How to Accept Card Payments Online From Customers Worldwide

In brief: To accept card payments from customers around the world you need a verified business, a website that meets card scheme rules, a payment gateway account and a connected checkout. This guide walks through each step.

Selling online means your next customer could be in London, Dubai, Lagos or New York. Most of them expect to pay by card. If your checkout cannot take Visa or Mastercard in a currency they recognise, the sale goes to a competitor.

Accepting cards from international customers is a clear process once you know the steps.

Selling from Kenya?

Kenyan businesses already serve local customers well through M-Pesa. Card acceptance opens the other half of the market: tourists booking before they fly, diaspora customers, and buyers in the UK, US, Europe and the Gulf. With a card gateway alongside M-Pesa, the same website can take a Nairobi customer's mobile payment and a London customer's Visa card. The steps below are the same for a company registered in Kenya or anywhere else.

Step 1: Get your business documents ready

Card schemes and regulators require every payment provider to know who it works with, wherever your company is registered. Before you apply, gather:

• Your certificate of incorporation and a recent company registry extract showing directors and shareholders
• ID and proof of address for each director and for each owner of 10 percent or more
• Any licence your business needs in the markets you serve
• A recent business bank statement
• A short description of what you sell, who your customers are and your expected monthly card volume

Having these ready before you apply is the biggest single thing that speeds up approval.

Step 2: Make sure your website is ready for review

Every payment provider reviews your website before activation. Card scheme rules expect it to show:

• Your legal business name and the country you operate from
• Clear product or service descriptions, with prices
• Terms and conditions, a privacy policy and a refund or cancellation policy
• Delivery or fulfilment information, where relevant
• Customer service contact details: an email address and a phone number

A site missing a refund policy or contact details is one of the most common reasons an application is delayed.

Step 3: Choose a payment gateway built for international sales

A payment gateway connects your checkout to the card networks and the banks that approve payments. For a business selling across borders, compare providers on:

• Cards and currencies: can customers pay with Visa and Mastercard, and in a major currency such as USD, EUR or GBP?
• Security: is card data processed on PCI DSS certified infrastructure, with 3-D Secure authentication?
• Settlement: which currency are you paid in, and on what cycle? Cross-border businesses increasingly want a choice, such as US dollars or USDT.
• Pricing: are the processing rate and any rolling reserve set out clearly before you sign?
• Support: can you reach a person who knows your account, across time zones?

Step 4: Apply and complete verification

Once you apply, the provider reviews your business, its owners and your website. This is standard KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti money laundering) checking, and it applies to merchants in every country. Expect to upload documents through a secure link rather than by email.

Submitting an application starts a review; it does not guarantee approval. Businesses in regulated sectors may be asked for a licence for every market they serve.

Step 5: Connect your checkout

There are two main ways to connect:

• Hosted payment page. Your customer is redirected to the provider's secure page to enter card details. This needs the least development, and because card data never touches your servers, it keeps your PCI DSS scope small.
• API integration. You build your own checkout and send payments to the gateway's API. This gives full control over the design, but card data passes through your systems, so you need your own PCI DSS compliance.

Most businesses start with the hosted page. Either way, you test everything in a sandbox first, using test cards for approvals, declines, 3-D Secure and refunds. See our integration options for details.

Step 6: Go live and get paid

After approval and testing, you switch to live credentials and start taking real payments. Settlement then arrives on the cycle set in your merchant agreement, net of fees and any rolling reserve, with a statement you can match against your dashboard.

How Payixay helps

Payixay is a card processing partner for online businesses in Kenya and worldwide. For Kenyan merchants, M-Pesa collections and payouts are also available on request, so cards and mobile money sit in one dashboard. Merchants accept Visa and Mastercard, plus American Express and JCB depending on the account, and charge customers in USD, EUR or GBP. Settlement is made in USD to your bank account or in USDT (TRC-20) to a wallet you designate. You connect by hosted payment page or REST API, and our onboarding team reviews every application and replies within one business day.