If you're only accepting credit cards on your online store, you're probably leaving money on the table. Quite literally.

A shopper adds a couple of items to their cart, clicks to checkout, and then abandons everything. Why? Because they'd rather not use their credit card on your site, especially if you're a new business or it's their first time.

According to Statista, the cart abandonment rate worldwide passed the 70% mark in 2026. Many of these customers didn't continue the transaction simply because the merchant didn't offer the payment method they preferred.

The good news is that there are solid, well-established alternatives to credit cards, and some of them will even cut your transaction costs significantly. 

Here are the top four you should seriously consider adding to your online store in 2026.

Account-to-Account (A2A) Transfers

A2A payments (also called pay by bank) let customers pay directly to your bank account from theirs. No card network involved. No Visa or Mastercard taking a cut.

It sounds like a wire transfer from the 90s, but trust me, it is way cooler now. And a lot cheaper than paying with plastic. For context, credit card processing fees per transaction typically run between 1.10% to 3.15%. With account-to-account payments, that fee can drop to just a few cents. 

The U.S. FedNow network, for instance, charges around $0.04 per transaction, although banks and payment providers may add their own fees on top. For a store doing about $600,000 a year in revenue, that difference isn't a small charge.

It's important to point out that A2A works best in markets with strong real-time payment infrastructure, like Europe, Brazil, India, and the U.S.

Cryptocurrency

Crypto usually sounds like a scam or a get-rich-quick scheme. But for payments in 2026? It's a must-have.

Crypto payments offer two massive perks: near-zero transaction fees and, unlike card transactions, payments usually can’t be reversed through chargebacks once confirmed on the blockchain.

And there’s a growing market for it, too. The number of crypto users all over the world hit 580 million in 2024, according to Binance. If your store doesn't offer crypto payments, you might be invisible to a portion of that audience.

Still, it’s not something you should rush into blindly. Customer education matters. Some shoppers are still unfamiliar with crypto payments or unsure whether they can trust them. According to Proleo.io, you need to first amplify visibility, trust, and interest.

And because crypto payment adoption is still growing, implementing it early might give you an edge, especially if you operate in an industry where flexibility matters.

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)

Buy Now, Pay Later might probably be the most impactful payment addition you can make to your checkout process, especially if you sell anything over $50.

The core idea is simple: the customer gets the product now, and pays in usually four equal interest-free installments. Not to you, but to a BNPL provider, as you'll get your complete money upfront from the provider.

BNPL is such a big deal for both merchants and customers that the market is expected to hit $286 billion by 2034. Millions of people all over the world use it. Why not you?

Still need convincing? Roughly 9 million Americans bought items online using BNPL in 2025. That should give you a picture of your potential audience.

Digital Wallets

Digital wallets aren't that new, but many small e-commerce stores still don't use them.

This payment method, usually powered by Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Samsung Pay, and more, lets customers buy and pay with a single tap or click. No typing card numbers.

It's such a big part of modern e-commerce that it accounted for roughly 53% of global e-commerce transactions in 2024. Experts even predict that digital wallets could account for over 40% of online transactions in the U.S. by 2030. 

But you don’t have to wait until 2030 to start accepting payments via wallets.

"If your website or mobile app still doesn’t support digital wallets, you’re quietly killing your own conversion rates." — Grant Evans on LinkedIn, referencing the importance of digital wallets.

This insight underscores the core reason why digital wallets should be a key payment option on your website. It takes just a few hours to set up, so there's really no reason not to.

FAQs

What is the safest payment method for e-commerce?

Digital wallets and A2A transfers are incredibly secure. They use high-level encryption and biometrics, so the buyer's actual banking details are never exposed to the merchant or anyone else.

Are alternative payment methods expensive for store owners to set up?

Definitely not. Major e-commerce platforms have plugins or integrations that easily allow you to accept digital wallets and BNPL services. You install, set up, and just pay a standard transaction fee when a sale happens.

Will offering too many payment options confuse my customers?

It depends on what your checkout looks like. Customers are definitely going to be confused if the page is cluttered. The trick is to display them cleanly. Stick to 3 or 4 high-quality options, like a couple of popular digital wallets and one flexible finance option.

Alternative e-Commerce Payment in Numbers

At this stage, you're probably wondering, out of the four options discussed in this guide, which should you go for? The truth is that there's no one "perfect" payment method to choose. The best strategy depends entirely on who you're selling to.

If your target market is full of younger, trend-conscious shoppers, setting up a BNPL service will likely skyrocket your conversions. On the other hand, if you deal with international buyers or want to cut down on heavy processing fees, opening up your store to digital wallets and crypto payments is the smarter play. 

But why choose? You can actually integrate all options in addition to credit card payments on your website and let your customers do the choosing instead. Do that and watch your checkout experience transform.