How to accept card payments for invoices in South Africa

Most South African small businesses still get paid by EFT, and it works — but it leaks time at every step. The client has to open banking, retype your account number and branch code, get the reference right, and remember to actually do it. You then have to watch your bank statement and match a payment that arrives with a reference like "PAYMENT" against an invoice from three weeks ago.

A payment link removes all of that. The invoice carries a button, the client pays by card on a hosted checkout page, and the payment is matched to that specific invoice automatically because the gateway tells your system exactly which one was paid. The invoice marks itself paid, a receipt goes out, and reminders stop chasing it.

The trade-off is a per-transaction fee, which EFT doesn't have. Whether that's worth it comes down to what you're really paying today in unpaid days, chasing time, and reconciliation work. On a 30-day invoice that gets paid in two, the fee usually looks cheap.

A payment gateway sits between your client's card and your bank account. You don't touch card details at any point — the client is handed to the gateway's hosted checkout page, enters their card there, and the gateway tells your system whether it succeeded.

That handoff is what keeps you out of PCI scope. Because the card number is only ever typed into the gateway's page, your business never stores, processes, or transmits it. This is why you should be suspicious of any invoicing tool that asks your client to type card details into a form the tool itself renders.

The money then settles into your own bank account, typically a business day or two later depending on the provider, minus the transaction fee. You keep a normal SA bank account; the gateway just routes money to it.

The two gateways most South African small businesses end up choosing between are Paystack and Payfast. Both are card-first, both settle to a local bank account, and neither charges a monthly subscription — you pay per transaction.

As of 2026, Paystack's published South African pricing is 2.9% + R1.00 (VAT exclusive) for local cards, 3.1% + R1.00 for international cards, and 2% for EFT. Payfast's standard rate for small businesses is widely reported at around 3.5% + R2.00 for Visa and Mastercard, with American Express higher, and it charges a payout fee when you withdraw from your Payfast wallet to your bank.

On a R10,000 invoice, that difference is roughly R291 versus about R352 — around R60 in Paystack's favour. On a R500 invoice it's about R15.50 versus R19.50. Fees change and volume discounts exist for both, so confirm the current numbers on each provider's pricing page before you commit. There's a fuller side-by-side in our Paystack vs Payfast comparison.

The cost difference is real but modest. For most businesses the bigger question is which one your invoicing software actually integrates with — a gateway you have to wire up by hand isn't cheaper at any rate.

Getting a gateway live is mostly a paperwork exercise, and it's less work than most people expect — usually under an hour of actual effort, then a wait for approval.

You'll need a South African bank account in your business's name, your registration details if you're a registered company (or your ID if you're a sole proprietor), and some description of what you sell. Gateways are regulated and have to know who they're paying out to, so expect FICA-style verification. Approval typically takes a day or two.

There's no requirement to be VAT registered to accept card payments — the two are unrelated. A sole proprietor under the R2.3 million threshold can take cards perfectly well.

Platybooks connects to Paystack for South African card payments. You add your bank details in Settings under "Getting paid", and payments settle to your own account — your money goes to your bank, not into ours and back out again.

Once that's connected, every invoice can carry a Pay button. Your client opens the public invoice link, clicks pay, and settles by card in rand on Paystack's hosted checkout. When the payment succeeds, the invoice is marked paid, a receipt is emailed automatically, and any scheduled reminders stop chasing it. If you need to refund, you can do that from the invoice itself and it goes back through the gateway.

Payment links are available on the Starter plan and above. If you'd rather keep taking EFTs, manual payments work on every plan including Free — you record what landed and the invoice reconciles the same way.