How to Accept PayNow on Your Website (Stripe, HitPay, Shopify)

Quick answer: the three ways to take PayNow online

There are three realistic ways for a Singapore small business to accept PayNow on a website. Which one suits you depends on how many orders you get and what your site is built on.

If you sell on Shopify, note that Shopify Payments in Singapore does not list PayNow among its payment methods, so PayNow comes from a third-party app such as HitPay. More on that below.

PayNow QR vs a payment gateway

PayNow Corporate lets a business receive Singapore dollar transfers to its UEN instead of an account number. You register once through your bank's internet banking, as explained on the ABS PayNow page. Your bank can then give you a QR code to print or put on your website.

The static QR route

A static QR is free to set up and the money lands straight in your business account. The catch is reconciliation: the customer types in the amount and maybe a reference, and you check your bank app before you ship or confirm. It works for a tuition centre collecting a few deposits a week. It gets painful at 20 orders a day, and mistyped amounts or missing references are common.

The gateway route

A gateway such as Stripe or HitPay generates a dynamic QR code for the exact order amount. When the customer pays from their banking app, the gateway tells your website, the order is marked paid and the customer sees a confirmation page. You pay a percentage fee, and the money arrives as a payout from the gateway rather than directly from the customer.

Use a gateway when any of these apply:

• You get more orders than you can comfortably match by hand.
• You want the order to confirm itself (stock reserved, booking locked, email sent).
• You also want cards, Apple Pay or Google Pay at the same checkout.
• You want refunds handled from one dashboard.

Option 1: Accept PayNow with Stripe

Stripe supports PayNow for businesses located in Singapore, in SGD. According to Stripe's PayNow documentation, customers see a QR code at checkout and you receive confirmation instantly once they pay. PayNow works with Stripe Checkout, Payment Links, Invoicing and Subscriptions, and is switched on from the Stripe Dashboard.

How to set it up

1. Create a Stripe account in your business name and complete verification (UEN, director details, bank account).
2. In the Dashboard, open payment method settings and turn on PayNow.
3. Add Stripe to your site: the official plugin for WooCommerce, the Stripe integration of your website builder, or a hosted Payment Link or Checkout page if your site has no shop.
4. Run a real low-value payment from your own banking app, then refund it to check the flow end to end.

Details worth knowing

• Fee: 1.3% per successful PayNow payment, per Stripe's Singapore pricing (checked October 2026). Domestic cards are 3.4% + S$0.50.
• QR expiry: Stripe PayNow QR codes are valid for one hour, so customers who wander off must start a new payment.
• Payee name: customers see Stripe's company name, not yours, in their banking app. A clear checkout page and receipt reduce confused emails.
• Refunds: possible up to 90 days after the payment, including partial refunds.
• First payout: Stripe's payouts guide says the first payout typically takes 7 to 14 days; later payouts follow your payout schedule.

Option 2: Accept PayNow with HitPay

HitPay is a Singapore payment company built around PayNow. It offers plugins for WooCommerce, Shopify, Wix and others, plus payment links, invoices and a point-of-sale app.

How to set it up

1. Register a HitPay business account and complete verification.
2. Install the HitPay plugin for your platform (or create payment links if you have no shop).
3. Connect the plugin with your HitPay API keys and pick the payment methods to show.
4. Make a small live test payment and check the order status changes to paid.

Details worth knowing

• Fee: online PayNow is 0.65% + S$0.30 for payments of S$100 and above, or 0.9% (minimum S$0.20) below S$100, per HitPay's Singapore pricing (checked October 2026).
• Platform add-ons: HitPay charges an extra 0.2% for most plugins and its own payment links, and 0.5% for its Shopify app.
• Payouts: HitPay states non-card payments reach your HitPay balance on T+1 calendar day, and card balances from T+1 business day.
• No monthly fee: pay per successful transaction only.

Option 3: Shopify PayNow

Shopify Payments in Singapore handles Visa, Mastercard, American Express, UnionPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay. Its list of payment methods for Singapore does not include PayNow (checked October 2026). The common approach is to keep Shopify Payments for cards and add PayNow through a third-party payment app such as HitPay.

Budget for three layers of fees on each PayNow order:

• The gateway's PayNow fee (for HitPay, see above).
• The gateway's Shopify add-on (0.5% for HitPay's Shopify app).
• Shopify's own third-party transaction fee. Shopify's help centre says this applies to all transactions through third-party and alternate gateways, even when Shopify Payments is active. On Shopify Singapore's pricing page it is 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus.

On a S$100 order on the Basic plan, that is roughly S$0.95 + S$0.50 + S$2.00 = about S$3.45. That is close to a card fee, so PayNow is not automatically the cheaper option on Shopify Basic. It is still worth offering because many Singapore customers prefer it.

PayNow fees compared (approximate, October 2026)

These figures are worked out from each provider's published standard rates. They exclude GST and any custom pricing. Check the linked pricing pages before you decide, because rates change.

For card payments, Stripe's standard domestic rate is 3.4% + S$0.50 and HitPay's is 2.8% + S$0.50. Our HitPay vs Stripe comparison goes through the other differences: payouts, subscriptions, invoicing and integrations.

Payment links for WhatsApp and email

Many small businesses in Singapore sell over WhatsApp or Instagram, not a cart. For them, a payment link is often enough: you send a link, the customer opens a hosted page with PayNow and card options, and you get a notification when it is paid.

• Stripe Payment Links are included with Stripe Payments; you pay the normal payment method fee.
• HitPay payment links add 0.2% on top of the payment method fee.
• Make reusable links for fixed-price items (a class pack, a deposit) and one-off links for custom quotes.
• Put your business name and a short description on the page so the customer knows exactly what they are paying for — especially with Stripe, where the bank app shows Stripe's name.

Payouts and reconciliation

With a gateway, money reaches your bank as one payout covering many orders, minus fees. Your accountant needs to see the individual sales, the fees and the payout, or your books will not match your bank statement.

• Download the gateway's payout report each month, or connect the gateway to your accounting software.
• Stripe has an app in the Xero Singapore app store, and HitPay offers a Xero integration (0.2% fee, per its pricing page).
• Record gateway fees as an expense rather than netting them off sales.
• Keep refunds in the same system as the original payment so the trail stays clean.

Do it yourself or get help?

Most owners can set this up themselves in an afternoon if the site runs on WooCommerce, Shopify or a mainstream builder. Do it yourself if:

• you can install a plugin and paste API keys into your site's settings;
• you are happy to run a test payment and a refund before going live;
• you only need one payment method and one way to buy.

It is worth getting help if your site is custom-built, you need PayNow and cards on the same checkout with branded receipts, or you want payments flowing into Xero or QuickBooks without manual entry. Our Online Payment Setup (S$290, fixed price) sets up Stripe or HitPay in your own name, adds checkout or payment buttons to your site and creates reusable payment links. You enter your own business and bank details, and the gateway charges its fees to you directly. If you are starting a shop from scratch, the Shopify Store package (S$1,890) includes PayNow and card checkout.