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E-commerce Comparison: Payment and Shipping methods
October 7, 2015
Overview
Payment and shipping options are two main things you need to configure while managing your online store.
NOTE: We do not provide support for shipping and payment methods, one should contact corresponding e-commerce communities or payment gateway providers for assistance.
Payment Modules
Each e-commerce engine has several default built-in payment systems. The additional methods can be added via third-party modules or scripts.
IMPORTANT! – How to choose the payment module: The quality of the Payment module is very important. Make sure the module has been around for a while, it is widely used and tested. New extensions will have a lot of glitches in most cases. The checkout is the most critical part of any e-commerce site, that is why we recommend checking the following aspects:
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Fraud detection.
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E-commerce backend and payment services provider (PSP) admin panel configuration.
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Multi-currency and multi-language options.
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How well integrated it is with alternative payment methods (e.g. ELV, Vorkasse, etc.).
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Refunds management from e-commerce admin’s order section.
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Possibly store payment details (on the PSP) to provide faster checkout to returning customers, using tokenisation technology.
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Clear payment details recorded on backend, in order to avoid having customer service rep jumping from E-commerce admin to the PSP’s admin panel.
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Easy to set up and manage a test account, for your test site. That will help you to configure the payment method and be sure that all orders are processing correctly.
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Detailed logs, to make troubleshooting easy.
One should note that developers of commercial payment extensions provide usually much more complete and qualified support than the free ones. It is recommended contacting a required gateway support beforehand to find our whether the module exists and how it should be configured.
In this article we will compare the main items of these options from the most popular e-commerce platforms: osCommerce, Shopify, Magento, PrestaShop, VirtueMart, Woocommerce, ZenCart and OpenCart.
We grouped the e-commerce platforms basing on their popularity and functionality. If you want to find the detailed information about the payment gateway configuration and support, just click its title in the table.
Magento vs Prestashop
Magento (Community edition) | PrestaShop | |
Default methods | Cash on delivery; Bank transfer; Check/Money order; |
Bank wire; Cash on delivery; Payments by check |
Default payment gateways | Paypal (Payments Advanced; Payments Pro, Payments Standard, Payflow Link, Payflow Pro) Authorize.net |
Authorize.net Brink’s Checkout Cadrpay Solutions First Data PayPal PowaTag Simplify Commerce |
Free addons | A few hundred of free integrations. The most popular are Sofort, ePay, Worldpay, 2Chekout, etc. |
19 certified modules: Sofort, Skrill, Hipay and others. Also some open-source modules can be found on the payment gateway providers websites or on the community forum: 2Checkout Quickpay Universal Payment Dalpay, etc. |
Paid modules | More then 400 official extensions, for example iDeal, Klarna, FirstData, Adyen, Sagepay. | About 300 modules on the official marketplace. |
Shopify vs Opencart
Shopify | OpenCart | |
Default methods | Bank deposit; Money order; Cash on delivery |
Bank Transfer Cheque / Money Order Cash On Delivery Free Checkout |
Payment gateways | Amazon Paypal Shopify Payments Dwolla Bitpay Coinbase More then 70 credit cards gateways |
Amazon Authorize.net Bluepay First data G2APay Global Pay Klarna LiqPay Nochex Paymate Paypoint Payza Perpetual Payments Paypal Realex Sagepay Secure Trading Skrill 2Checkout Web Payment Worldpay |
Free addons | – | About 200 third-party modules |
Paid modules | – | Commercial modules |
osCommerce vs ZenCart
osCommerce | ZenCart | |
Default methods | Cash on Delivery; Check/Money Order; Credit Card |
Cash on Delivery; Check/Money Order; Credit Card |
Payment gateways | Authorize.net Braintree Chronopay Inpay iPayment Moneybookers Nochex Paypal 2Checkout Sage pay |
Authorize.net FirstData Paypal |
Free addons | Community addons | Community plugins |
Paid modules | Community addons | Community plugins |
VirtueMart vs Woocommerce
VirtueMart | WooCommerce | |
Default methods | Cash on Delivery; Check/Money Order; Credit Card |
Cash on Delivery; Check/Money Order; Credit Card |
Payment gateways | PayPal Worldpay Authorize.net 2Checkout |
Paypal |
Free addons | Non-commercial plugins: Dexia, ePayment, PayLeap etc. | Free plugins (about 20): Payfast, Simplify Commerce, FuturePay, Amazon and some others. |
Paid modules | Official commercial plugins (15): Sagepay, Paybox, Slimpay etc. | Commercial plugins (about 100): Payment express, e-Path |
Shipping Modules
IMPORTANT! – we recommend considering the following point while choosing/configuring the carrier:
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Implement the required methods depending on your warehouses location and the geographical delivery area provided.
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The shipping method should be configurable in the admin panel.
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Work with promotions to allow free shipping.
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Allow tracking codes to be set against an order.
Magento vs Prestashop
Magento (Community edition) | PrestaShop | |
Default methods and manual carrier configuration | Free shipping Flat rates Table rates |
Free shipping Custom carrier |
Default shipping gateways | UPS |
Sellstrom Global Shipping Ship2MyID ShippingEasy |
Free addons | A few hundred of free extensions. Royal mail, Fontis Australia and many others. | Look for open-source modules on the shipping providers websites or on the community forum. |
Paid modules | About 300 official extensions, for example PostNL, Canada Post, etc. | About 200 modules on the official marketplace. |
Shopify vs Opencart
Shopify | OpenCart | |
Default methods | Zone shipping | City link Flat Rate Free shipping Per Item Pickup From Store Weight Based Shipping |
Default shipping gateways | UPS | Australia Post FedEx Parcelforce 48 Royal Mail UPS USPS |
Free addons | Some free apps (about 30) are available in the App Store: Canada Post, Shippo, ShippingEasy, DHL, inExpress, etc. | Almost 100 free modules: Canada Post, DHL, DPD, etc. |
Paid modules | More then 40 commercial apps:Boxify, ShipWorks and others. | Commercial modules: ACS, Airmail, BPack, etc. |
osCommerce vs ZenCart
osCommerce | ZenCart | |
Default methods | Flat Rate Zone rate Per Item Table rate |
Flat Rate Zone rate Per Item Table rate Pickup From Store |
Default shipping gateways | USPS | |
Free addons | Community addons:DPD, UPS, DHL, Australia Post, FedEx and others. | Community plugins: Royal Mail, DHL, Canada post, FedEx, Ship200 and others. |
Paid modules | Community addons | Community plugins |
VirtueMart vs Woocommerce
VirtueMart | WooCommerce | |
Default methods | Zone Rates Weight Based Shipping |
Flat Rate Free shipping Pickup From Store |
Default shipping gateways | – | – |
Free addons | Non-commercial extensions: FedEx, etc. | Free plugins (almost 10): Shipping Easy, ShipStation,Veeqo, NetParcel and some others. |
Paid modules | Official commercial plugins (16): USPS, UPS, etc. | Commercial plugins (about 30): USPS, POST NL, Canada Post, FedEx, ShipWire |