Comparison of Swiss online payment providers for 2023

Finding the perfect payment provider for your online store can be a real challenge, but it is invaluable. In this article, we compare the nine most important payment service providers for Swiss online stores - namely Datatrans (planet), PayPal, Payrexx, PostFinance, Stripe, wallee, Worldline, saldiaPay and zahls.ch- to make your decision easier.

First, a few key terms are clarified and a cost analysis is carried out, then the individual providers are evaluated in detail so that you can find out which payment service provider is best suited to you.

Online payments: Theory for understanding

In order to accept payments in an online store, merchants need an acceptance contract with an acquirer and a processing contract with a payment provider. The following explains what exactly an acquirer and a payment provider are and how they interact with the online store.

What is a payment service provider (PSP)?

Payment service providers, or PSPs, are companies that take care of the technical connection of online payment methods in online stores. An online merchant only has to negotiate with one payment service provider in order to obtain all the desired payment methods, integration systems and e-commerce tools and to fulfill the security requirements. The corresponding contract with the payment provider is called a processing contract because it relates to the technical handling and processing of payments.

How a payment service provider (PSP) works

What is an acquirer and an acceptance contract?

An acquiring or acceptance contract is an agreement between a merchant and an acquirer (also known as an acquiring bank). This contract regulates the acceptance and processing of credit card payments and other electronic payments. The acquiring bank is the credit institution that processes card payments for merchants. Merchants can conclude an acceptance contract with acquirers such as Worldline or Concardis, for example, or with a payment facilitator (PF) such as Payrexx.

What is a payment facilitator?

A payment facilitator (also PF or collecting PSP) is in direct contact with the merchant and manages the account with the acquirer. The payment facilitator can sign the acceptance contract on behalf of the acquirer, making it easier to set up because the merchant has fewer direct relationships. The payment facilitator therefore enables the integration of different payment methods in the online store with just one contract.

How a payment facilitator (PF) works

How do you choose the right provider?

It is crucial for merchants to have a simple and reliable connection, a wide range of payment methods and tools, good support and a payment provider that is as cost-effective as possible in order to save unnecessary costs. In addition, every online store should clarify the following requirements:

• Which payment methods should be offered in the online store? Not every provider supports all common payment methods. Different payment methods are available depending on the region or origin of the provider.

• Which tools are needed for the online store? Each provider has a slightly different range of integrated e-commerce tools. For example, some providers specialize specifically in donation pages, others in online stores. However, some also offer an all-in-one solution for different business models.

• Which store system do you use? Most providers offer plugins for the best-known store solutions* for integrating the payment solution in the online store. If you do not yet have your own store or have developed it yourself, there are a few providers who have a solution for all cases.

• How is payment security guaranteed? A payment service provider meets the highest security standards for online payments. By signing a contract with a PSP, you also meet these standards and can guarantee your customers the highest level of payment security.

It is advisable to choose a payment provider that is also an acquirer or payment facilitator so that merchants have a single point of contact for everything.

Overview of the functions of the individual payment providers

The following table shows which payment provider provides which payment methods*, which store systems are compatible and how the companies are rated on Google.

*The most common remedies in Switzerland are listed.

In addition to the best-known store systems, there are some providers who offer their own store systems - which do not require any programming knowledge to set up. Such offers are listed in the table as "Integrated e-commerce tools". This tool makes it easy to create stores for products, vouchers, subscriptions or donation pages.

Datatrans was merged with Planet as well as Hoist, protel and Proximis under the common brand planet. In this article, we refer to Datatrans (planet).

Function matrix of the various payment providers

**Datatrans was merged with Planet as well as Hoist, protel and Proximis under the common brand planet. In this article, we therefore refer to "Datatrans (planet)" and refer to the public terms and conditions of Datatrans.

Cost analysis

In this section, the monthly costs (subscription and transaction fees) are calculated. The calculation is made once for an online store with a turnover of CHF 20,000 and once for an online store with a turnover of CHF 100,000.

For the cost analysis, the most favorable offers of the individual payment providers were selected for the corresponding trading turnover. The prices are largely* taken from the websites of the relevant payment service providers. The diagram does not include any setup costs.

*Acquiring costs are not publicly visible in the Datatrans offer. Therefore, a value of 2% was assumed (average value of all other providers).

Online stores with a monthly turnover of CHF 20,000

The cost analysis shows the monthly fees for smaller online stores with a turnover of CHF 20,000 and 200 credit card transactions per month. The average value of a transaction is therefore CHF 100 per purchase.

Monthly costs for a turnover of CHF 20,000 (without setup)

The lowest fees for smaller online stores are with Payrexx, closely followed by PostFinance. With costs of CHF 790, PayPal is the most expensive for online stores with this volume. The absolute price difference between Payrexx and PayPal is CHF 441. The costs of the cheapest payment provider Payrexx are therefore more than 50% lower than the most expensive offer. In addition, Payrexx offers start-ups and non-profit organizations exclusive discounts of 30% and 50% respectively on all price plans.

Online stores with a monthly turnover of CHF 100,000

The cost analysis shows the monthly fees for medium-sized online stores with a trading turnover of CHF 100,000 and 1,000 credit card transactions per month. The average value of a transaction is therefore CHF 100 per purchase.

Monthly costs for a turnover of CHF 100,000 (without setup)

Payrexx is the cheapest provider with costs of CHF 1,549 per month, followed by wallee. For medium-sized online stores, PayPal, Stripe and Worldline are significantly more expensive than the other providers. Payrexx is a total of CHF 2,401 cheaper than the most expensive provider, which represents a percentage price difference of over 60%.

No calculation was carried out for large online stores, as most payment providers offer non-public special conditions for larger customers - e.g. Datatrans, Payrexx, Stripe, walle, Worldline and zahls.ch.

All payment providers in detail

Payrexx: Payment facilitator with integrated e-commerce tools

Payrexx is both a payment provider and a payment facilitator. Thanks to a favorable pricing model and a variety of payment interfaces and e-commerce tools, Payrexx is a modern and user-friendly all-in-one solution.

With integrated tools such as a payment link, one-page store with its own URL, virtual terminal, QR Pay and digital invoices, Payrexx fulfills the individual wishes of almost every merchant. Payrexx is suitable for selling products, services, online tickets or vouchers, but also for collecting membership fees or processing donation projects. Thanks to the 30-day test phase, the payment platform can be tried out free of charge. Payrexx has an average Google rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars with a total of 126 reviews.

Price overview of Payrexx

* Preferential conditions between 1.5% and 1.3%

What do retailers need to do for integration?

Since every merchant receives a payment website with its own Internet address, neither integration nor programming knowledge is required. If you already have a store, you can integrate the payment solution using the available plugins. To register with Payrexx, you only need a valid photo ID and, if necessary, an entry in the commercial register.

PostFinance Checkout: a comprehensive e-payment solution

PostFinance enjoys a high level of customer acceptance in Switzerland. PostFinance Checkout is a payment solution that offers all common payment methods (PostFinance e-finance, PostFinance Card, TWINT, Visa and Mastercard) as well as various store plug-ins. All payment provider and acquiring costs are already included in the prices listed below. PostFinance also offers a free trial period of 30 days in a simulation mode. PostFinance has an average Google rating of 2.5 out of 5 stars with 119 reviews.

Price overview of PostFinance Checkout

What do retailers need to do for integration?

PostFinance Checkout is available to all companies based in Switzerland or the Principality of Liechtenstein that have a business account in CHF with PostFinance.

Worldline: Acquirer and payment provider

Worldline offers both acquirer and payment provider services and therefore usually provides the offers as a package. With the Worldline e-commerce package, payments can be processed directly via a payment window. Transfers are possible in more than 20 currencies and customers can decide for themselves which currency they want to pay in. This is also because Worldline provides what is known as Dynamic Currency Conversion. In addition, Worldline offers various payment functions, such as subsequent debits or the booking of partial amounts. Worldline has an average Google rating of 2.8 out of five stars from a total of 420 reviews.

Price overview of Worldline

What do retailers need to do for integration?

No programming knowledge is required. According to Worldline, it is particularly suitable for existing e-commerce solutions and static websites.

Datatrans: provider with a lot of experience

Datatrans is the largest provider in Switzerland and can be integrated both as an external payment option (external payment window) and through an implementation (via API in the store layout). With Datatrans Payment Pages, merchants have access to all payment methods with a single integration. Datatrans Secure Fields fit seamlessly into the design and help to improve the merchant's conversion rate. This provider also offers the option of creating a test account. Datatrans has an average Google rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars based on 16 reviews.

Datatrans price overview

The setup costs cannot be found on the Datatrans website and an average value of CHF 100 was assumed. In addition, the minimum charge per month is CHF 290 (excluding external acquiring costs) and external acquiring fees of around 2% are incurred in addition to the Datatrans costs.

What do retailers need to do for integration?

Datatrans itself does not have an online store tool, so you must already have your own online store. This can be a self-developed store or you can use a standard store system. As Datatrans is neither an acquirer nor a payment facilitator, merchants also need acceptance contracts with another acquirer.

PayPal: an international payment provider

PayPal is a simple solution for store providers, but quickly becomes more expensive for larger order volumes. Payment links, email invoices and various plugins are available. According to PayPal, the payment facilitator has more than 240 million active users and offers the option of making payments in over 100 currencies. PayPal is an international provider, which means that merchants can choose from a variety of different languages. PayPal has an average Google rating of 1.7 out of 5 stars with a total of 474 reviews.

Price overview of PayPal Switzerland

PayPal does not charge any set-up fees or monthly subscription costs, which is particularly worthwhile for stores with very few transactions.

What do retailers need to do for integration?

To use PayPal, merchants only need to provide company information and a commercial register number. No developer knowledge is required.

Stripe: Provider for developers

Stripe offers developer-friendly tools for connecting payment provider services to various web and mobile apps with a modern design. It enables credit card payments and also provides some other payment methods such as Alipay. Like Payrexx and PayPal, Stripe is a payment facilitator. Due to its prices, Stripe is particularly attractive for smaller online stores. The provider has a Google rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars based on 48 reviews.

Stripe price overview

Stripe also has no one-off set-up costs or fixed monthly fees. No additional fees are charged for refunds either.

What do retailers need to do for integration?

The merchants must have developer knowledge for the implementation. In addition, a valid photo ID and a company number are required for verification.

wallee: Omni-Pay provider from Switzerland

Wallee is a Swiss payment provider based in Winterthur. Over 1,000 customers trust this company. Payments can be made online either integrated on the website or via redirection. The templates can be changed as desired and plugins for various store systems are also available. A test mode is also available. Wallee has a Google rating of 3 out of 5 stars with 39 reviews.

Price overview from wallee

What do retailers need to do for integration?

To be able to use one of the many integrations, retailers usually have to take a few technical steps and integrate a wallee plugin or an API into their store.

saldiaPay: Payment provider with its own store system

SaldiaPay is a Swiss payment provider that offers digital payment solutions for businesses. They enable the processing of credit card payments, accept digital wallets and offer secure, user-friendly payment services. saldia offers a wide range of solutions such as online payments, online stores and logistics services and has built up a good reputation in various industries.

Price overview of saldiaPay

What do retailers need to do for integration?

Programming knowledge is not necessary to use saldiaPay. With saldiaShop, it is very easy to create an online store and it comes with the matching payment provider saldiaPay and many other integrations such as bexio, saldiaLogistics and swissbilling. The verification process includes personal identification with a photo ID and, if available, entry in the commercial register.

zahls.ch: New Swiss payment solution for the web

Zahls.ch is a Swiss provider with a very clearly structured offering. In addition to traditional payments, e-commerce tools are also available. These include an online terminal, payment links, digital invoices and a self-configurable payment page (small online store). Zahls.ch provides all Swiss payment methods and a large selection of foreign payment methods. Zahls.ch has an average Google rating of 5 out of 5 stars with a total of 3 reviews.

Price overview from zahls.ch

What do retailers need to do for integration?

Programming skills are not necessary to use zahls.ch, on the contrary. It is very easy to create an online store using the built-in tool. The verification process involves providing a photo ID and, if available, an entry in the commercial register.

Conclusion: Which payment provider is right for you?

It is generally advisable to clarify the individual requirements of the online store in detail and then, if possible, start with low-cost options instead of starting with too high expectations and paying unnecessarily high prices. Payrexx, for example, is an exciting option for young and digital companies. Payrexx offers an all-in-one solution with various tools that can be tested and is the cost leader for medium-sized online stores - followed by PostFinance and wallee. PayPal, Stripe and Worldline, on the other hand, charge relatively high transaction fees and Datatrans has high monthly fixed costs.

In addition to the prices, the range of functions and supporting services should also be taken into account. The most versatile and useful tools are offered by zahls.ch and Payrexx.

With over 200 payment methods (including integrated third-party providers), Payrexx offers the largest selection of payment methods, followed by Datatrans (planet) with over 40 different payment methods.

PayPal, Payrexx and zahls.ch outperform the other payment providers in terms of ease of installation. In terms of general implementation, Stripe is more comprehensive than the other providers. With PostFinance, advanced developer knowledge is required to install the plugins.

The opportunity to test the provider and its functions in a free phase is a great advantage for merchants, as it allows them to ensure that the payment provider meets their needs. Datatrans, Payrexx, PostFinance, wallee, Worldline, saldiaPay and zahls.ch allow customers to try out the provider.

Datatrans, PostFinance and Worldline have the most experience in the area of payment service providing.

In summary, when choosing a payment provider, it's worth not only looking at the familiar ones, but also keeping an eye on the newer digital payment providers. This is because they are often cheaper, but still offer a variety of tools and can better cater to the individual needs of each merchant. Payrexx and wallee offer great advantages for small and medium-sized stores, while it can be worthwhile for larger companies to look at the larger providers with a lot of experience. In general, Payrexx is clearly one of the frontrunners in terms of price, variety and simplicity.

Sources

Prices: Datatrans, PayPal, Payrexx, PostFinance, Stripe, wallee, Worldline 1, Worldline 2, saldiaPay, zahls.ch

Plugins for store systems: Datatrans, PayPal, Payrexx, PostFinance, Stripe, wallee, Worldline, saldiaPay, zahls.ch

Payment methods: Datatrans, PayPal, Payrexx, PostFinance, Stripe, wallee, Worldline, saldiaPay, zahls.ch

Icons: Flaticon

Legal (as of December 2023)

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Author:inside

Author:insideMelanie Frutiger and Sven Otziger, Payrexx AG

E-mail address: melanie.frutiger@payrexx.com