The Leading Payment Methods in Canada

The Leading Payment Methods in Canada 1
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Leading stats portal, Statista conducted in-depth research to discover the preferred online payment methods used by Canadians between 2014 and 2018. The detailed study published by J. Clement on December 19, 2018, found that credit cards have grown in popularity across Canada between 2014 – 2018. PayPal has declined as the preferred payment option by a large minority of users, while debit cards have grown incrementally over time.

  • 2014 – credit cards 51%, PayPal 30%, debit cards 4%
  • 2015 – credit cards 57%, PayPal 24%, debit cards 4%
  • 2016 – credit cards 59%, PayPal 20%, debit cards 5%
  • 2017 – credit cards 61%, PayPal 21%, debit cards 5%
  • 2018 – credit cards 71%, PayPal 12%, debit cards 8%

Certain payment processing methods lose favor with the public because they are too clunky, too expensive, or they simply cannot compete because they lose their licensing, contracts, or rights to operate. A classic example of this is Entropay which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ixaris Group Holding Ltd. This company’s consumer product was discontinued on July 1st, 2019 – leaving many users in the lurch. Fortunately, there are many viable Entropay alternatives in CA, including bank wires, debit and credit cards, e-Wallets and cryptocurrency too. 

The Statista data is telling. Canadian e-commerce activity, including iGaming, online money transfers, and banking is increasingly conducted by way of credit cards and debit cards, with less reliance on the services of e-wallet PayPal. Statista also reveals that the number of PayPal users in Canada (2015 – 2016) increased by 10% year-on-year. The last reliable set of data for users in Canada was 6.4 million (updated on April 15, 2016).

However, the biggest bugbear with PayPal is its fee structure This online payment method charges a normal rate of 2.9%+ $0.30 CAD for transactions that take place within Canada. Transactions with the US are billed at 3.7% transaction fees + a fixed fee based on the currency that has been received.

Viable Alternatives to Costly PayPal and Credit Cards

The Leading Payment Methods in Canada 2
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Many folks across Canada used payment processing options like Entropay for deposits and withdrawals. This safe, secure, and trusted payment service operated 24/7, as a prepaid card a.k.a. debit card. As the data suggests, debit cards have doubled in popularity in Canada over the space of 4 years.

With this service no longer in use, many users may feel short-changed. Fortunately, there are many other payment methods available to users at reputable online platforms, including: Visa, MasterCard, bank wire, Interac, Citadel, iDebit, Instadebit, ecoPayz, MuchBetter, PaySafeCard, PassNGo, and others.

Each of these payment processing options confers multiple benefits on users. Safety considerations are paramount, with widespread usage applications coming in a close second. These online banking options can typically be used for deposit and withdrawal purposes. Still, it’s always advisable to double-check to ensure that these banking options allow both deposits and withdrawals. Most all deposits are available instantly, with no fees whatsoever on transactions.

However, withdrawals may be subject to ID checks and additional verification. This increases the time needed to process withdrawals with these payment options. The fee structure may be higher on certain withdrawal methods too. Users are advised to check the costs and processing tines with their preferred payment options.

Payment Trends in Canada Now

CTV recently reported that Canadians have switched from cash to cashless payment options in 2020 for health and safety reasons. Many merchants are now refraining from handling cash – which drives up demand for alternatives like cryptocurrency, and fiat online banking options. The ranking methods used by Canadians for in-store and online purchases are now credit cards, debit cards, PayPal and e-Transfers – in line with the research compiled by Statista (2014 – 2018).

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