The Payment Challenges in Selling Cross Border

The internet brought about a revolution in how people buy and sell. Instead of merely reaching customers in their neighborhood, city, or country, merchants around the globe suddenly had access to the entire world. While communicating and reaching a new audience is easy with the internet, international payments aren’t always so simple. Well, not until now.

Here’s a look into some of the payment challenges in selling cross border and how Splitit makes it easy to take payments from customers all over the world.

Cross border transactions can be slow and expensive

If you order any raw materials directly from an international supplier, you have likely run into some of the unique challenges of selling to customers in different countries. Shipment delays in customs, communication difficulties with foreign sellers and manufacturers, and unique local customs can all throw a wrench in the process.

It’s important that your customers don’t experience any of those pain points. It is essential to give them a single place to enter their information that works in their local language and offers an efficient experience. And it shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg more than buying local.

Foreign transactions require currency conversions and can be a challenge to track

Not only should your customers view web pages in their local language, but they should also see an option to pay even if you don’t operate in their local currency. Fortunately, payments made via credit card typically include foreign currency conversion, though fees may apply.

Splitit allows your customers to shop in your online store no matter where they are in the world. The Splitit experience includes the ability for your customers to use their local credit card to shop and pay in your currency no matter where they are located.

Until recently, installment payments were next to impossible in an international context. Splitit offers merchants like you an opportunity to give customers an installment payment option to online customers regardless of where they call home. If you offer international versions of your site, Splitit works across your entire online experience regardless of your home country and your customer’s home country.

Poor online experiences hinder sales and demand

Many US buyers rarely find a website that doesn’t cater to their needs, as they were once the largest population of internet users. Today the US trails behind China and India for web users and countries like Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, and others are home to a growing base of web traffic.

If someone from China or India lands on your website, does your website work in their language? Does it work in their local currency? Does it feature any local pages that speak to the culture and customs of those users?

While you may not be able to offer a unique part of your website for every single country in the world, it’s important to offer localized experiences for your biggest markets.

Taxes, duties, and customs add complexities

Medium and large enterprises can hire dedicated staff for cross-border selling. That’s a common solution for low-tech companies to cater to cross border audiences. But human intervention is slow and error-prone. When it comes to calculating taxes, duties, customs tariffs, and compliance with international regulations, you’re better off letting a computer do the heavy lifting.

This is another place Splitit excels, as it already helps businesses like yours facilitate international sales on a daily basis. Your company may still have to do a little extra work to make sure international shipping and customs requirements are met. But Splitit makes the payment process seamless with your current online sales experience.

Splitit makes cross border installment payments simple

A recent survey of business owners found a laundry list of complaints when selling cross border. If you have a great product and can’t figure out why more international customers aren’t lining up, it may be due to obstacles in paying for your product or affording to pay all at once.

Splitit is a payment solution that integrates with your website to offer installment payments to customers anywhere. As long as the shopper is paying with a Visa or Mastercard and has the full available credit, they are able to pay with Splitit. There are never any tedious credit checks or late fees! That’s a win-win for your sales and your customers. It’s tough to beat that!