In this guide we will see everything you need to know about payment engines in Mexico. From what they are, how they work, which are the best, their commissions and some additional recommendations.
What is a payment engine or payment gateway?
A payment engine or payment gateway is like a virtual terminal that allows you to accept payments online. Unlike a physical terminal, there are even more ways to accept money online, giving you more options for receiving money.
How can I accept money online with a payment engine?
There are several ways to request money online, mainly in a virtual store or e-commerce. Here we list the most common ones.
Payment by debit/credit card: This will allow you to accept payments with Visa, Master Card or American Express cards (among others).
Payment by bank transfer (SPEI): The customer may request a bank transfer, you will share a reference number and you will be paid manually. There are also referenced payments in which when the deposit is detected automatically you can mark the order as paid.
Cash or convenience store payments: This allows the customer to print a reference code and pay at some super markets, drugstores or convenience stores such as Oxxo or 7 Eleven.
Installment Payments: Better known as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). This payment method enables users to pay with their debit card in fortnights without the need to have a credit card.
Cryptocurrencies: Although at least in Mexico it is not yet common, you can accept cryptocurrency payments in your online store.
What do I have to do to use a payment engine?
First of all you need to register in the payment engines you are interested in. It should be clarified that no payment engine (at least, the ones we use the most) do not charge you any kind of monthly subscription. They only earn when you use their platform (through commission).
Each payment engine requests different information, but we recommend that you have the following information available for these payment engines in Mexico.
- INE (Front and back)
- Fiscal Proof
- RFC
- Proof of address
- Bank statement cover page
- An e-mail
- A telephone number
- Articles of Incorporation (in case of legal entity; SA DE CV, SAPI, etc.)
What are the best payment engines in Mexico?
There are many alternatives or ways to accept payments, here we share with you some of the most popular, well known, and reliable payment engines in Mexico and the ones we work with the most.
Paypal
Paypal is one of the first payment engines that existed and is one of the most reliable. It also allows you to accept payments from anywhere in the world.
How Paypal works in Mexico
Paypal has two options Paypal Express and Paypal BCDC (formerly Paypal Plus).
With Paypal Express customers will have to log in with their Paypal account when checking out and will be able to pay online through their account.
With Paypal BCDC (formerly Paypal Plus) when you want to confirm your order it will take you to a Paypal page where the user can pay with debit or credit card, WITHOUT having a Paypal account. This is an excellent option.
Commission: 3.95% -2.95% + 4 MXN + VAT
Payment time: 1 to 2 business days
With Paypal depending on your sales volume is what commission they will give you.
See here all the information about paypal commissions:
https://www.paypal.com/mx/webapps/mpp/merchant-fees
Mercado Pago
Mercado Pago is one of the most complete options in Mexico because when you install it in an online store to accept payments you will be able to accept all these forms of payment: credit/debit cards, transfer payments, cash payments, electronic money (Mercado Pago wallet) and even credit.
How Mercado Pago works in Mexico
When your users reach the checkout or are about to finalize the purchase if they select Mercado Pago as an option. They will see an option to select from all the options they have:
- Credit/debit card
- Electronic money with Mercado Pago
- Bank transfer
- Cash payment (at convenience stores)
- Paypal
Commission: 3.49% -2.9% + 4 MXN + VAT
Payment time: In the case of Mercado Pago the commission varies based on the time in which you want the money to be deposited. The highest commission 3.49 is the one you get if you want instant payment, if you want to be paid in more days e.g. 14 days the commission drops to 3.19% or 30 days to 2.9%.
Here you can see all Mercado Pago commissions
https://www.mercadopago.com.mx/ayuda/costo-recibir-pagos_220
Conekta
Conekta is a reliable option that also allows us to accept credit/debit card payments, bank transfer and cash payment at Oxxo.
How Conekta works in Mexico
When your users get to the checkout or are about to finalize the purchase if they select Conekta as an option they will see an option to select any of the following options.
- Credit/debit card
- Bank transfer
- Cash payment (at convenience stores)
Card commission: 3.4% + 3 MXN + VAT
Cash payment commission: 3.7% + 4 MXN + VAT
Bank transfer payment commission: 12.50 MXN
Payment time: Approximately 48 hours.
Here you can see Conekta's commissions and prices https://www.conekta.com/pricing
Stripe
Stripe is one of the platforms that also allows you to accept payments from all over the world. In the case of Mexico you can accept credit/debit card payments and also cash payments (not all platforms have this second option enabled).
Unlike other payment engines, Stripe for the card part is one of the easiest and most transparent, since from the same checkout there the user can capture his card data.
Card commission: 3.6% + 3 MXN + VAT
Payment time: 7 days
Here you can see Stripe's commissions in Mexico.
https://stripe.com/en-mx/pricing
Open Pay
Open Pay is an engine backed by BBVA. It is one of the platforms with the lowest commission and allows you to pay with credit/debit cards as well as cash payments and bank transfers.
Card commission: 2.95% + 2.50 MXN + VAT
Cash payment commission: 8MXN + VAT
Bank transfer payment fee: 2.9% + 2.50 MXN + VAT
Payment time: Approximately 48 hours.
Kueski Pay
Kueski pay is one of the platforms that allows you to pay in installments or fortnights without a credit card.
How does Kueski Pay work?
The user makes his cart at the end of the purchase if he selects Kueski, if he does not have an account right there with some data he can be given the option to defer in fortnights his payment. If the customer already has an account with Kueski Pay login with that you can apply to defer payment.
The client will be able to choose the number of fortnights he/she wants to defer. No interest will be charged to the client, as long as it is not more than 5 fortnights, if it is more, probably an additional commission will be charged to the client.
There are some things to take into consideration such as minimum and maximum purchase amounts. The average is 5,000 but it can be increased according to the needs of each business.
Commission: 5.5%.
Estimated payment time: Payments are made several times a week.
Kueski Pay commission is not fixed, but it is more of a reference. In order to get a commission from Kueski Pay, we can put you in contact with them so we can quote the commission for your online store.
Which payment engine should I use in Mexico?
All the payment engines mentioned here are good, reliable and secure for online stores of all sizes. It will depend on which one is the best fit for your business. Some of the considerations that some of our customers usually have are:
- Price of commission charged to them
- Time to deposit money
- Payment options you do/don't want to offer your customers
We recommend that you register with all payment engines. They usually ask for the same information and no payment engine charges you any kind of monthly fee, this means that they only charge you if you have transactions.
How does interest-free months work for online stores in Mexico?
Most of the payment engines in Mexico mentioned here (Paypal, Mercado Pago, Conekta, Stripe, Open Pay) offer interest free months to your customers. Whether this works depends on the payment engine and your platform (Shopify, Woocommerce, etc).
Interest-free months are for your customers, but the longer the payment term you offer, the higher the commission charged by the payment engine.
These commissions depend on each payment engine, but here is an average of what is normally charged.
The card's base commission + interest-free months
If the commission is 3.95 and you want to offer 3 months it would be a total commission of approx. 6.95, if you want to offer 6 months it would be 9.95% commission and so on. If you want to offer 12 months interest free it would be approx. 15% commission.
It is also important to understand that this makes more sense for higher tickets or orders. Offering 12 months interest free on furniture or high value products may make more sense than selling an inexpensive product. It is also important to consider that there are minimum amounts to offer interest free months.
Who protects me more against risks or charges?
All of them protect you in some way, in our experience we believe it also depends a lot on the line of business. But no matter what payment engine you are on, it is highly probable that someone will eventually charge you back. No matter what payment engine you work with, try to have everything well documented and organized, information about your orders, shipments, return policies, etc.
Over the years different clients have been charged on different platforms, we understand that the experience is not pleasant, but sometimes it's part of the process. But if you don't feel comfortable with one platform try another to see what makes the most sense for your business.
Additional tips for payment engines or payment gateways
Test
Whenever you install a new payment engine, test the whole process. Do it as a user so that you can understand the process well and also analyze the data and other information as an administrator of your store so that you can familiarize yourself with the process.
Register on all platforms
We have mentioned it above, but sign up for all of them, if you have a problem with any of them you can quickly make the change.
Legal
Be sure to make your rules clear in your return or refund policies. This will give the customer more peace of mind. We also recommend you to have a FAQ page so you can quickly clarify general questions about payments, shipping and returns.
Accept more payment options
This may depend on the line of business, but we recommend that you give more payment options to your customers, this can help reduce buying friction, at least try to offer the following options:
- Credit/debit cards
- Cash payments
- Bank transfer payments
- Deferred payments
- Paypal Payments
Negotiate your commission
As you get more and more traffic approach the payment engines to see if they can adjust your commission, normally when you start selling more than 500,000 MXN per month or 1,000,000 MXN per month you can negotiate even lower commissions than the commercially listed ones.
Tebiko + Payment engines
In Tebiko we have agreements and agreements with some payment engines in Mexico. Contact us and we can even give you preferential rates. If you need help to install a payment engine contact us and we will be glad to help you.
We offer e-commerce store creation services, online store support and audits.
If you have any questions write us through our social networks, Whatsapp or mail and we will gladly support you.