Your checkout is turning customers away, and your payment mix is probably why
You can have the right product, the right price and beautiful product pages, and still lose the sale in the last ten seconds. One in two French consumers has already given up on a purchase because of a poor payment experience. In a French e-commerce market worth €175.3 billion in 2024 and still growing close to 10% a year, that's not a detail. That's a leak in your revenue.
The good news: it's one of the few leaks you can fix with configuration rather than reconstruction.
Payment choice is a revenue metric, not an IT detail
Most shoppers have one or two payment methods they trust, and they ignore the rest. If their method isn't there, a meaningful share simply leaves. Studies put it at roughly 7% of checkout abandonments, before we even talk about friction.
The upside is well documented:
- Offering the top three payment methods of your market (instead of only the #1) can increase conversion by up to 30%, according to ACI Worldwide.
- Stripe measured an average 2x conversion increase when Apple Pay is shown early in the checkout instead of at the very end.
- A Nielsen study commissioned by PayPal found that large merchants offering PayPal convert up to 33% better at checkout (vendor-sponsored, so treat it as directional, but the direction is consistent across studies).
In short: every payment method you add is a door you open for a specific segment of your customers. The question is which doors matter, and what each one costs you.
The five families of payment solutions, and what they really cost
1. Platform wallets: PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Wero
These are "account-based" methods: the customer pays without typing card numbers, which is exactly why they convert so well on mobile.
PayPal remains the trust champion, especially with older or cross-border audiences. For European merchants it costs around 2.9% + €0.35 per domestic transaction, with surcharges of 1.29% (intra-EU) to 1.99% (rest of the world) for international sales, see the official fee schedule. It's one of the most expensive options, and merchants regularly complain about fund holds and disputes. But removing it can cost you more in lost sales than it saves in fees.
Apple Pay and Google Pay are a different story: neither Apple nor Google charges the merchant anything extra. You pay your processor's normal card rate, and in exchange you get biometric authentication, tokenized cards (less fraud, fewer false declines) and a genuine one-click experience. If your audience buys on phones, these two are non-negotiable.
Wero is the newcomer to watch. Built by the European Payments Initiative, a consortium of major EU banks, it replaced Paylib in France and Payconiq in Belgium, and already counts more than 43 million registered users. Money moves account-to-account in under ten seconds, with no card network in the middle. E-commerce acceptance is rolling out now through players like Worldline, PAYONE and BNP Paribas, with in-store payments planned from 2026. For merchants, the promise is simple: fewer chargebacks, lower costs, and a European sovereign alternative to Visa, Mastercard and PayPal.
2. Card processors: Stripe, Viva, or your own bank
Stripe is the default choice for a reason: for European cards you pay 1.4–1.5% + €0.25 (2.5% + €0.25 for UK cards, 3.25% + €0.25 for non-EU cards), and a single integration unlocks 40+ payment methods. Its Stripe Checkout product is a hosted, one-click payment page with Apple Pay and Google Pay built in. It's the fastest way to a modern checkout without writing payment code. One caveat: Stripe maintains a long restricted-businesses list and can impose rolling reserves or terminate accounts in verticals it considers risky (supplements, ticketing, crypto-adjacent activities…).
Viva (viva.com) is a Greek acquirer active in ~23 European countries, with interchange++ pricing (roughly 2.19% + €0.18 online) and an original twist: your acquiring fees drop to 0% when you spend your balance with their business debit card. It's also known in the market for accepting some business profiles that Stripe declines, which, if you’ve ever had an account frozen, you know is worth a lot.
Direct bank acquiring is the cheapest per transaction: EU interchange on consumer cards is capped at 0.2–0.3%, so at scale you can get well under 1% all-in. The trade-off: contract negotiation, PCI compliance scope, a gateway to integrate, fraud tooling to assemble. Lower fees, but genuinely complicated, and it usually only pays off above significant volume.
3. Pay-by-bank and instant transfers: the quiet disruptor
Open banking lets a customer pay you directly from their banking app: no card, no interchange, no chargeback. Providers like Bridge in France (used by Cdiscount, Payfit or Alma) charge a flat fee of roughly €0.15–0.50 per transaction, whatever the amount, and the money lands instantly via SEPA Instant.
Do the math on a €500 basket: a card payment costs you €7–15; an instant transfer costs you cents. The EU Instant Payments Regulation is pushing every eurozone bank to support these transfers at no extra cost, so adoption will compound. This is the solution that skips Visa and Mastercard fees entirely, so keep it on your radar, especially for high baskets and B2B.
4. Alternative methods: installments and crypto
Installments (BNPL) such as Alma, Klarna and co. are the most expensive methods here (roughly 3–6% per transaction), but they buy you something concrete: the merchant is paid in full on day one, the provider carries the default risk, and baskets grow. French retailer Jonak reports +50% average basket with Alma, and Maisons du Monde makes about a quarter of its sales volume in installments. In fashion, electronics or home equipment, your customers increasingly expect it.
Crypto is more niche. Coinbase Commerce made it simple at a flat 1% with no chargebacks, but note that Coinbase Commerce is shutting down for merchants outside the US and Singapore (migration deadline: March 31, 2026), with stablecoin-first successors taking over. Unless your audience is crypto-native, treat this as an optional extra, not a priority.
5. Cross-channel players: SumUp and the banks
If you sell both online and in person, SumUp covers both worlds with one account: 1.69% in-person, 2.5% online, no monthly fees, terminals included. Traditional banks offer similar terminal + e-commerce bundles with negotiable rates: solid, but rarely at the frontier of checkout experience.
Frequently asked questions
Is card and PayPal enough?
Card alone is no longer enough, and card + PayPal is a decent baseline but not a ceiling. Offering the top three payment methods of your market can lift conversion by up to 30%, and showing Apple Pay early in the checkout rather than at the very end doubled conversion on average in Stripe's data. A pragmatic starting point: cards through a PSP, Apple Pay and Google Pay visible from the top of the checkout, and PayPal for trust.
Does adding Apple Pay or Google Pay cost anything extra?
No. Neither Apple nor Google charges the merchant anything: you pay your processor's normal card rate. In exchange you get biometric authentication, tokenized cards (less fraud, fewer false declines) and a genuine one-click experience. They work through your existing PSP, so enabling them is configuration, not a new contract.
Stripe or direct bank acquiring: when does switching make sense?
Stripe (1.4–1.5% + €0.25 for EU cards) is the fastest path and unlocks 40+ methods with a single integration. Direct acquiring is the cheapest per transaction — EU interchange is capped at 0.2–0.3%, so well under 1% all-in at scale — but it means contract negotiation, a PCI compliance scope, a gateway to integrate and fraud tooling to assemble. That math only pays off above significant volume; below that, the fees you save rarely cover the cost of owning the stack.
When is an instant bank transfer actually worth it?
When your baskets are big. The fee is flat (roughly €0.15–0.50 whatever the amount), while card fees scale with the basket: on a €500 order, a card costs €7–15, an instant transfer costs cents. It is also the only method with no chargebacks, which makes it a strong fit for B2B and high-ticket products. The EU Instant Payments Regulation keeps pushing adoption, so the customer-side friction is falling too.
BNPL looks expensive at 3–6%. When is it worth it?
When the basket is big enough that the fee still leaves you margin, and the method is expected in your category (fashion, electronics, home equipment). Remember who carries the risk: you are paid in full on day one and the provider absorbs the defaults. Retailers like Jonak report a +50% average basket with Alma. On a €30 basket, though, a 5% fee eats more margin than the extra basket size you will win — make the call on your real average order value.
What if my industry is “risky” and my PSP declines or freezes me?
It happens, especially in verticals like supplements, ticketing or anything crypto-adjacent. The practical defenses: read the restricted-businesses list before you sign, avoid stacking all your volume on a single PSP, and know your alternatives (Viva, for instance, is known in the market for accepting profiles that Stripe declines). A warm backup PSP is the difference between a managed migration and two weeks of lost revenue.
Can I run several payment providers at the same time?
Yes, that is the whole point of the “payment mix”: each provider handles the methods it does best, and your checkout routes the customer to the right one. The trade-off is operational — multiple contracts, multiple dashboards, multiple reconciliation flows — so pick a core PSP for cards and wallets, and add specialists (BNPL, pay-by-bank) only where they pay for themselves in conversion or fee savings.
Should I add Wero to my checkout now?
Not as a priority, but watch it. It already counts more than 43 million registered users and promises lower costs and fewer chargebacks, yet e-commerce acceptance is still rolling out (Worldline, PAYONE, BNP Paribas), with in-store payments planned from 2026. The right move today: track your PSP's Wero roadmap and be ready to test it once your acquirer supports it, rather than building around a method your customers cannot use yet.
How do I calculate the real cost of each payment method?
Take the fee (rate + fixed part), multiply by your average basket, then weight it by the share of transactions that method represents. The instant transfer is flat, so the average basket doesn't matter; a card at 1.5% on a €100 basket costs €1.50 + €0.25. Do that per method against your real order mix, and you get the number to compare against the conversion lift each method brings — that is the actual business decision, not the headline rate.
Do I have to handle PCI DSS myself?
Much less than you'd think with hosted options. With Stripe Checkout, PayPal or Apple/Google Pay, card data never touches your server — the exchange happens directly between the customer, the PSP and the wallet — which shrinks your PCI scope to the lightest level (SAQ A) rather than a full self-assessment. The moment you start capturing card numbers in your own forms, the scope — and your audit surface — grows fast. That is another reason hosted checkouts win for small and mid-size merchants.
So, what should you actually do?
Indicative cost ladder for a European merchant:
| Method | Typical cost | Main benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Instant bank transfer (Bridge…) | ~€0.15–0.50 flat | No chargebacks, huge on big baskets |
| Direct bank acquiring | <1% | Cheapest at scale, but complex |
| Stripe (EU cards, Apple/Google Pay) | 1.4–1.5% + €0.25 | Fast, modern, all-in-one |
| PayPal | ~2.9% + €0.35 | Trust and conversion |
| BNPL (Alma, Klarna) | 3–6% | Bigger baskets, zero credit risk |
A pragmatic stack for most European merchants: cards through a PSP like Stripe, Apple Pay and Google Pay displayed early, PayPal for trust, one BNPL option if your basket size justifies it, and pay-by-bank for high-value orders. Then watch Wero as it matures.
The real mistake isn't picking the "wrong" provider, it’s offering only one way to pay. Every missing method is a customer segment politely closing the tab.
At Saphes IT-Systems, we help e-commerce businesses audit their payment stack, model the real cost per method, and integrate the right mix without breaking the checkout. If your conversion rate stalls at the payment step, that's usually where we start.
