How to accept credit card payments as a business

Best for online businesses that want to scale

Stripe specializes in offering sophisticated payment processing solutions that can grow with your company. For online service providers like freelance graphic artists or copywriters, this platform can grow as quickly as you do. Stripe’s robust interface helps you easily integrate its payment platform with other software solutions in your tech stack, like accounting and customer relationship management software.
Pros

Competitive rates for processing online credit card transactions

An application programming interface (API) with options to customize the software to your needs

Financial solutions include invoice processing and quotes designed for businesses with their sights set on growth
Cons

In-person transaction fees are more expensive than those of other providers, making it a bad choice for brick-and-mortar retail

Manually entered or card-not-present transactions are more expensive

Online and in-person transactions	2.9% + $0.30 fixed fee
Manually entered transactions	3.4% + $0.30 fixed fee
International transactions	4.4% + $0.30 fixed fee
Currency conversion	additional 1%
Domestic payment links	2.9% + $0.30 fixed fee
Instant bank payments	2.6% + $0.30 fixed fee
ACH direct debit	0.8% ($5 cap)
International payment methods	starting at $0.80
Buy Now Pay Later	starting at 5.99% + $0.30 fixed fee
Instant payouts	1.5% of volume ($0.50 minimum fee)
Disputes	$15 per dispute
Post-payment invoices	0.4% ($2 cap)

Credit score average masks signs of financial distress: VantageScore