What international payment methods are the most used on the Internet?

E-Commerce and online payment methods have changed the way we do business making it cheaper, faster and more reliable. Nowadays, we don’t have to wait days and weeks in order to charge our clients or to pay providers. With one click we can transfer any amount we need or introduce our credit card details and within seconds receive the confirmation of successful payment.

  • Cash: “Cash is king” was one of the first concepts that we were taught in our classes of economics. It is the oldest methods of payment and the one that is often related to money laundering and illegal activities. Therefore, the authorities of many states are not implementing the policies towards reduction of cash payments and its circulation in one country's economy. However, for many startups accepting cash is a necessity since they cannot afford merchant fees.
  • Wire transfer: This payment method allows transferring large amounts of money under high level of security but it is not very convenient for small and urgent payments. Even though, in last 20 years the period of reception of money was reduced: for Europe-IBAN 1-2 days and for the rest of the world-SWIFT 2-5 days, it still takes from 2 to 3 days, an average, for other part to receive the money.
  • Money transfer by Western Union: This payment method is one of the oldest ones and it is widely used in Latin America where sometimes the option of opening a current bank account is denied to the population. It is very fast and takes only 5-10 minutes to transfer and receive the funds but it is one of the payment systems with the largest number of Internet frauds.
  • Check: Checks is an outmoded and unsafe payment method. There are a lot of businesses that don’t have enough knowledge or facilities to verify the validity and authenticity of checks and for this reason decide not to accept it. Moreover, it is a payment method where the receptor of the money has to wait from 20 days to 1 month for the transaction to be executed.
  • Bitcoin or Facebook Pound virtual currency: It is the most modern online payment method on the Internet. It is instant but still very risky since it is not regulated by any central bank yet. The high risks of fraud and its unpredictability make its implantation into our every day life almost impossible.
  • Virtual POS terminal or payment gateway: Payment processing and E-commerce are the present and the future of online payment methods and world economy. This online payment method allows paying for goods and services instantaneously and without any risk. The cards used for purchases include insurances offered by issuer banks and payment gateways, in its turn, involve latest technologies incorporated in secure 3D fraud prevention (Visa, MasterCard) and Safe Key (Amex).