Top 8 Best Payment Gateway in Pakistan For eCommerce Stores

The eCommerce industry in Pakistan is in the early stage, making it really important for businesses to join as soon as possible to find their position in this competitive market. In today's increasingly developed digital age, there is one crucial piece you should not miss that is how to connect consumers and customers with online payments. 

Payment gateways have had a significant impact on the development of the eCommerce industry in Pakistan. When it comes to selling their products or services online, businesses often face the problem of finding the best payment gateway for their stores.

That’s why we are here to help you solve that problem of how to choose a perfect payment partner by giving you a list of the best payment gateway in Pakistan. 

But before that, it’s better to go through quickly into the definition of a payment gateway and how it works.

Read more: Top 5 Best Payment Gateway For Small Business

Overview of Payment Situation in Pakistan

Although the E-commerce industry in Pakistan is still in its early stages, Payment gateways now have been a powerful tool that is used by an increasing number of businesses in all fields. Basically, its function is to allow sellers to accept payment activities such as online shopping, online bill payment, and e-business with debit/credit card payments from their customers.

In Pakistan, international payment gateways have been used by certain websites, however, the procedure and setting-up costs still are a problem for many businesses to afford, which somehow delays its progress to become a norm. 

Nevertheless, online payment gateways are still the front-end technologies and tremendously support the growth of eCommerce businesses in Pakistan, which makes them vital digital platforms that any eCommerce business should understand to make good use of them and boost their revenues online.

What factors to look for the best payment gateway in Pakistan?

Since there are many options available, finding the best payment in Pakistan is considered a pretty tough job. However, it’s critically important to make the right choice right from the beginning because it involves the survival of your business in the eCommerce market.  

Although a specific choice of what a perfect payment gateway for your business really depends on the nature of your business, and apart from targeting your audience, product and service market, and hundreds of other elements, there are still a few factors to consider before choosing the best payment gateway in Pakistan for your company which are:

• A simple flow for accepting payments
• The fees and services included in the agreement
• The effectiveness and speed of transactions
• Ensure the Checkout process is simple and works well across all devices
• Ensure the integration process is simple to make.

Best payment gateway in Pakistan  - Banks

Since you all have a basic understanding of what a payment gateway is and some tips to choose the best payment gateway in Pakistan, it’s time to look for a good payment gateway in Pakistan to work with. Below would be the list of best payment gateway in Pakistan and we have a closer look at each of them in different categories. 

1. Habib Bank Limited

Habib Bank Pakistan (or HBL Pakistan) one of the leading commercial banks in Pakistan with a customer base of nearly 27 million people. 

This bank has been a well-known payment gateway in Pakistan for high-level security in protecting customers from fraudulent transactions. However, it has some disadvantages which are long sessions to start online card payments and its customers would have to pay higher charges for internet payments. 

Habib Bank has offered simple and easy transactional models for its clients no matter whether they are using websites, eCommerce stores, mobile apps, or social platforms like Facebook and Instagram when it comes to the best online payment gateways in Pakistan. 

2. United Bank Limited

The second big name in the Pakistani banking industry is United Bank Limited, also well known as UBL with a customer base of 3 million. 

Customers who use the service of UBL can enjoy the benefits of a free transaction fee and a relatively short settlement period. 

However, United Bank Limited will not allow SMS notifications through UBL Wiz card for shopping online. 

UBL can be considered a famous banking network with 1400 branches all over the world. 

To meet the digital payment needs of a wide range of customers worldwide, the UBL started UBL Go Green Internet Merchant Acquiring Service with the aim of speeding up the transactions for both buyers and sellers throughout the country. 

3. Muslim Commercial Bank Limited

The last big payment gateway provider in the banking sector we want to introduce today is Muslim Commercial Bank Limited. This is another renowned name in the banking sector because of its brand image which has been well developed over the years.

The Muslim Commercial Bank Limited has done a good job in enhancing security and flexibility for their customers. They also have 3D-Secure payer authentication which is absolutely an advantage. But you should know in advance that this company has not so good support for customers. 

With a strong network of 1550 branches throughout the country and a massive customer base of 7 million, MCB is another great payment gateway company among the view dominant players in the finance industry in Pakistan.

Read more: Top 10 best payment gateway for eCommerce business

Best Payment Gateway in Pakistan – Fin-Tech Companies

Above are the top names in the banking industry, which is supposed to make the buying and selling process become much easier for people via the Internet. Those can be called traditional banks but they keep up-to-date with new technology and therefore they stay alive and are not left out in the eCommerce industry.

Now we will talk about some modern financial technology companies (fintech companies) in Pakistan. Those companies are built with the only purpose of making transactions and finance easier for people today. 

1. Payoneer

Payoneer is a very popular payment platform that was found in 2005. They have simplified the money transferring process and offered digital payment services for small and medium businesses, corporates, and freelancers. 

The company’s function is to create an effective cross-border platform for online payment. Merchants can through it accept, send funds across borders, and manage their bank accounts in a simple way.

• Pros: 

- For a cross-border app, this payment gateway has a quite low transaction fee. 

- Users can directly transfer funds to their local bank.

• Cons: 

This payment gateway charges a comparatively high annual fee of 29.95 dollars

Freelancing platforms such as Fiverr and Upwork, marketplaces like Amazon and Shopee, along with big enterprises like Google, Airbnb, and Payoneer, all have revolutionized the global eCommerce market massively. Particularly in Pakistan, Payoneer has been popular and used widely for accepting online payments from Bank Transfer, Credit Card and Debit Card. Transfer options can be made either online or by telephone. 

2. JazzCash

JazzCash is a service by a leading telecommunication company Jazz in Pakistan, which provides mobile money transferring options for global merchants. 

The company’s function is to develop solutions for branchless banking and online payment gateways. Their focus area is to allow users to send their money to CNIC, bank account, or mobile accounts from JazzCash in just seconds. 

• Pros

- JazzCash makes the transferring process quick and time-saving

- User data can be easily integrated with a Payoneer account

• Cons

- After installation, new users may find it hard to sign in. 

- Technology incidents related to fingerprint’s pin can be sometimes problematic. 

In other words, a JazzCash account is actually a bank account that will be integrated with your mobile number to let its users transfer or receive money using the data of CNIC, bank account, or mobile account. 

JazzCash users can also find other services useful: loan payments, online payments, saving plans, and insurance.

The JazzCash company has experienced incredible growth in sales over the years and currently they have reached over 9 million active users on average each month.

3. EasyPaisa

First launched in 2009 by a renowned telecommunication company, Telenor, EasyPaisa was the first service in the mobile banking sector. Its function is the same as Payoneer which aims at branchless banking service and payment gateway. EasyPaisa lets users send, receive money and transact money for payment or managing purposes.

• Pros

- EasyPaisa has quite a user-friendly interface on its mobile app.

- The company charges a low transaction fee for merchants (usually 2-3%)

• Cons

- There are occasional problems related to failed transactions

Last year in 2020, EasyPaisa reached 7.4 million active users and is seeking more growth in revenue over the years.

Generally, EasyPaisa provides many financial services to the users, including online payment gateway, business and salaries payments, cash management, and supply chain payments.

As a fin-tech company, EasyPaisa has grown tremendously in the Pakistani eCommerce market and offers its solutions to multiple big companies like Uber, Ruba Digital, HumMart, Bykea, Daraz, Seed Out. etc

Some great advantages of using the Easypaisa online payment gateway are:

- Simple onboarding process with a registration portal

- Easy integration and great assistance for customers

4. FonePay

Known as a modern-day fin-tech company, FonePay can provide its consumers with easy financial services and good mobile applications.

This payment gateway company is different from the previous companies mentioned above, its focus is put on Software House Wallet.

The company’s emphasis is on improving online payment options. FonePay also gives its users loyalty rewards on its platform.

• Pros:

- FonePay’s digital services are friendly to users, along with a high level of security

- It’s convenient to make transactions only with the recipient's mobile numbers.

• Cons:

- There are some usability errors on the mobile application sometimes.

FonePay is a digital lifestyle platform powered by Mastercard, through which you are allowed to make online payments for anything at any time you want in just a few seconds.

With FonePay, the consumers can also pay for any third-party company or service that they are using, for example, Google Play, Hulu, iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon.

Until now, FonePay has integrated with around 45 banks and is working hard with the aim of making cashless transactions become more popular for everyone.

In addition, like EasyPaisa FonePay also offered users various loyalty reward programs to give them discounts and better economical packages with the hope that the strategy can keep their customers stay with them for a long time.

5. Keenu Wallet

Another well-known digital wallet is Keenu Wallet, which is among the best payment gateway in Pakistan. Keenu Wallet helps users with fast and secure payments to facilitate the selling and buying process.

• Pros

- Provide easy cashback on any products and services

- Easy and friendly integration

• Cons

- One problem is that cashback can only work via Keenu Wallet

- There would be no offer for discounts.

It can be said that Keenu Wallet has reduced the gap between traditional payment in retail stores and online payment options with a variety of solutions. Here are a few ways to make it come true: 

- Customers can pay for any product or service via the application.

- Customers could make use of special barcodes at stores to pay for them.

- Transactions can be made between two different accounts to send money to each other.

- Users can make payments for other services like booking a train ticket, bus, insurance, and so on.

It’s simple to set up your account on the app and once successfully download it, there would be basic steps you have to go through:

- Enter your phone number and verify the code to get into the app

- Put your name and your CNIC also.

- Because Keenu Wallet is compliant with SBP, you must verify your ID.

Read more: Top 8 Best Payment Gateway in USA For Magento 2 Merchants

Conclusion

As not all payment gateways are the same when it comes to convenience, security, and flexibility that your business is looking for to support eCommerce activity. What works well for other companies may not be the best choice for you and your customers.

We all know that choosing the best payment gateway in Pakistan is not an easy job but hopefully after reading our article, you now have found at least a promising partner to work with.

Thank you for taking your time to go on our blog today and don’t hesitate to send us an email if you have any questions related. You can also visit our store blog for other interesting posts and useful tips to apply in the eCommerce industry.