Payments in Canada: Notes for Small Businesses

One of the many offshoots of the internet’s growth is an increase in the number of payment providers out there. Where once Visa, PayPal, and Mastercard dominated, alternative companies such as Skrill, Neosurf, and even Apple Pay now offer similar and even better services to customers around the world. After all, what works best for people in Canada doesn’t always exist in Africa, Asia, or Europe.

This vast landscape of providers can prove a bit of a stumbling block for small businesses trying to get their hooks into a local market. Visa and Mastercard are still the largest processors out there (and, therefore, essential partners for companies of any size) but it can seem like there’s no obvious reason to choose many others, other than the geographical restrictions mentioned above.

So, what payment providers should Canadian businesses aim to incorporate into their business?

Point-of-Sale

Any conversation about payments should begin with the nature of the industries involved. For instance, any company that works with in-person, point-of-sale commerce (e.g. clothing, food, and sports goods) would benefit from a combined offering like Square, which can take payments over the counter. In contrast, direct debits and similar subscriptions are much more the domain of Rotessa and Recurly.

Some unique case studies for payments come from the gaming industry, where the PC storefront Steam offers providers on a country-by-country basis, producing 249 different sets of card processors. Of course, there are plenty of gaming outlets that operate locally too. Canadian transfer company Interac is a well-known partner in the online casino CA sector, working with brands like MegaRush.

MegaRush also gives customers the option to deposit and withdraw with Neosurf, Visa, MuchBetter, ecoPayz, and Jeton, all of which serve a purpose. Interac lets players transfer funds with email and text messages, while MuchBetter is a peer-to-peer platform that is free to use. Combining all these processors means that companies can appeal to people of different socio-economic statuses.

Cryptocurrency

The obvious question to ask is whether there’s much of a distinction between the payment methods favoured by larger businesses and those beloved by smaller enterprises. The answer is, unfortunately, yes. Major banks naturally have an inclination toward corporations, something that reportedly led to the creation of Plooto, an accounts payable/receivable company for small businesses.

As hinted at above, the upside of this apparent bias is that a number of e-commerce companies exist to serve small and medium businesses almost exclusively, like WordPress and Shopify. In the latter case, access to more than 80 different processors is included in its toolset, including PayPal, Klarna, and Paysafe. WordPress works with WooCommerce to add PayPal, Alipay, Stripe, and Square to websites. 

Finally, what about crypto? Increasingly, there’s no need to provide a separate payment processor for Bitcoin and other tokens, as transactions can be settled by PayPal. Elon Musk’s former plaything lets customers buy, hold, and transfer Litecoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, and Bitcoin. It might take a bit more book-learning than the humble dollar to get going with crypto but, now, it’s more accessible for small businesses than it’s ever been.