Payment gateways in Colombia: how to choose without regret
Wompi, PayU, ePayco, Mercado Pago, Bold and the rest: what separates them, what to ask before signing, and the hidden costs nobody mentions.
AI, digital marketing and medical marketing consultant · btodigital
A payment gateway is the intermediary that collects money in your shop and transfers it to you. Choosing badly in Colombia costs sales every single day, and almost never because of the commission: because of the payment methods it does not offer and the days it takes to pay you.
First, a clarification you will not find on vendor pages: commissions change and are negotiable. Any article giving you exact percentages is out of date or making them up. You ask for those numbers directly, and with volume they move.
What are the real options in Colombia?
| Gateway | Where it fits best |
|---|---|
| Wompi | Part of the Bancolombia group. Comfortable integration and a good Nequi experience |
| PayU | Long established, regional presence, useful if you sell across countries |
| ePayco | Very widespread among SMBs, broad catalogue of payment methods |
| Mercado Pago | Natural if you already sell on Mercado Libre |
| Bold | Strong in in-person collection and payment links |
| Stripe | Powerful for digital products and subscriptions, with caveats for collecting in pesos |
There is no best one in the abstract. There is one that fits your ticket size, your volume and your type of customer.
Which payment methods must it accept?
In Colombia this matters more than the commission:
- PSE. Direct debit from a bank account. For many buyers it is the preferred method, and for high tickets it is decisive.
- Credit cards, with instalments. The option to spread payment changes conversion on large purchases.
- Nequi and Daviplata. Especially for low tickets and younger buyers.
- Cash collection. Baloto, Efecty and similar. Still moves volume outside the major cities.
- Cash on delivery. Not a gateway, but in several categories it is what unlocks the sale.
If your gateway does not offer PSE, you are leaving sales on the table. It is the most expensive mistake and the quietest one, because the customer simply leaves.
What should you ask before signing?
These eight, in writing:
- What is the commission, and does it change by payment method? Card, PSE and cash almost never cost the same.
- In how many days do you transfer? The question that most affects your cash flow and the one least often asked.
- Is there a fixed fee per transaction on top of the percentage? On low tickets that fixed fee can outweigh the percentage.
- Is there a monthly or setup fee?
- How are refunds and chargebacks handled, and what do they cost me?
- What happens when a payment stays pending?
- Is there human support, and during what hours? The day a payment fails this will be the only thing that matters.
- How easy is it to integrate with my platform?
What costs show up later?
The ones not in the price table:
- Money held. If they pay you in 8 days and you pay suppliers in 5, that is a real financing cost.
- Sales lost to friction. A checkout that demands account creation, or that leaves your site and returns badly, costs more than any commission.
- Reconciliation time. If the gateway does not export cleanly, somebody will be matching figures by hand every month.
- Broken attribution. If you do not exclude the gateway domain in your analytics, all your sales will appear to come from it and your advertising will look like it is not working.
That last one I have had to fix in almost every store I audit.
How do you reduce checkout abandonment?
Checkout is where the sale is most often lost, and almost always for the same reasons:
- Do not force account creation. Guest checkout, always.
- Show the total cost before the last step. Surprise shipping at the end is the number one cause of abandonment.
- Let shipping and payment methods be visible from the cart, not only at the end.
- Make it work one-handed on a phone. That is where most purchases happen.
- If a payment fails, say so clearly and allow a retry without refilling everything.
Frequently asked questions
Which is the best payment gateway in Colombia? There is no single best. Wompi fits well if your audience uses Nequi, PayU if you sell in several countries, ePayco for breadth of methods and Mercado Pago if you are already on Mercado Libre. What decides it is your average ticket, your volume and which methods your customers need.
What commission do they charge? It varies by gateway, by payment method and by volume, and it is negotiable. Any published figure ages quickly: ask directly and get it in writing.
Is offering PSE mandatory? Not mandatory, but in Colombia it is the preferred method for many people, especially on larger purchases. Not having it costs sales silently.
How many days until the money arrives? It depends on the provider and sometimes on the payment method. Typically from a few days to a little over a week. Ask before signing, because it directly affects your cash flow.
Can I use several gateways at once? Yes, and in high-volume stores it is common, both for method coverage and as a fallback if one fails. The cost is more reconciliation work.
What happens with refunds and chargebacks? They follow each gateway’s rules and almost always carry a cost for the merchant. Ask about the procedure and the fee before contracting, not when it happens.
Why do my sales appear attributed to the payment gateway in Analytics? Because its domain is missing from the referral exclusion list. It takes two minutes to fix and completely changes how you read your campaigns.