Paystack Review: How to Use Paystack in Nigeria

Updated on July 8, 2023

The internet has no borders, and neither should you or your business. If you’re in Nigeria or Ghana, you can start accepting payments online in just 30 minutes with Paystack.

You can accept payments from international customers, wherever they are in the world.

You can accept payments from internationally-issued cards, local African mobile money payment options, and USSD. You can even display prices in USD, and also get settled in USD.

See: Paystack vs Flutterwave: Which Payment Platform is Better for You?

Paystack Review Summary

5.0 Koboline rating

Paystack gets 5 stars out of 5 for overall performance. This is an offline and online payment company used by over 60,000 businesses in Nigeria and Ghana. The company does over $1 billion in monthly transactions. African creators and businesses can easily collect payments online with the platform.

Ratings at Koboline are determined by taking into account pricing, discounts, ease of filing a claim, website transparency, financial strength, complaint data from social media.

What is Paystack

Paystack is a tech company in Africa that helps businesses and people collect payments easily.

It is an online payment gateway that makes it easy for merchants to accept credit and debit card payments online from users or customers.

The company was launched in 2015 but its product offerings became available to the public in 2016.

The company’s main office is in Lagos and it employs over 150+ staff. 

With Paystack global brands can accept payment from across Africa. Entrepreneurs who are starting a startup or looking to scale up their business can grow their business by accepting local and international payments securely.

Large corporate organizations and even government organizations also collect payments securely with this payment platform.

9227 are Reading: How Does Barter by Flutterwave, Flutterwave Store & Payment Work?

How Reliable is Paystack?

Paystack 60,000+ users and the fact it does over $1b transactions per month should tell you how reliable it is. 

The company was recently acquired by Stripe for $200m. However, the company continues to operate as is. Without any interference from Stripe.

Who is the owner of Paystack

Paystack was founded by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi. Shola Akinlade is the Co-founder and CEO of Paystack. As of now, Stripe is the owner of Paystack after fully acquiring the company for $200 million.  

What is Paystack Used for?

People and businesses in Nigeria and Ghana use Paystack’s secure payment gateway to collect payments online through their websites, online stores, payment links, and even invoices.

How Safe is Paystack

Paystack is a safe and secure payment gateway. It is  PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certified.

The highest security certification level. This platform uses a token system that generates public and private keys to secure every payment that goes on through the platform.

Other security measures that have been implemented on this platform are the protection of card information, the prevention of transactional fraud, and the avoidance of account hacking.

The customer’s card information is further protected through AES-256 GCM encryption. Even the company’s employees can’t access customer card details.

How does Paystack work in Nigeria?

This payment platform is a fast and simple way for Nigerians(Africans) to get paid online from anywhere in the world.

Setting up a Paystack account is completely free. You can sign up and start receiving payments in under 15 minutes.

They only charge you a small percentage whenever there’s a transaction on your account.

Whenever someone pays you through this payment platform. The company collects a fee. So they only make money when you do.

 Just as the company doesn’t charge a fee for signing up. They don’t charge any fee for maintenance either. 

Once you integrate paystack to your website or use its commerce tools, your customers can start experiencing frictionless payments.

Customers can pay through their Card, Bank Account, Bank Transfer, USSD, Visa QR and Mobile Money.

This company tries to ensure that every transaction made through its platform is successful. 

With this platform’s automated and manual fraud systems,  you and your customers are protected from fraudulent transactions and associated chargeback claims.

You can also build custom payment experiences with Paystack’s well-documented APIs from simple projects, to complex financial and consumer products serving hundreds of thousands of customers with the platform’s well-documented APIs.

These APIs allow you to build anything that you can imagine.

Apart from collecting one time payments. The Platform also allows you to:

• Collect recurring payments (subscription & membership fees) from your app or website
• Make instant transfers
• Retrieve all your transaction and customer data
• Verify the identity of customers
• Understand exactly how your business is performing through detailed reporting, alerts, and exports, so you and your team are always on top of business.
• Super easy reconciliation
• Detailed reports on successful, abandoned, and failed transactions
• Granular user permissions that let you control the info each member of your team has access to.
• Automated chargeback alertsSearchable Customer DirectoryAnalyze customer purchase patterns with Customer Insights

Whenever someone has successfully paid you through paystack.

You’ll Receive your money automatically in your bank account within 24 hours after payment is made.

All merchants and account holders on the platform are settled before 10 AM, every morning.

Is Paystack a Payment Gateway? 

Yes, it is one of the leading online payment gateways in Nigeria that allows businesses to collect payments from customers using MasterCard, Visa and Verve cards anywhere in the world.

Can I use Paystack for my Business too?

Definitely. You can use the Paystack starter plan if your business has not been incorporated and you don’t have a Corporate account.

However, there will be limits placed on your account. If you do have a certificate of corporation and a corporate bank account. Your account will have no limits.

8045 People are Reading: How to Register a Business Name in Nigeria

How Much Does Paystack Charge per Transaction?

Paystack charges 1.5% of every transaction + a flat fee of ₦100 on local cards.

On international cards, the company charges 3.9% +  a flat fee of ₦100. However, ₦100 fee is waived for transactions less than ₦2500.

If the charge is an issue for you. You can easily offset it by adding the charge to your product prices. The Supported Cards on this platform are; Visa, MasterCard, and Verve.

Can Paystack Accept Dollars in Nigeria?

You can accept payments from international customers, from anywhere in the world. You can accept payments from internationally-issued cards.

You can display your prices in USD, and also get paid in USD.

See: How to Save in Dollars in Nigeria

What is Paystack’s Payment Method?

There are different payment methods that your customers can pay through with this payment platform.  

Like credit, debit, and business cards, mobile money accounts, QR codes, bank transfers, or USSD.

A paying customer will be shown all the payment methods selected on your dashboard.

Checkout: Best Virtual Dollar Cards in Nigeria

Paystack Commerce 

This is a tool kit for Africans that want to easily sell online.

Some of the features for this tool kit are:

• Online Storefronts
• Sell multiple products variants with ability to Upload beautifully images, GIFs and videos for these products
• Collect one-time payments
• Subscribe customers to a membership/subscription plan
• Send a payment request to a customer through an invoice or a customized product URL
• Collect delivery fees and delivery details
• Low stock alerts Min / max order limits
• Use your brand colours
• Redirect customers after payment
• Manage incoming orders on web and mobile
• Get Push notifications for new orders
• Update order fulfillment status
• Process refunds to customers
• Update shipping information
• Search and filter orders
• Simple, powerful inventory management
• Upload unlimited products
• Filter by price and units sold
• Archive old products
• View sales summary

How do I create a Paystack Payment Page or Payment link?

A Payment Page is a simple online form that you can use to collect payment from customers. 

A payment page is easy to set up and you don’t need a website to use it. 

When you log into your Paystack dashboard.

Click on Payment Pages to create a Payment Page. With this page you can set up one-time payments or (recurrent) subscription payments.

After creating your payment page you can now send it as a payment link to customers or anyone.

See: How to Create Free Online Store in Nigeria

Paystack Invoices

An invoice is another easy way to collect payments directly from customers without a website.

This feature allows you to send anyone a payment request. 

Essentially when you send this invoice to anyone they can pay you directly from it online.

Paystack Product Links

A product link is a way for you to sell a single product or service. If you wan to sell multiple products at a time, you can use products on payment pages.

A Product is a single item or service that your business sells. You can sell one product using Product Links, or sell multiple products at a time using Products on Payment Pages.

With a product link, you can view and manage your product orders, manage inventory, set up shipping preferences and also set what happens after a customer purchases a product.

How to Use Paystack in Nigeria?

You can use Paystack without a website. After signing up and creating an account and your account has been activated you can use Paystack pages, invoices and product link to collect payment online without a website.

Invoices and Payment Pages are perfect for freelancers and small businesses that want to collect payments online and don’t have a website.

If you have a website or have plans of building a website that you want to collect payments from.

Paystack can be integrated with website and e-commerce website builders like Magento, Shopify, WordPress, Prestashop, Drupal, Abantecart, Shopify, and Opencart. 

If you’re building a custom website with a developer, Paystack API and SDK are available for integration.

Paystack Go

This is a mobile app for viewing your dashboard since you won’t be able to have a laptop with you everywhere you go.  

You can monitor your orders and payments from anywhere, at any time.

This app also allows you to look at the performance of your products among other insight and reporting functions.