A fully-furnished platform ready to go. 24/7 support with an almost-instant response time. In-built SEO and digital marketing tools. These are just but a few of the benefits Shopify offers e-commerce sellers. And now the platform's bringing one more potent tool to your arsenal in the form of cryptocurrency payments --- here's a quick guide to help you get started.
Accepting Crypto Payments on Shopify: What Do You Need?
As if a super user-friendly store setup wasn't enough, adding crypto to your checkout is even more straightforward. No coding skills or technical know-how will be required on your part. It's just a matter of enrolling on your preferred gateway and integrating it to your store (as we'll find out shortly).
Shopify works directly with BitPay, Coinbase Commerce and CoinPayments.net, and there are plans in the works to add yet more crypto gateways. But even with the current providers, you'll be able to accept over 300 digital currencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, and Ethereum. Also note that Shopify allows you to add as many gateways to your store as you please.
On that note, let's see what you need to do to start accepting crypto payments:
- Sign up for an account on your preferred provider's website. Make sure to choose the "Business" option for BitPay and CoinPayments.
- Once your account is set up and verified, generate an API key/token. Each website provides instructions on how to do that.
- Head to the 'Payment Providers' section of your Shopify Admin page and enable the option you signed up for by pasting its respective API key/token.
And Voila! Your Shopify store is now ready to process cryptocurrency payments.
Shopify Cryptocurrency Payments: Pros and Cons
Decentralization is arguably cryptocurrency's biggest selling point. It's not governed by any central authority like traditional money, and thus offers a lot more flexibility. Here are some of the benefits you can expect once you go crypto:
- No More Chargebacks: Urgh, the horror of having a payment reversed after you've worked so hard to get the goods in the customer's hands! Crypto transactions are irreversible, so there's no risk of chargeback fraud.
- Quicker Payment Processing: Cryptocurrency exchanges only take a few seconds to complete, since there are no banks or other hurdles to jump through. That translates to instant access to your funds.
- Security: Crypto offers more security thanks to the fact that transactional data is never saved on a central server. It also eliminates the need to exchange sensitive personal identifying information.
- Global Reach: With crypto, there's no need to figure out exchange rates or find suitable local payment gateways when expanding outside your national borders.