It’s official: Digital and cashless payments are now the most-used payment method in Singapore. 

But this convenience comes at a cost for merchants in terms of payment processing fees. 

3% in online payment processing fees doesn’t sound like much, but it adds up. For example, if you make S$10,000 monthly, $300 goes to payment processing fees. That excludes other set up, maintenance, chargeback and service fees.

Thankfully, as a HitPay merchant, you’ve got a few options to help you lower your online payment processing fees. Let’s get into it!

Method 1: Lower payment processing fees by passing them to your customers

Use HitPay’s pass-the-fees to add admin fees to popular payment methods like credit cards to encourage people to use payment methods with lower processing fees like PayNow. 

Enable HitPay’s Pass the Fees feature on the HitPay dashboard (Payment Gateway > Checkout Customisation)

3 ways you can lower payment processing fees using HitPay’s pass-the-fees: 

1. Apply an admin fee for customers paying through credit card/debit card 

2. Ensure your pricing includes your credit card processing fees 

3. Split costs with your customers. This method helps with more price-sensitive products

However, be careful how you communicate these costs to your customers. You want to encourage them to use other payment methods with lower processing fees, like Singapore's PayNow. 

To communicate fees to your customers clearly, you could either: 

• Show the fee as a separate charge on receipts or at checkout (HitPay does this automatically.) 

• Inform customers of the processing fee on your store or product pages

Make sure you also enable other payment methods for customers to choose from. 

Your action steps: 

• Think about how you want to set up a credit card surcharge 

• Communicate the costs to your customers clearly on your website and social media platforms 

• Offer alternatives to credit card payments 

🧐 Read more about HitPay’s pass-the-fees here

Method 2: Enable a variety of payment methods on HitPay

More payment methods make it easier for customers to pay and help you generate more revenue by lowering credit card use. 

HitPay lets you pay with a variety of methods. Besides credit/debit cards, HitPay supports over 30 local and international payment methods like bank transfers, digital wallets and buy-now-pay-later apps. 

Besides credit cards, digital wallets and bank transfers are also popular for e-commerce payments in Singapore. Source: The Straits Times, April 2023

With PayNow and credit/debit cards enabled, HitPay customers get 30-50% of transactions through PayNow and the rest through other payment methods, reducing your reliance on credit/debit cards and lowering payment processing fees.

How offering multiple payment methods vs credit card can help you reduce payment processing fees by 50% using HitPay

Your action steps: 

• Think about the payment methods in Singapore you’ll like to offer. Consider your target audience and the payment methods popular with them 

• Set up your payment methods in HitPay

• Read more: How to enable different payment methods on sales channels with HitPay 

Enable more payment methods on the HitPay dashboard (Payment Gateway > Integrations)

Method 3: Set up checkout rules to reduce transaction fees with HitPay’s Smart Checkout

Did you know you could customise your HitPay checkout page to show or hide payment methods depending on your customer’s checkout amount or device? 

With the right rules, you can encourage customers to use other payment methods or only show credit/debit cards at a certain transaction value.

How to lower credit card processing fees with HitPay’s Smart Checkout:

1. Display payment methods by total checkout amount: 

Set up a payment method rule to only enable credit cards for transactions above a certain amount. Doing this encourages customers only to use credit cards for high-value transactions.

2. Re-order payment methods at checkout: 

Change the order of your payment methods at checkout and put your preferred payment methods in front.

Top - Payment methods configured in HitPay. Bottom: Payment methods shown at checkout 

3. Display payment methods by device

Enable PayNow on mobile devices for a seamless customer experience. 

Read more about HitPay’s smart checkout features

Your action steps: 

• Check that you’ve enabled your preferred payment methods - guide here.

• Brainstorm payment rules to set up while looking at recent transaction data or customer feedback

Enjoy low payment processing fees in Singapore with HitPay 

With these three methods, you can reduce payment processing fees and improve your customer experience with HitPay. Try them out today! 

Got questions? Contact our support team here.