The cost of accepting payment cards is the number one frustration for UK online retailers, according to a new survey.
At the same time, the Sage Pay report found, merchants are not as concerned as they were about the threat of payments fraud.
Sage Pay’s annual e-business benchmark report quizzed more than 2,000 UK internet retailers. Of them, 35% said transaction costs were the most frustrating part of taking payments online. The second most frustrating were technical glitches (33%). Some 20% said fraud was their key problem, while others complained of losing customers during the checkout process, including through the 3D Secure process.
Joe Robey, Sage Pay’s in-house fraud specialist, said: “The findings demonstrate that payments fraud is no longer the number one concern for online retailers. Merchants are becoming increasingly familiar with the telltale signs associated with fraudulent activity and provided they have the right tools and processes in place, they now have the confidence to tackle fraudulent activity and keep card crime at bay.”
The Sage Pay report cites figures from the British Retail Consortium that show that in a store, accepting a transaction by payment card costs a retailer four times as much as taking cash. The BRC has previously called for the government to reduce the amount banks can charge to retailers in payment card acceptance fees.
Sage Pay processes payments for 30,000 customers a year.
