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E-commerce payments: What you really need to accept payment online
Last update: 18 April 2025
If you’re researching e-commerce payments on Google, you may feel more confused than when you started. Most articles on the internet take you through really technical information and suggest that you have lots to do before you can launch your site.
In reality, it’s a lot simpler to accept payments online than many articles let on. In this article, we show you what you really need. You’re in the right place if you are:
- Unsure how to best manage e-commerce payments and avoid high costs
- Looking to receive your funds quickly, while avoiding or removing any accounting headaches
- Unsure how to sell on international marketplaces
We’ve written this article to explain the common pitfalls which can arise when accepting e-commerce payments – and the payment solutions you need to overcome them.
In this guide, we cover:
- Four common challenges business face when managing e-commerce payments
- The two things you need to start accepting e-commerce payments
- How a WorldFirst multi-currency account simplifies your e-commerce payments
- How to create an account with WorldFirst
- How Bull Doza grew globally with WorldFirst’s account for e-commerce payments
- How to choose the right e-commerce payments provider
- Three payment platforms that integrate directly with your World Account
Looking to get set up ASAP? Open a World Account for free and start accepting e-commerce payments today.
4 common challenges businesses face when managing e-commerce payments
If you’re an e-commerce business, accepting and managing payments – particularly international payments – can pose a challenge:
You’ll often need a local banking relationship to sell on e-commerce marketplaces in another country
It might be part of your business plan to sell in different countries on e-commerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Temu or TikTok Shop.
However, even though these marketplaces are global, you’ll often need local account details to get set up and to receive payments. For instance, to sell on Amazon US, you need a local account in USD.
Obtaining local account details without being in that country can be incredibly difficult, as banks want to see that you have a local presence before they serve you. And this presents a serious obstacle to growth.
The costs of accepting and managing global payments quickly add up
When setting up your e-commerce business, you may have been surprised by the extent of the fees involved. But this isn’t even the worst part: certain account providers don’t make all of their fees clear upfront at all.
For instance, on top of transaction fees for foreign exchange (FX) and sending funds internationally, certain account providers will charge you an additional fee to convert funds on a weekend. Additionally, there may be costs to open accounts, hold funds or receive money from an e-commerce platform.
Hidden costs are so problematic not only because they eat into your profits, but because they throw your financial planning and forecasting off track, too.
Slow settlement speeds cause cash flow challenges
When transferring funds internationally via SWIFT, you can be waiting for up to six days for funds to settle. Six days is a long time in business – and you may have urgent payments to make to suppliers, staff or tax agencies.
Cash flow challenges such as these are one of the principal reasons that SMEs fail. While problems with cash flow might not fatally undermine your business, they put you at a real disadvantage compared with larger companies which have big cash reserves.
Reconciling across multiple accounts and currencies causes headaches
Reconciling your payments and ensuring all your bookkeeping is done correctly is enough of a challenge already. But when you start expanding internationally, it becomes even harder.
You might have accounts in each region you operate in, or for each marketplace your business sells on. That makes any kind of cohesive financial overview a real challenge. It also raises questions over how much you transfer to your UK account for business costs like taxes, and how much you leave in each account to cover things like marketing spend for that country, supplier payments or platform fees.
It’s a lot to manage. And it means that instead of focusing on running your business, you’re having to spend hours on time-consuming admin.
The two things you need to start accepting e-commerce payments
You’re now prepared for the challenges associated with e-commerce payments. But what do you need in order to solve them?
There are many articles out there which go deep into the details and intricacies of online payment systems, covering every step that enables funds to move from your customer’s bank to your own account.
However, in the majority of cases, as an e-commerce business, you don’t really need to worry about all the players and tools involved in payments – from digital wallets to checkout processes to payment processors. Rather, with the right support, all this will be handled for you.
Fundamentally, you only need two things in order to accept e-commerce payments:
- A receiving account for payments. This will connect to your payment provider to receive funds. If you’re looking to sell internationally, this will need to be an account that can manage multiple currencies.
- A payment provider, which enables customers to enter their card details online and make a payment. Stripe, Shopify Payments and PayPal are all examples of payment providers. However, if you’re exclusively selling on marketplaces, you won’t need to worry about finding a payment provider yourself at all.
In general, then, if you want to manage e-commerce payments, the one thing you definitely need is a business account built for you.
If you’re operating globally, that means it should:
- Connect to the marketplaces that you want to sell on, in the regions where you want to sell
- Connect to major payment platforms, so you can give your customers the options of different payment methods
- Offer accounts in the currencies you want to use – with local account details in each currency
- Provide a platform to manage all these accounts, currencies and income streams in one place
Below, we explain how a WorldFirst multi-currency business account – the World Account – helps you manage e-commerce payments globally, before we outline key things to look for in a payment provider.
How a WorldFirst multi-currency account simplifies your e-commerce payments
At WorldFirst, we provide payment and banking services designed with the needs of e-commerce business in mind. Since 2004, almost one million businesses have sent $300 billion around the world with WorldFirst and its partner brands.
Our World Account offers a smarter, simpler way to manage global payments. It enables you to hold funds in 20+ currencies and connect to 130+ marketplaces and payment platforms. Plus, its online dashboard gives you a full picture of your finances across different currencies and lets you manage many aspects of your business such as accounting, FX, fraud prevention and more.
Below you can read some of the key features of the World Account, and how they help your business grow. But if you’re keen to get started, open an account for free today.
Connect with 100+ e-commerce marketplaces to quickly withdraw funds
WorldFirst makes it easy for you to accept payments from 100+ marketplaces and 30+ payment platforms all over the world.
Thanks to these connections, you can sell your products more easily across the world. When you withdraw money from each marketplace (depending on each platform’s payment schedules), the funds can be settled in your receiving account on the same business day.
This easy connection to marketplaces doesn’t only improve cash flow, but enables you to put your products in front of an enormous global customer base.
A transparent fee structure designed to support globally-minded e-commerce businesses
Most business accounts aren’t completely transparent about their fees. But, at WorldFirst, we know that hidden fees can prevent you from accurate financial forecasting while also undercutting your profit margin.
Below is our full pricing structure, designed to help e-commerce businesses succeed across borders.
| Registering for your Business Account | Free |
|---|---|
| Currency accounts Access account details in 20+ currencies, including USD, EUR, AUD, HKD, CAD, CNH and SGD |
Free |
| One multi-currency account Hold 20+ currencies within one multi-currency account, based in UK |
Free |
| Monthly fees | Free |
| Local payments In GBP, EUR or USD |
£0.30 |
| International payments | £4.00 |
| Payments to other World Accounts Instant payments between World Accounts anywhere |
Free |
| Payments to sourcing platforms Make seamless and instant payments to 1688.com and TaoWorld |
Up to 0.8% (Additional fees will be charged by 1688.com and TaoWorld) |
| Currency conversion Exchange rates for all major currencies including USD, EUR, SGD, AUD, CAD, JPY, CNH |
Up to 0.5% |
| Receive funds Collect payments from global businesses and over 130 marketplaces and payment gateways |
Free |
| Hold funds in multiple currencies Hold your funds and pay in 100+ different currencies |
Free |
A fast, globally-minded solution that gets you paid more quickly
WorldFirst’s multi-currency account enables you to accept payments in 20+ different currencies within one account. You can then quickly convert these funds to GBP (or another currency) and withdraw profits the very same day, or convert money between your accounts to pay relevant suppliers.
With WorldFirst, you don’t need to wait six days for international transactions to settle as you would with SWIFT. Instead, payments made to accounts in the following countries/regions, when sending their own currency, will almost always settle within 24 hours:
- UK
- USA
- The Eurozone
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Australia
- New Zealand
Your WorldFirst account ensures you can keep your suppliers happy with fast, reliable payments, wherever you’re planning to expand.
You can set up FX rate alerts to be notified when your target rate is reached – giving you the option to act when the timing is right. If you want to go one step further, you can lock in a rate in advance with a forward contract for up to 24 months, or even automate currency purchases once a specific rate is hit.
Local customer support and secure payments you can rely on
With WorldFirst, businesses can quickly create an account and be ready to sell. When it comes to the day-to-day running of your business, everything can be done via our online platform – you’ll never have to visit a branch.
If there are times when you need some assistance or have a question for us, we have a dedicated UK support team which you can contact during business hours. Plus, we have customer service teams in our 32 offices worldwide – so you can benefit from reliable global support.
Your security comes first. Over the past 20 years, we’ve built our reputation on trust, delivering the highest level of security and compliance for our customers. We’re fully PCI DSS compliant and have built-in risk management solutions.
Direct integration with Xero to make accounting a breeze
WorldFirst accounts seamlessly integrate with Xero accounting software. This gives you a full and cohesive view of your finances, with built-in tools to facilitate invoicing, salary payments, tax estimations and more.
That’s one less task keeping you from growing your business.
- Open 20+ local currency accounts and get paid like a local
- Pay suppliers, partners and staff worldwide in 100+ currencies
- Collect payments for free from 130+ marketplaces and payment gateways, including Amazon, Etsy, PayPal and Shopify
- Save with competitive exchange rates on currency conversions and transfers
- Lock in exchange rates for up to 24 months for cash flow certainty
How to create an account with WorldFirst
You can create a World Account in just three simple steps:
- Visit our registration portal and fill out the simple form. You’ll need standard paperwork like your company registration number, business address and ID documentation, along with any marketplace storefronts you have. Find more information about the documents you need.
- Have your phone nearby, as you’ll need to enter a six-digit verification code sent by SMS. We may ask for copies of certain documents. As a financial services provider, our due diligence is what keeps all of our customers safe.
- Send that documentation to us, and you’re done! You can then choose the currencies you’d like to add to your account, and you’re ready to go.
How Bull Doza grew globally with WorldFirst’s account for e-commerce payments
Bull Doza, a UK-based sportswear company, faced difficulties expanding internationally.
They had a strong demand for their product in America, but without a physical presence in the US, they weren’t able to set up a local bank account to sell on US platforms. There were also concerns over how they would manage large transactions in foreign currencies. All of this was preventing Bull Doza from reaching the next stage of growth.
WorldFirst were able to give them what they needed:
- User-friendly hedging: The WorldFirst platform made it straightforward to handle large currency transactions and provided total transparency in conversion rates, eliminating hidden costs
- Access to online marketplaces: Bull Doza founders were able to print out a local account statement in seconds to use as proof when it came to setting up a presence on Amazon
- Streamlined accounting with Xero: WorldFirst’s integration with Xero provided the Bull Doza team with a clear view of their financial health for better decision-making
The results speak for themselves:
- A three- to six-month reduction in their entry time to new markets
- An average of 1–3% saved on every $10,000+ sized international transfer when compared to traditional banks. This significantly reduced their operational costs
- They’re aiming for a tenfold increase in sales over the next couple of years, thanks to the access to new markets their WorldFirst account provides
How to choose the right e-commerce payment provider
Alongside a business account for e-commerce, you may also need to work with a payment platform. These are useful if you want to offer customers an alternative payment service, or if you’re selling on your own website as well as on a marketplace.
Below, we share the details of three of the biggest payment platforms – Stripe, Shopify Payments and PayPal. Before exploring your options, take some time to think about what your business needs. Here are five factors to consider when choosing a provider.
(With a World Account, you can easily connect your business account to all three payment platforms for easier collections in 20+ currencies.)
- Global services. If you don’t want to be limited by your payments provider (and bear in mind, it may be a hassle to have to switch once your business reaches a certain size), it makes most sense to choose a provider that allows you to accept and send payments in a large number of countries and currencies.
- A wide range of payment types. Most customers still want to pay by debit card or credit card. But depending on what you’re selling, you may want to offer them the option to pay by subscriptions, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), alternative payment methods or mobile payment options such as Apple Pay or Google Pay. You’ll still need an account in each relevant currency to connect with payment providers offering these options.
- Security and compliance capabilities. Poor security or weak compliance frameworks can kill a business of any size. Be sure that the payment provider you’re considering has a proven track record with businesses like yours and adheres to all relevant payment security standards.
- Fast onboarding. If your business is newly online, you’ll want to be able to accept payments as soon as possible. Alternatively, your business may have already launched, and you know that any substantial disruption will result in a huge cost for your business. It’s therefore important to choose a provider that understands your needs and can get you set up in a reasonable time frame.
Customer support. Any downtime or technical issues with your payment processing prevents your business from operating. This can be catastrophic. While this is uncommon, you still want to be able to contact someone if anything isn’t working correctly. Choose a provider that you know you can reach in times of emergency.
3 payment platforms that integrate directly with your World Account
Stripe, Shopify Payments and PayPal are well-known examples of payment providers for e-commerce businesses. With a World Account, you can connect to each provider across all the regions where you operate.
1. Stripe
Stripe is known for its strong level of customisation and support for 135+ currencies. Here are some standout features:
- No setup or monthly fees. Standard pricing is 1.50% + 20p for UK cards and 2.5% + 20p for EU cards, custom pricing available for businesses with high turnover
- Developer-friendly and customisable checkout experiences
- Stripe accepts a wide variety of payment methods including Klarna and WeChat, as well as physical point of sale (POS)
- Fully secure and compliant with in-built fraud detection, two-factor authentication and more.¹
2. PayPal
PayPal is globally renowned for e-commerce payment processing and is one of the most popular options for UK online businesses. Its key features include:
- More varied pricing than Stripe. For some businesses it will be cheaper, though for some it will be more expensive
- Strong brand recognition, giving customers of your online shop confidence that your business is trustworthy
- Among other e-commerce payment methods, PayPal offers its own Buy-Now-Pay-Later option, giving customers the option to split their payments up
- Fully secure and compliant with in-built fraud detection, two-factor authentication and more²
3. Shopify
Shopify is an all-in-one solution for e-commerce businesses which gives you the ability to create your online store and manage your finances in one place. Some key things to know about Shopify are:
- Quick and easy setup for a full e-commerce platform
- Transparent approach to pricing. However, there’s a monthly fee as you are getting a full e-commerce platform and not just payment processing
- 24/7 support across all of its plans
- Shopify payments are only available in 18 countries, even though the Shopify platform has merchants in 100 countries³
Ready for an account that understands your e-commerce payment needs? Try WorldFirst
Researching how to best accept e-commerce payments can feel like a full-time job in itself, but it’s not as complicated as it seems. If you know what your business needs, you’ll find a solution that’s right for you.
Do you want to expand internationally? Do you want to sell on marketplaces? Do you want fast and affordable payments in 20+ currencies?
If the answer to these questions is yes, WorldFirst is a great fit for your business. Open an account for free today.
Sources
E-commerce payments: What you really need to accept payment online
Most guides to e-commerce payments can be a little overwhelming. Here’s all that you really need to accept payments online.
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- Almost 1,000,000 businesses have sent USD$300B around the world with WorldFirst and its partner brands since 2004
- Your money is safeguarded with leading financial institutions
