UPI for online stores: why it must be your default payment method

If your checkout doesn’t lead with UPI, you’re losing orders. UPI accounts for the majority of digital payments in India, and for many shoppers it’s the only way they pay online.

Why UPI converts better

• No card entry. Shoppers approve in their UPI app in seconds — no typing a 16-digit number on a phone keyboard.
• Trust. Buyers trust the UPI flow they use daily more than an unfamiliar card form.
• Failure recovery. A failed UPI attempt can be retried instantly; a failed card payment often means an abandoned cart.

How to accept UPI on your store

You don’t integrate UPI directly — you connect a payment gateway that offers it:

1. Open a gateway account. Razorpay and PayU both onboard Indian businesses with PAN + bank KYC, typically within a few days.
2. Connect it to your store platform. On Sellerlane, you paste your gateway API credentials into a guided setup; the platform registers webhooks automatically so payment confirmations are instant and reconciliation is handled for you.
3. Test with a ₹1 order. Always verify the full loop: payment → order confirmation email → refund.

Watch the fee stack

Gateways charge a processing fee per transaction. The trap is platform fees stacked on top — some store builders add another 1–2% of every sale. On a store doing ₹2,00,000/month, a 2% platform fee is ₹48,000/year — for nothing. Choose a platform with 0% added transaction fees (Sellerlane is one) so the only fee you pay is the gateway’s.

Refunds and reconciliation

The unglamorous part that matters: when payments fail mid-checkout, when buyers cancel, when a webhook is delayed. Your platform should reconcile gateway records against orders automatically and process refunds back to the original payment method — including UPI — without you touching a dashboard at midnight.