Multi-currency Payment Gateway: Definition | Providers

Payment gateways bridge the gap between bank accounts, shopping carts, and currencies around the world, making each transaction seamless between buyers and sellers. If you’re not using one already or simply looking to upgrade your system, you’ll want to review this list.

In this article, we'll also talk about how Wise Business could help you receive and spend your earnings internationally.

Looking to get paid internationally while saving money along the way?

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What is multi-currency payment processing?

If you run an ecommerce store, you’ll know that the best shopping experiences are two things: personalized and convenient. Multi-currency payment processing allows for both of these things by being able to accept and manage transactions in multiple currencies. These processors let your online store display prices and process payments in the local currency of the customer, no matter where they are in the world.

The best part about them is that they can remove the complexities of foreign exchange rates, multi-currency conversion fees, and international banking regulations, which simplifies online shopping for the seller and the end-user. When a customer makes a purchase, the value is instantly converted into their local currency, showing them exactly what they’ll be charged.

Multi-currency payment gateways: Top companies

If you want the convenience and perks of tapping into new markets and supporting a global clientele, choosing the right cross-currency payments platform is your next big step. Each gateway offers their own features, benefits, and user experiences, which is why you want to carefully select one that fits your business model. Let’s take a look at a few top payment companies worth considering:

1. Stripe

Stripe is supported in 47 countries. If it’s available in your country, you’ll be able to sell to customers anywhere around the world. The platform currently supports 135+ currencies, 100+ payment methods, and 30+ languages, with the most popular payment types for the specific customer set to appear on your checkout page.^1,2

With Stripe, there’s no need to worry about compliance or regulations as they deal with all of that for you. Their product suite also helps tackle fraud, set up recurring billing, automatically collect tax, or even utilize one-click checkout for a more sure-fire conversion experience. Adding in Stripe Chargeback Protection, you can shield your business from any unexpected disputes.

Pricing
Stripe lets you choose between Standard pricing at 2.9% + $0.30 + 1.5% per charge for international cards or Custom pricing if you’re a business with larger payment volume or a unique business model.3

2. PayPal

Right off the bat, PayPal has a range of advantages when it comes to its existing reputation, security, and integration capabilities. It’s currently available in 200+ countries and regions and supports 25 currencies.⁴

PayPal has a free and paid version of their payment gateway: Payflow Link and PayFlow Pro. They accept a range of popular payment methods, such as major credit and debit cards.

PayPal also boasts a range of flexible features like refunds and reversals and plenty of risk management features like Seller Protection and Chargeback Protection to safeguard your business.

Pricing
While Payflow Link is free, Payflow Pro costs $25/month. You can also add on additional fraud protection services, recurring billing, and buyer authentication for extra fees. There’s also a 2.5% charge for currency conversion and a 1% charge to receive payments from another country.5

See the Best Banks for Small Businesses >>

3. Square

Square is unique in that it doesn’t offer a standalone payment gateway. It functions as an end-to-end payment processing solution for both brick-and-mortar and ecommerce businesses. Their cross-currency payment capabilities are slightly more limited than some of the other options on this list, but could be a great fit if you’re only looking to support payments from specific countries. Countries supported include:⁶

• The US
• Canada
• Australia
• Japan
• The United Kingdom
• Republic of Ireland
• France
• Spain

Since they aren’t a payment gateway, Square charges all credit and debit transactions in the currency of your account. As a seller based in the US, all your customers, no matter where they are, will be charged in USD. Their bank performs the currency conversion, which means it’ll cost them rather than you.⁷

Pricing
Online payments cost 2.9% + $0.10 per transaction, while keyed-in transactions and card-on-file transactions cost 3.5% + $0.15 per transaction. If available for the customer, buy-now-pay-later options cost 6% + $0.30 per transaction.8

4. FIS Global (Worldpay)

FIS Global’s online payment processing solution, Worldpay, works to streamline the checkout experience by offering global consumers the payment types and currencies they want.

They support common payment methods like debit and credit cards, along with local options that include over 300 Alternative Payment Methods (APMs). This local experience includes 126 currencies in over 50 markets. With their domestic licenses, consumers can also access lower rates on cross-border connections.⁹

Pricing
Worldpay generally charges 1.5% transaction fees and comes with a £19.95 online gateway fee, but offers tailored pricing if your business prefers variable pricing options.10 There may be other specific fees depending on the transaction, but there aren’t many details on pricing on their site.

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Is Wise Business a payment gateway?

Wise has established a glowing reputation for international money transfers, but the question remains – is it a payment gateway?

Wise isn’t traditionally recognized as a payment gateway since its main function isn't to process transactions between an ecommerce site and a customer's bank.

Rather, Wise Business is an online platform for sending, receiving, and managing money in multiple currencies across borders.

Wise serves as a great way for ecommerce business to get paid without paying fees for cross-currency transactions. Customers can get local account details to avoid being charged a hefty fee. Then, they can transfer between currencies on their Wise Business account at the mid-market exchange rate.

Ready to start receiving funds in major currencies like GBP, EUR, USD, JPY, CAD, AUD, and more?

Receive international payments
with Wise Business

Some key features of Wise Business:

Major local account details to receive international payments like a local (GBP, EUR, USD, CAD, JPY, and more) No monthly account fees just a simple one-off fee for account details Receive payments from ecommerce platforms (such as Amazon or via Stripe) Create invoices using the Wise invoice generator or invoice templates Accounting integrations, including a QuickBooks Bill Pay connection. Bill payments will be synced, matched, and categorized in QuickBooks for simple reconciliation. Batch payment options. Fast payment of up to 1,000 invoices.

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5. Adyen

Adyen is similar to Square in that it's an end-to-end payments solution. It allows sellers to accept payments online on any device, whether in-browser, on mobile, or through a link. Payment experiences can be tailored to each customer, with language localization, location-based payment options, and details that can be saved for later payments.

You can offer local payment methods for global customers, including gift cards, prepaid cards, direct debit, mobile, online banking, and digital wallets.

Pricing
All transactions come with a fixed processing fee of €0.11 and a fee determined by the payment method. For example, the payment method fee for WeChat Pay is 3% of the transaction amount.11

6. 2Checkout (Verifone)

2Checkout allows ecommerce sellers to sell online and accept payments globally from anywhere in the world with a localized experience. Their global sales platform, 2Sell, has coverage in 200+ countries and territories, 45+ payment methods, 30+ languages available, and 100 display currencies, allowing your customers to take advantage of a truly global payment system.

There are two payment models available – the Merchant of Record Model, which takes care of global payment processing, sales tax, and more, and the Payment Service Provider Model for ecommerce and subscription management for large companies selling to domestic markets. The downside to 2Checkout is that they only allow payouts in three currencies: USD, EUR, GBP.¹²

Pricing
For each transaction, there is a 3.5% + $0.35 fee.13

7. Braintree

Braintree is a global commerce tool powered by PayPal. It’s available in more than 45 countries and regions and supports more than 130 currencies.¹⁴ Their multi-currency merchant account comes with payment gateway Braintree Direct, a way to accept and process payments from customers around the world. With either a ready-mode UI or a custom UI, you can offer a checkout experience that accepts payment with leading digital wallets, credit and debit cards, and popular local online payment methods.

Pricing
For cards and digital wallets, there is a 2.59% + $0.49 fee per transaction, with an additional 1% fee for transactions in non-USD currency and an extra 1% fee for cards issued outside the US.15

8. Checkout.com

Checkout.com is another international payment processor that lets sellers collect payments from around the world across a variety of digital channels (web, mobile, messaging, and more),. They support 150+ processing currencies, have domestic processing in nearly 50 countries, and carry global and local payment methods.¹⁶

While their priority is payment acceptance, they also focus on revenue optimization through Intelligent Acceptance – an optimization tool offering message optimization, intelligent retries for recurring transactions, and more.

Pricing
Reach out directly to sales

9. Sage Pay

Combining a payment processor, ERP software, and accounting tools, Sage Pay is a useful business solution for businesses of all sizes and in all industries. Their integrated payment solutions include debit and credit card processing and international payments with Transfermate.¹⁷

Sage Pay is a solid choice if you’re looking for more of a cohesive platform with more than just payment solutions. However, information on their cross-currency payment offering is quite limited.

Pricing
Sage Pay offers different pricing plans based on your business needs, but there, unfortunately, isn’t information on transaction fees.

10. Amazon Pay

Amazon Pay is Amazon’s own payment gateway, which lets consumers check out at thousands of other sites and stores. It offers a simple way to check out with the convenience and security of the Amazon platform – all shoppers have to do is have an Amazon account and existing payment methods stored in that account.

Like many other payment processors, Amazon Pay allows the customer to pay in their preferred currency. The funds then go through automatic multi-currency conversion to the currency associated with your account. Amazon Pay supports 12 currencies, including AUD, USD, EUR, and more.¹⁸

Pricing
Amazon Pay has transaction-based fees with two components – a processing fee and an authorization fee. For cross-border transactions, there is a processing fee of 3.9% and an authorization fee of $0.30.19

Learn More:

Is Wise safe for US businesses?
QuickBooks ACH Fee: What is it? Full Fee Breakdown.

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Sources used :

1 - Stripe - Global Businesses
2 - Stripe - Checkout
3 - Stripe - Pricing
4 - PayPal - Countries
5 - PayPal - Merchant Fees
6 - Square - International Availability
7 - Square - Accept Multiple Currencies
8 - Square - Payments
9 - FIS Global - Global Acquisition Brochure
10 - FIS Global - Worldpay Payment Processing
11 - Adyen - Pricing
12 - 2checkout - Global Payments
13 - 2checkout - Pricing
14 - Braintree - About
15 - Braintree - Pricing
16 - Checkout.com - International Coverage
17 - Sage - International Payments
18 - Amazon Pay - FAQ on Multi-currency Capabilities
19 - Amazon Pay - Fees

Sources last checked on 1-February 2024.