The 11 Best Payment Providers to Consider for Your Club
Online payment services are the future of running successful clubs, we look at the best payment providers for running a digitally online club or organization.
Online payment services are the future of accepting payments. While taking cash or cheques will never go away, you might ask yourself is there a better way? In 2024 yes, there is a better way with online payment systems.
Processing payments online makes it easier for members, customers, or donors to support you in a way that’s convenient to 82% of Americans. In 2024 it’s hard not to offer an online payment option, no matter your organization, especially if you want to capitalize on your potential.
In 2023 the Southern Nevada Climbers Coalition was able to increase memberships by 10% using embolt.app, a membership management platform for clubs and communities making it easier than ever to manage communities.
As Billy Malone, director of members at SNCC at the time, put it: “We didn’t even know who our members were before embolt, running events is easier than ever now”.
The SNCC is just one example of many organizations using embolt.app to ditch the spreadsheets and make managing members easy. Below we’ll give you a breakdown of how online payment services work, and why you can benefit from using one today.
The Benefits of Online Payment Solutions
In today's digital era, everything happens online. Online payment platforms offer a plethora of advantages to both your organization and its supporters, including:
Aligning with Standards and Expectations
Streamlining the Payment Procedure
Enhancing Efficiency through Automation
Boosting Revenue Generation
Ensuring the Security of Payment Data
Meeting the Mark
The comfort level of individuals with online payments is steadily rising. Whether it's signing up, registering for an event, or making a contribution, members, clients, or backers prefer swift and hassle-free transactions. Websites lacking online payment options risk being perceived as outdated.
Expediting Processes
The swiftness of online payments is unmatched. Bid farewell to waiting for checks to arrive or clear; the entire process, from submission to bank account update, is completed within seconds. The outcome? Enhanced cash flow for your organization and instantaneous transaction confirmations for participants and potential members.
Efficiency through Automation
Automated payment systems eliminate the need for manual check deposits and recording. Once online payment mechanisms are integrated into your website, transactions are swiftly processed. Moreover, credit card information is neither handled nor stored, and member record updates occur automatically.
Maximizing Revenue
Implementing online payment systems fosters trust among supporters and expands your reach. By catering to a broader audience, whether through services, memberships, or events, you're poised to increase overall revenue for your organization.
Ensuring Payment Security
Instilling trust is paramount, and a secure online payment processor accomplishes just that. Members gain peace of mind knowing that their dues, event registrations, or donations are meticulously tracked, minimizing the risk of misplacement or oversight.
Deciphering Online Payment Terminology
The Language of Online Payments
Several terms are often used interchangeably in the realm of online payments:
Payment gateway
Payment processor
Payment provider
Payment service or payment system
Merchant account
Although they carry nuanced differences, they all denote entities—be it a company, service, or application—that serve as financial intermediaries between your website, your clientele, and your bank accounts. Each plays a crucial role in facilitating online transactions and managing payments.
Understanding the Components
Payment Gateway: A payment gateway functions as a conduit, receiving online payment requests from your website and directing them to the payment processor. It's akin to the digital equivalent of a point-of-sale machine at a brick-and-mortar store.
Payment Processor: The payment processor verifies the purchaser's credit card details, ensuring the availability of sufficient funds to cover the transaction. Upon confirmation, funds are transferred, and transaction status updates are relayed to the payment gateway.
Payment Provider: This entity operates the payment gateway or payment processor services, sometimes handling both aspects.
Payment Service or Payment System: When a payment provider offers various payment gateways with distinct features and pricing, each variant is termed a payment service or payment system.
Merchant Account: Central to the process, a merchant account receives funds from completed transactions, acting as a designated bank account exclusively for credit and debit card proceeds. Typically, setting up a merchant account with your payment provider is necessary to accept online payments.
Untangling the Complexities
In physical transactions, only the payment processor is essential, but in virtual transactions, both components are crucial. Despite this, some services merge the functionalities of the payment gateway and payment processor into a unified system, complicating the differentiation.
The Best Online Payment Systems For Your Organization In 2024
Here’s a few payment systems you can use for your club, community, or organization in 2024 (we’ve included reasons why you might choose one processor over another)
1. PayPal via embolt.app
embolt offers secure transactions via PayPal for clubs and communities of any size. PayPal is a globally recognized brand and offers lighting fast transactions on top of a safety guarantee for users, and embolt is a partner of PayPal allows direct-to-merchant payments on the platform.
If you’d like to try out online payments for your organization, embolt does not charge a monthly fee, rather members will pay an additional transaction fee on top of PayPals standard rate and your hub & admin panel will remain free to use forever.
Costs: 7.9% + $0.30 per Credit/Debit transaction
2. Stripe
Stipe is the most flexible payment processor on the market. Whether you’re a large nonprofit with different donation streams, or a small club/association, Stripe’s API will easily link your payments anywhere needed. You can even transfer from LLC to corporate status!
Costs: 2.9% & $0.30 per Credit/Debit transaction + 0.4% per recurring bill
3. Apple Pay
For online payments, Apple Pay has the most seamless payment options on the market. Users can instantly pay using their existing Apple 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)
5. Due
Due is a feature-packed payment processor that’s ready for 21st century needs. Due gives users access to virtual wallets, secure transactions, and even time tracking software. If you’re looking for a broad solution with different forms of payment forms, Due is a great choice.
Costs: 2.8% + 2.9% & $0.30 per Credit/Debit transaction
6. Square
Square was the first in the game to introduce a credit card swiper that could be attached to a cell phone, paired with an app, and process transactions. Their technology has only improved with advanced tap features, as well as fully inclusive software to safely and securely process your transactions.
Costs: 2.65% per card transaction, 2.9% + 30 cents per paid Square Invoice or online transaction, 3.4% + 15 cents per manually entered transaction and $0.10 per Interac debit tap sales
9. Freshbooks
Freshbooks is not just a payment processor, it’s a powerful accounting software used by millions of businesses around the world. You won’t find clearer financial reporting in the industry since they are known for amazing user experience, and supportive customer service. If you’re looking for the ultimate reporting tool and payment processor in one, Freshbooks has you covered.
Costs: 2.9% flat fee
10. Moneris
Similar to Freshbooks, Moneris gives customers not just a payment processor, but modular data reporting and even inventory tracking. Moneris’s edge is their outstanding 24/7 customer service with ratings through the roof. They pride themselves on reliability, and being there when you need them most.
Costs: $19.95 CAD per month, + 2.75% per Credit transaction
11. Regpack
Regpack integrates registration and payment processing on any website. The system allows your organization to easily collect payments on your website to manage your programs, events, donations, and more.
Its payment processing features aim to meet any of your registration needs, like allowing groups to pay for an event under one account, enabling automatic discounts based on known data and registration information, and even facilitating custom automated billing plans.
Coupled with a full suite of data management tools, like email communication, reporting tools, and filtering options: Regpack is a one-stop-shop to manage your clients, programs, and payments.
Costs: As low as 1.5%
Thousands of Organizations Use Membership Management Software
If you run a membership organization (like a club or association), membership management software can make running events, collecting fees, and managing members easier than ever.
This type of software is called Membership Management Software, and is an all-in-one solution allowing organizations and clubs to get up and running easily. This software can generally:
Instantly process online payments, fees, and donations
Setup online volunteer, member, and event registration pages.
Maintain a full contact database that’s easy to search, filter, and update.
Improve member communication through automated invoices, emails, newsletters, and maintenance requests.
Provide you with financial reports, analytics, and membership summaries in seconds.
Membership Management Software eliminates the need for multiple systems and the processing work needed to maintain them all by condensing everything into one, easy-to-use solution.
If you’d like to set up this software for your organization, we’d encourage you to give embolt.app a try since it’s free to get started and we’ll never charge a month-to-month.