How to accept payments in your online store in Mexico

Choosing how to get paid in your online store isn’t just about turning on payment buttons: every method you’re missing is a customer who leaves without buying, and every method you add carelessly can complicate your cash flow. Here are the four most common ones in Mexico, who each one serves, and how to decide where to start.

Credit and debit cards

This is the best-known method and the one most customers expect to find. To accept it you need a payment gateway (Stripe, Mercado Pago, Conekta, Openpay, among others), which connects your store to the banks and confirms the charge in seconds.

• The money is usually deposited into your account days after the sale, not immediately.
• Each gateway charges a transaction fee, which varies by provider and your sales volume.
• It works for both one-time payments and interest-free installments, if your gateway offers that.

Before opening your store, run a real test purchase with a card to confirm that the charge, the confirmation to the customer, and the alert to your team all work end to end.

Interest-free installments: when they’re worth it

Meses sin intereses (interest-free installments) let the customer pay the same price as a one-time purchase, spread across monthly charges over terms that usually run from 3 to 18 months. For the customer it’s a real benefit: Condusef explains that in a legitimate interest-free promotion, they shouldn’t be charged any extra fee or required to buy insurance.

For your business, your store absorbs the cost: the bank or gateway charges you a higher fee than on a one-time sale. Before turning it on:

• Check that your margin per product can absorb that fee without wiping out your profit.
• Offer it first on shorter terms (3 or 6 months) and add longer terms only if it still works for you.
• Don’t activate it if you don’t yet know how much each sale costs you; it’s easier to remove it later than to explain to a customer why it’s gone.

SPEI: for customers who prefer bank transfers

SPEI (Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios) is Mexico’s interbank transfer network, run by Banco de México, which moves money between accounts at different banks within minutes. When a customer pays you via SPEI, they transfer directly from their bank’s app into your account.

It’s used by customers who don’t want or can’t pay by card, as well as businesses buying from you in bulk. Two things to consider:

• If you receive it without connecting it to your store, someone on your team has to manually match each transfer to the right order, which delays shipping.
• Several gateways and banks offer SPEI with a unique reference, generating a dedicated account or reference number per order that updates your store automatically once the payment lands. If you sell at volume, it’s worth setting up.

Cash payments at OXXO

OXXO Pay lets a customer pay for an online order in cash. Your store generates a payment reference, the customer takes it to any OXXO store and pays at the register, and the order updates once OXXO confirms the payment, according to OXXO Pay’s information for businesses.

It’s the right method for customers who don’t have a card or would rather not use one online — a large segment in Mexico. Two points to plan for:

• Customers usually have several days to pay the reference; decide whether you’ll hold the inventory from the moment the reference is generated or only once payment is confirmed.
• Since payment isn’t instant, your store needs to clearly tell the customer what happens while they wait and what happens if the reference expires unpaid.

How to choose where to start

You don’t need all four methods on day one. To decide the order:

1. Start with cards. They cover most online shoppers and are the fastest to set up with a gateway.
2. Add OXXO if your product or region has many customers who don’t use cards; check it by comparing your sales before and after turning it on.
3. Add SPEI once you start getting large or business-to-business orders, and automate reconciliation as soon as your volume justifies it.
4. Turn on interest-free installments only once you clearly know your margin per product and can absorb the extra fee.

Before announcing any new method, run a full test purchase: pay, confirm the order, and check that the money arrives as expected. If you’re building or adjusting your online store, our e-commerce service helps connect these payment methods without complicating your operations.