Payment methods
Every way Africa pays
Payment methods in South Africa split roughly in half: cards take about 50% of online transactions, and the rest is paid through instant EFT, digital wallets, vouchers bought with cash, and newer real-time rails. LekkaPay puts all of them behind one integration - you switch methods on, not projects.
How to choose payment methods for a South African checkout
Start from your customers, not the technology. If you sell to salaried urban customers, cards plus wallets cover most of your volume. If you sell airtime, electricity or entertainment to the broader market, voucher and instant EFT acceptance is the difference between a sale and an abandoned basket. If you bill monthly, tokenised recurring payments protect your revenue from expired cards. The methods above exist because each one wins a customer the others miss - and on LekkaPay they are all one integration.
Last updated:
| Method | Best for | Settlement | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cards & 3-D Secure 2 | The default - roughly half of SA online spend | T+1 | Live |
| Google Pay | Android users, biometric one-tap checkout | T+1 | Live |
| Apple Pay | iPhone users, biometric one-tap checkout | T+1 | Live |
| Samsung Pay | Samsung device users | T+1 | Live |
| Instant EFT | Bank-app trust, no card required - SA and Nigeria | Same day | Live |
| Vouchers | Cash-first and unbanked customers | T+1 | Live - 1Voucher & OTT |
| M-Pesa | East African customers of SA merchants | Same day | Live |
| Recurring payments | Subscriptions and card-on-file billing | T+1 | Live |
| PayShap | Real-time account-to-account payments | Instant | Coming soon |
- typical checkout-conversion uplift for merchants offering multiple local payment methods
- ~25%
- Industry studies of multi-method checkout conversion
FAQ
Your questions, answered
Which payment methods do South African online shoppers actually use?
Cards remain the largest single method at roughly half of online transactions, followed by instant EFT (pay-by-bank), then digital wallets like Google Pay and Apple Pay, prepaid vouchers bought with cash, and store-of-value wallets. The mix shifts by audience - younger and unbanked customers skew strongly to vouchers and instant EFT.
Why offer more than card payments?
Because roughly half of South African online customers prefer to pay some other way. Merchants that add local methods - instant EFT, vouchers, wallets - typically see checkout conversion improve by around a quarter, simply because fewer customers hit a dead end at payment.
Do I need separate integrations for each method?
No. Every method on this page runs through the same LekkaPay integration, the same settlement reporting and the same back office. Adding a method is configuration, not development.
Can LekkaPay accept payments from outside South Africa?
Yes, in specific rails: pay-by-bank is live in both South Africa (via Ozow) and Nigeria (via NIBSS), M-Pesa reaches East African customers, and international cards are accepted subject to your acquiring and risk configuration.
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