List of Malaysia E-Commerce Payment Methods
During consultation with clients who aim to setup an online business in particular an online store, one of the most common questions is how do I collect payment and how do customers make payment?
The one and only method recognized by many clients because of its common use is via credit card. They don’t know how it works but they’ve heard from friends or relatives when shopping online, they would pay by just entering their credit card details. Alas online shopping in Malaysia is slightly difficult due to lack of exposure and insecurity of even the shop owner let alone the customer.
Malaysia e-commerce started very late and adding salt to the wound is our high numbers of credit card fraud. This affected Malaysia not only in the e-business but the mentality of the already conservative culture here. Consumers became so afraid that it contributed to one of the reasons not many aged around 40 years old aren’t using Internet banking services provided. But that’s a whole other story.
So let’s say you’re preparing to setup an online store in Malaysia. What do you need to know?
For starters, you need to what is a payment gateway. In layman, payment gateways encrypt sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, to ensure that information passes securely between the customer and the merchant.
Here’s a list of of common payment gateways courtesy of Wikipedia:
- Authorize.net
- Chase Paymentech
- Ctel Technologies
- eMatters
- Fastcharge.com
- iTransact
- LinkPoint
- Network Merchants
- Payment Express
- Paypal
- Plug ‘n Pay
- SafeMerchant Payment Gateway
- Skipjack Financial Services
- Soeasypay
- Shift4
- VaultLine
- Verepay Technologies
- VeriSign
The main difference between them are the chargeable fees. A payment gateway normally consists of these basic fees:
- Setup fee
- $ per sale
- $ Sale Amount
- Monthly fees
The biggest setback some of those gateways have is that they don’t support Malaysia banks. Meaning that the only way you can withdraw your money is sometimes through an American bank.
Not to be anti-Malaysia, here’s a list of local payment options for setting up an online store in Malaysia:
- Internet Banking
- Maybank2u.com
- PBEbank.com
- RHB and etc.
- Auto Debit
- PosPay
- MEPS FPX
- Mobile Money
I’ve yet to ask the banks how does the merchant account work in terms of transactions and tracking payments because last I heard, you need like a minimum sales of RM10,000 to apply for their service. So unless you’re selling gold or have a selling power that meets their mark, you can’t apply.
The auto debit scheme is not entirely new offline but it is online. While reading through their processes to make payment online (without visual guides), I’d have to say that FPX and PosPay seem the most tedious. Mobile Money on the other hand has a structured process for payment and it’s a matter of keying in the merchant ID, amount to be paid and your PIN for verification.
So what should you go for to jump on the Malaysia e-commerce bandwagon and setup your online business today?
I always introduce to clients providers like 2Checkout (2CO), WorldPay, and PayPal. Reason is because their reputation has been built solid so far with little to many complaints in rarity. For a local payment option, I’d recommend all since it’s less hassle.
However, the thing I dislike most about local payment options is the unnecessary process you have to go through in order to make a payment. In e-commerce today, it’s all about the speed of finding what you want, paying for it and getting what you want. Therefore if our local providers don’t improve on their payment process to facilitate the demand of speed and usability, merchants will continue to use non-local 3rd party processors.
Where did you first purchase locally online? And how was your first online shopping experience?
[tags]e-commerce, online shopping, internet banking, payment gateway[/tags]
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Hello and welcome to Websites Made Simple. I'm Danny Foo and this is my Malaysia website design blog. I also co-founded a registered Malaysia website design company; Simpleet Solutions. -
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I did my first online purchase using maybank2u.com to buy an item from lelong.com.my. So far I find that maybank2u is the ‘de facto’ standard for doing online business without credit cards. It was a breeze, and easy to use system and i’m really satisfied with it
That is, ppl that do not have maybank account may be at disadvantage when doing business online.
For one-to-one transactions, any Internet banking service will do however the reason many requests for a copy of the payment receipt is because like Maybank2u, it doesn’t allow you to know who sent you the money.
I think that’s just stressful at times.
I go for 2CO and Worldpay usually.
Maybank2u is ok for 1to1 transactions but not for manyto1 transactions.
yes, that was a real bummer. So far I find only CIMBClicks has that feature, but it is only good when the sender is a CIMBClicks users too.
I noticed for many online florist stores, they offer more than a single payment option and make the mistake of not having a structured system.
It’s like they just place all there and expect the customer to know which to select when in reality, they might be a Maybank2u user and a Mobile Money person.
I recently stumble across this website called StealthBuyer when trying to top-up my prepaid IDD call services from Xintel (www.xintel.com.my). Not sure if anyone has heard of them. They are a new form of payment gateway which allows buyers to pay from credit cards, savings account or current account from around the world. To do this, one must do internet banking.
It is claimed that their revolutionary system, the safest payment method to date, eliminates fraud, identity theft and phishing. The beauty is that you never ever have to reveal your financial details to anyone be it merchants or even themselves (unlike PayPal).
The plus is they only charge a very low transaction fee without any other hidden cost. Down side is that they are currently linked to Malaysian banks and foreign banks to follow in the near future.
Well it’s still worthwhile to browse (www.stealtbuyer.com) to have an idea of their patented system. Rather interesting concept.
Hey Johnny,
I recently visited the StealthBuyer website and found the service promising. However, the biggest weakness in it now it ONLY supports CIMB Clicks. As much as it can claim it supports other banks and worldwide banks too, it still looks to be fresh and aiming to gain support from the local financial providers here.
On the other hand, I think if StealthBuyer manages to pull this off in Malaysia with their current ONLY 2.20% per transaction fee it’ll no doubt be a hit.
Thanks for the heads up and I’ll try to make an appointment with them to see if we can work together for future.
Yo Dan,
So does that mean that many of us in Malaysia who is looking to shop online wouldn’t have to pay the 4-5% extra charges imposed by local or regional websites who use PayPal?? Lol. Some savings for me. Well it’s time you maniacs out there to upgrade your electronic gadgets cos Singapore sells them cheaper.
Wonder which site sells iPhone?
Well, the good thing with StealthBuyer (if they get all local banks in) is the shop owner needs to pay 2.20% of transactions everytime there’s one. Which means products might even become cheaper for consumers later.
If PayPal charges so much and many still use them, is StealthBuyer trying to undercut them or what? I mean being 50% cheaper..could they have compromised something to reduce cost?