A Review of Shopify and Shopify Cloud Payments
Shopify is the cloud-based, leading multichannel commerce platform. Shopify is appropriate for medium and small-sized businesses. The software to set up, design, and manage across multiple sales channels including social media, mobile, web, pop-up shops, brick-and-mortar locations, and marketplaces. The platform offers a powerful back office and is engineered for scale and reliability. It powers in more than 150 countries and has many trusted brands under its wing.
Who uses Shopify?
A first-time seller or any business that is a multi-million dollar one finds Shopify satisfactory. The main is to have an idea, an internet connection, something to sell, and an online live store. There are more than 1200 apps and features, such as shipping tools and inventory tracking. Shopify is useful for any store, and it is a powerful platform that is extremely scalable.
Shopify: The positives
Plug-and-Play Ecommerce
The biggest advantage is to sell quickly on Shopify. It is because it has everything, website builder, hosting, order tracking, payment gateway, and marketing tools. The installation process is simple and involves no delay in starting the payment processor. The advantage is you get SSL certificates and web hosting that you need not bother to handle anything separately.
Extra Support
Shopify offers good customer support. It is difficult to sell products sometimes as it needs fixing. Users requiring help many find Shopify helpful. The agents in Shopify are available by chat, 24/7 through phone, Twitter, or email, and the issues resolve quickly.
Multiple Payment Options
Selling online is the attraction of every website builder, and Shopify payments allow sending money in various ways. You can use Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, cryptocurrencies, credit cards, and PayPal. The check-out process is efficient and allows inputting information about shipping and payment that reduces the buying steps.
Shopify: The Negatives
Transition Difficulty
A Shopify user can move online store but should be ready for an inconvenient transition. If an account is closed, Shopify removes the data from the online store permanently. It is hard to switch as it locks them.
App Dependency
The diversity and range of the Shopify app store are amazing. A few tradeoffs are coming with the best features and only as apps. You can renew subscriptions and keep app updates to ensure there is no problem due to apps. Besides too many apps makes your site slow.
Total Monthly Price
Shopify is expensive and is competitive with a monthly subscription. The price also goes up with the plugins, apps, and payment processor fee charges. The eCommerce platforms all have the same scenario, but the fact is that the additional costs cannot escape.
Shopify Payments
It refers to the integrated Shopify payment processor. It gives the new merchants in Shopify to process payments immediately.
The Shopify payments do not need you to integrate any payment provider from outside. It also does not ask you to pay a fee per transaction.
Features of Shopify payment processing
- Shop Pay is the checkout accelerated eCommerce solution enabling easy-to-use Shopify payments. It allows customers in saving the information for payment to ensure secure purchases. With customers returning to purchase, the process of checkout is faster, and the abandoned carts are fewer.
- Omnichannel platform offered by Shopify is an online service. You can buy merchant services or multiple products and launch a site or sell it online. There is no need to have a complete online shop if you wish to sell on Instagram and Facebook.
- Shopify PCI compliance features are the best security and include no additional fees. Shopify payments offer secure 3D checkout, and it reduces fraud purchases while verifying identities. They provide a step-by-step guide and API documentation.
- Shipping is built-in and provides real-time shipping rates to calculate. It helps to track shipments, and print and buy shipping labels. Shopify shipping is the new feature for the Shopify merchant account.
- Shopify checkout options are safe, and the feature is separate. The payments are technically separate and have features updated. It facilitates local delivery and curbside pickup from any other location.
Positives of Shopify payment processing
Customers choose for many reasons Shopify payment processing and the positive points making Shopify notable are:
- Ease of use- Making payments is convenient and easy. There is no need for any technical skills. You can get the eCommerce site readily in a few minutes and begin selling. There is no need for developers to facilitate connecting payment as it integrates into the admin panel seamlessly.
- Lowering processing fees- Shopify merchants can enjoy lower rates, and the processing fees of credit card is competitive with other processors.
- No transaction fees- Shopify payments did not need to bear the extra processing fees, and the fee associated with transactions helps in choosing the right Shopify plan.
Negatives of Shopify payment processing
- Holds funds- Frequently merchants keep complaining of funds holding as a reserve. It is standard practice and is more if the chargeback risk is elevated.
- Ineligibility- Merchants complain they are ineligible for Shopify payments. It is not available in some countries, and the payments are revoked stating high risk.
- Not flexible- Users find Shopify not really flexible. Many find Magento and WooCommerce to be flexible. They do not have to be the backend of the server or the database. Thus, there is a negative impact on a few sellers, while most merchants benefit as they do not have to maintain the database and be in charge of the server.
- Add-ons increase cost- The merchants requiring additional apps more functionally need to get them from the Shopify store and it drives the cost higher and quickly.
Final verdict
Shopify, the eCommerce platform, and Shopify Payments are the top-notch solution, and it is appropriate for eCommerce businesses. However, it is your responsibility to go through the Terms of Service before signing up, thus you can save tons of pain, no matter, whether it is the eCommerce platform or the payments. The eCommerce platform and the cloud payment offer the best features and are worth a 4.5/ 5 rating.