Payment methods for your online shop

These are the payment methods you can offer your customers:

iDEAL

iDEAL lets your customers pay directly via their bank. It can be used as a prepayment method or to pay after a sale. To use this online payment method, you must have an iDEAL agreement with one of the participating partners. These partners offer technical solutions to use iDEAL on your online store.

Consumers are not required to pay the full amount in advance

Private customers, who buy a product for their personal use, do not have to pay more than 50% of the amount due in advance. You may ask them to, but they do not have to comply. This is the law. Do you accept prepayment? Then you also have to offer other options, such as credit card and buy now, pay later. Different rules apply to business customers.

Credit card

With a credit card, your customer pays after the purchase transaction. The advantage is that almost all credit cards offer purchase protection. This insures your customer against loss and damage. The most commonly used credit cards are MasterCard and Visa. You pay a small percentage for each credit card payment. You may not pass on these extra costs to your customers. Exceptions to that rule are American Express and Diners Club business credit cards.

Several commercial providers offer software plug-ins. These let you accept credit card payments in your online store.

PayPal

PayPal is a worldwide payment system for individuals and businesses. Your customers pay with a PayPal Balance, or a linked bank account or credit card. Like a credit card, the customer benefits from purchase protection via PayPal. PayPal is an attractive online payment method if you have many international customers.

PayPal charges a small fee for every payment. The amount depends on your monthly turnover. You can calculate this on the PayPal website (in Dutch).

Direct debit

Direct debit (automatische incasso) is a method by which a customer makes a payment directly from their bank account. The money is immediately transferred into your bank account. This is visible on their account statement. To make a direct debit transaction, you must first request a digital direct debit authorisation from your customer. This authorisation states, among other things, the amount and the date of payment.

The direct debit payment method is easy to set up in your webshop. A disadvantage is that your customer can (wrongly) ask their bank to reverse a direct debit payment that has been approved without a written signature. And keep in mind that you pay a small amount for every payment made by direct debit.

Buy now, pay later

Buy now, pay later, also known as post-payment, means the customer pays after buying and receiving the product (achteraf betalen). This payment method generates trust because the customer can view the product at home and then pay. Buy now, pay later service providers include Riverty, Klarna (in Dutch), or Billink. These companies take over the financial settlement and provide a payment guarantee. You need not worry if you will receive your money after sending the product. The risk lies with the payment provider. You do pay a fee for this service.

QR code

You can also use a QR code as a payment method in your webshop. Your customer scans the code on their phone or tablet, using their banking app to pay. Payment is processed free of charge.

You can also use the QR code for post-payment. You send the ordered product with an (online) invoice. There is a QR code on the invoice. Your customer only has to scan the QR code with their banking app or another payment app. The money is then automatically transferred to you after confirmation from the customer. Read more about using QR codes.

Other payment methods

There are also other payment methods, such as:

• Cash on delivery (onder rembours). With this method, your customer pays the courier.
• Paysafecard. This is an anonymous prepaid card for webshops that sell music, films, or games.
• There are also online payment options such as Tikkie (in Dutch) and In3.
• Another variant is ‘omnichannel’. If you have a physical store as well as a webshop, you can let your customers order online and pay in the shop.

Protect your webshop against payment fraud

Ensure that your customers can pay securely online. Use a secure payment system that makes it difficult for criminals to steal from your online shop and customers. Read how to run a secure online shop on KVK.nl.