A Guide To South African Payments on HighLevel

Receiving payments digitally is not a new thing in South Africa, but it is new to the HighLevel ecosystem. You can now pick your chosen Payment Gateway (currently Payfast or Paystack) as a HighLevel Marketplace App, and finally accept payments on Invoices, send Payment Links, and more importantly, receive payments inside of Funnels, Websites, eCommerce Stores, and Booking Calendars to name a few.

Here's a rundown of some options you have as a South African HighLevel Agency or Sub-Account user when it comes to accepting payments online.

*There's a lot of complexity with Payments, so these guides will be updated over time as more info becomes available.

Accepting Credit Cards Online

Accepting credit cards online is the quickest and easiest way to get paid. With HighLevel, we have to build our own integrations to do so if you don't have access to Stripe, Authnet or NMI... Luckily for you, with the new Custom Payments API, we've done all the hard work for you already.

Currently, your integration options on the HighLevel App Marketplace are the following:

Payfast

Payfast is a well-established company with a broad selection of payment options, each with its own fee structure. If you're managing an eCommerce store and prioritise offering a wide range of payment methods to your customers, Payfast is likely to be your preferred solution.

It's important to note that Payfast applies an R8.70 excl. VAT payout fee each time you transfer funds from their platform to your bank account.

As of June 2024, the fees are as follows:

Paystack

Paystack is a newer player in the market, backed by Stripe, and offers competitive pricing for standard transactions. If your primary need is accepting major credit card brands, Paystack is likely your top choice.

A key advantage: Paystack doesn't charge any payout fees when you transfer your funds to your bank account—it's completely free! Mahala!

As of May 2024, the fees are as follows:

Note: VAT still has to be added to the transaction fees advertised by these Gateways, and thus the final % per transaction you pay is significantly higher than first mentioned. However, you can get a TAX certificate or TAX invoice from these Gateways to claim back any additional taxes you paid.

Taking the example of accepting local South African credit card payments on each Gateway, lets see how their fees stack up:

Payfast

On a payment of R1000

Regular Credit Card Transaction at: (3.2% plus R2) + 15% ZA VAT = R39.10

Real % Value: 3.91% per transaction.

PS: You still need to pay R10.01 for the Payout Fee! 👀 (If you only do a transaction like this every once in a while you should add these payout fees to your transaction costs. If you process many payments every day or two, your payouts are bundled together under the same payout fee.)

Paystack

On a payment of R1000

Regular Credit Card Transaction at: (2.9% plus R1) + 15% ZA VAT = R34.50

Real % Value: 3.45% per transaction.

Payouts are Free! 🔥

Sole Proprietor, selling to other South Africans only

As a sole proprietor selling exclusively within South Africa, you don't need to register a formal business to start accepting online payments. Simply open a bank account in your personal name, as this is allowed for sole proprietors in the country. However, be sure to handle your tax obligations—provisional tax registration is typically required, so it's important to keep everything in order.

Keep in mind that banking fees differ significantly depending on the bank you select, so it's worth comparing options before making a decision.

More details to follow for accepting payments Globally and using payments at the Agency level of HighLevel.