw from my online wallet.

Thanks
Robi

On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 8:47 AM, Timothy Oguike <……..> wrote:

Dear Emma,

Thanks for your swift response. However, as discussed via phone,  kindly give an in-debt explanation to this platforms with emphasis on their existence, acceptability, sites (for more details online), it’s compatibility with Banks and more importantly, how secured this platforms are.

Warm regards,

Tim

Sent from my iPhone
On 11 Jan 2016, at 3:10 PM, MacDonald Oguike <……..> wrote:

Hi Emma,

I am not familiar with the technical requirements. But I am sure our developer can develop the plugin. I want you to work with him to do it. Once we finalize we agree to move forward, I will introduce you and him via email so you can work together. You can both flush out the technical details.

One more thing Emma, my other Director Timothy is not familiar with your recommendation around not using the banks. Can you provide a detailed explanation? I mean in connection to my question SimplePay/Voguepay vs GTBPay

And can you share which is better, SimplePay vs VoguePay? Based on your write up it appears SP is better right? 

We are okay with the payment terms.

Regards,

MacDonal
Our preference is for a system that  can perform or aid the following outlined functions:

1. Integrate with a website.
2. Support online payment for our non-profit. By this we mean, it can allow our supporters from all over the world to, donate to us via the website.
3. Remit donations into our account directly.

In advance, thank you for your support and guidance. Please feel free to reach out if you have any clarifying question.

Regards,

MacDonald Oguike