Accept USD Payments: 6 Systems + Automation Tips

A lot of UK SMEs think “accepting US dollars” is a finance problem. It’s also a marketing problem.

If a US customer hits your checkout, sees surprise FX costs, or can’t pay the way they want, you don’t just lose a transaction—you lose the lead, the referral, and the next three renewals. And because it’s January, plenty of businesses are setting growth targets and pushing into the US market off the back of Q4 momentum. The easiest win isn’t a new campaign. It’s removing friction from how you collect money.

Here’s the stance I’ll take: your USD payment system should be chosen based on how well it plugs into your marketing automation and ops, not just headline fees. The best setup is the one that automatically updates your CRM, triggers onboarding, chases failed payments, and keeps your customer comms consistent.

This post sits within our British Small Business Digital Marketing series because the “boring” backend decisions (payments, invoicing, currency handling) quietly decide whether your SEO traffic and paid clicks turn into revenue.

What matters when you accept US dollars (USD)

The decision comes down to three things: customer experience, currency economics, and automation fit. If you get those right, the rest is details.

Presentment vs settlement currency (the bit that affects conversions)

Presentment currency is what the customer sees and pays in (USD). Settlement currency is what lands in your account (often GBP).

Why marketers should care: presenting in USD usually increases conversion rates for US buyers because it removes the mental maths and the fear of their bank charging extra. But if you present in USD and settle in GBP, you’ll pay conversion costs somewhere—either with the payment provider or your bank.

The real cost isn’t “fees”, it’s friction + FX + failure

When you compare providers, don’t stop at the transaction fee. Model these four costs:

1. Card/collection fee (e.g., 1.9% + 20p)
2. FX conversion margin (e.g., 0.5% or 2%)
3. Payment failure rate (especially with recurring payments)
4. Admin time (reconciling, chasing, manually updating CRM)

If your team spends 2 hours a week cleaning up payment data and following up, that’s ~8 hours a month. At even £25/hour loaded cost, that’s £200/month—often more than the difference between providers.

Automation criteria UK SMEs should use (quick checklist)

Pick a payment system that supports:

• Native integrations (Xero, Sage, Salesforce, HubSpot, email platforms)
• Webhooks / API events for real-time automation (paid, failed, refunded)
• Multi-currency balances (to avoid unnecessary FX)
• Simple recurring payments if you do retainers/subscriptions
• Clear reporting for attribution and LTV tracking

6 payment systems for accepting USD (and what they’re best at)

Each provider below can accept USD, but they shine in different workflows. I’m adding the marketing automation angle—because that’s usually the missing piece.

1) GoCardless (best for recurring USD collections)

GoCardless is strongest when you sell retainers, memberships, or invoices you want paid automatically. It integrates with 350+ tools and uses Wise for currency conversion.

• Fees: 2% + 20p per transaction (conversion included); no monthly fee on Standard
• Conversion: via Wise (real exchange rate approach)
• Ideal for: recurring payments and predictable cashflow

Automation play: set up triggers like:

• Payment collected → tag customer as “Active” in your CRM
• Payment failed → send a polite dunning sequence + notify account manager
• Payment recovered → restart onboarding emails where they left off

If your “marketing automation” is mostly email and CRM stages, GoCardless can reduce churn simply by handling collections more reliably.

2) Airwallex (best for high-volume multi-currency ops)

Airwallex is built for international collections and holding multiple currencies efficiently. You can receive USD as if local, then convert at a low margin.

• Fees: none (for the account/collections feature as described)
• Conversion: ~0.5%
• Ideal for: SMEs processing lots of multi-currency transactions

Automation play: Airwallex is often the “treasury layer” behind your marketing stack.

• Route USD receipts into a USD wallet
• Convert only when rates suit your cashflow needs
• Sync payout/reconciliation data into accounting so marketing reports can trust revenue numbers

If you run international ads or pay US-based contractors, being able to hold USD can simplify budgeting and make CAC/LTV reporting less messy.

3) Braintree by PayPal (best for multiple wallet options)

Braintree is about payment optionality—PayPal, Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay—plus flexible currency setups.

• Fees: 1.9% + 20p + 1.5% multi-currency transaction fee
• Conversion: aligned to your bank’s conversion rate (where applicable)
• Ideal for: businesses that want to give customers more ways to pay

Automation play: payment choice affects conversion rates, especially for US mobile buyers.

• More wallets → fewer abandoned checkouts
• More successful first payments → better onboarding completion rates

If your marketing runs on paid social or influencer traffic, Braintree’s wallet coverage can outperform a “cheaper” provider simply by increasing completed checkouts.

4) Wise Business (best for freelancers and micro-SMEs receiving USD)

Wise is the cleanest way to receive and hold USD without paying unnecessary FX. It’s often used alongside another payment gateway, especially for invoicing.

• Fees: £50 to open; USD wire payments incur a 6.11 USD charge
• Conversion: generally low-cost; USD free to receive (holding limits apply)
• Ideal for: freelancers and micro businesses paid in USD

Automation play: Wise is great when the “payment event” is an invoice being paid, and the automation happens around it:

• Invoice paid → update project status in your PM tool
• Invoice paid → trigger “welcome / kickoff” sequence
• Invoice overdue → automated reminder emails + Slack/Teams alert

Wise won’t be your full checkout system, but it can be the best place for USD to land if you want to control conversion timing.

5) Stripe (best all-rounder for online businesses)

Stripe is the default choice for online-first SMEs because it’s flexible, developer-friendly, and integrates with everything. It supports 135+ currencies, and can separate balances by currency.

• Fees: 1.4% + 20p (UK cards); 3.25% + 20p (international cards)
• Conversion: ~2%
• Ideal for: online businesses wanting predictable, transparent pricing

Automation play: Stripe’s event system is a marketer’s friend.

Common high-impact flows:

• checkout.session.completed → create deal + customer in CRM
• invoice.paid → stop “trial ending” emails and start onboarding
• invoice.payment_failed → start dunning + notify customer success
• charge.refunded → create “save” task and ask for feedback

If you care about lifecycle marketing (trial → paid → renew → expand), Stripe makes that measurable and automated.

6) Payoneer (best for marketplaces and global payouts)

Payoneer is practical if you’re paid via platforms or international networks and need local receiving accounts.

• Fees: free in some Payoneer-to-Payoneer cases; direct customer payments can be 3% (credit card) or 1% (ACH Bank Debit)
• Conversion: varies by origin country and method
• Ideal for: freelancers, service providers, online sellers, rental hosts

Automation play: if you sell on marketplaces, Payoneer helps consolidate income streams so you can automate:

• “Order shipped” → “review request” emails
• “Payout received” → reconcile sales by channel
• “Customer repeat buyer” → VIP segmentation

It’s less about checkout optimisation and more about making multi-channel revenue trackable.

A practical decision framework (pick your “USD stack”)

Most UK SMEs don’t need one tool—they need a simple stack that matches their sales model. Here are three setups I’ve seen work.

If you sell subscriptions/retainers

• Primary: GoCardless (collections) or Stripe (subscriptions)
• Where automation lives: CRM + email (onboarding, dunning, renewal nudges)
• Priority metric: churn rate + failed payment recovery

If you sell one-off ecommerce or digital products

• Primary: Stripe or Braintree
• Where automation lives: checkout events → CRM → post-purchase flows
• Priority metric: checkout conversion rate + refund rate

If you invoice US clients and want minimal FX pain

• Primary: Wise Business or Airwallex for receiving/holding USD
• Where automation lives: invoicing + accounting workflows
• Priority metric: days to get paid + admin time saved

Snippet-worthy rule: If you can’t trigger an email sequence from a “payment succeeded” event, your payment setup isn’t marketing-ready.

How to connect USD payments to marketing automation (without overengineering)

You only need 5–7 automated events to get 80% of the value. Start here.

1) Lead-to-cash tracking (so marketing can prove ROI)

Connect payment events to your CRM so you can see:

• source/medium → first purchase
• first purchase → repeat purchase
• campaign → revenue (not just leads)

This is how “SEO for UK small business” work stops being a traffic report and becomes a revenue report.

2) Post-payment onboarding (the fastest retention win)

The moment USD lands, automate:

• welcome email + next steps
• account setup instructions
• a short “how to get value in 10 minutes” guide

I’ve found onboarding is where SMEs quietly lose margin: customers pay, then wait, then churn or refund.

3) Dunning for failed payments (protect cashflow and LTV)

If you do recurring payments, set up a simple sequence:

1. failure notice (friendly, plain language)
2. retry reminder + update payment method link
3. final reminder + support option

Automation here isn’t about being aggressive—it’s about being consistent.

4) Refund and dispute workflows (brand trust + learning loop)

Refunds aren’t just a finance event. Treat them as a feedback channel.

• refund issued → send a short survey
• dispute opened → create a support ticket + internal alert
• frequent refunds for a product → flag marketing claims that may be overpromising

5) Currency clarity messaging (reduce support tickets)

If you present USD, say so clearly on:

• pricing page
• checkout
• invoices

And if you settle in GBP while customers pay in USD, keep internal reporting consistent so you don’t get false swings in “revenue growth” caused by FX movements.

People also ask: quick answers UK SMEs need

Should a UK business accept USD or force GBP?

Accept USD if you actively sell to US customers online. Presenting prices in USD reduces friction and can improve conversions. Only force GBP if your volumes are tiny and the admin overhead outweighs the gain.

What’s the cheapest way to accept US dollars?

The cheapest setup is the one that avoids unnecessary FX conversions and manual admin. In practice, that often means using multi-currency balances (Stripe/Airwallex/Wise) and automating reconciliation.

Do I need a USD bank account?

Not always, but it helps. If you can hold USD and convert when you choose, you’ll reduce FX surprises and make margins more stable—especially when you invoice US clients.

Next steps: turn payments into an automated growth loop

Accepting USD payments is straightforward. Turning USD payments into automated customer journeys is where UK SMEs pull ahead.

If you take one action this week, make it this: map your customer lifecycle and decide what should happen automatically after a payment succeeds, fails, or is refunded. Your marketing will instantly become more measurable, and your ops will feel less frantic.

If your payment data doesn’t currently feed your CRM and email flows, you’re probably leaving repeat revenue on the table. What would change in your business if every payment event reliably triggered the right message at the right time?