Any good payment processor?

[davewills]

Hi all,

I am starting up with an e-commerce site, and although there are several processors out there - Im just bid undecided on implementing one, just wanted to hear from guys - your personal experiences.

This could very much help me out in zeroing in on a processor - reliable, fast & one who has good customer care :)


~Dave

[JADEMEDIA]

Hi Dave.

I just opened a Paypal personal account as I didn't want to get stung on shopping on the Internet with a credit card. There are lots of these prepay visa cards around and why I choose Paypal I don't know as I have always thought they were rubbish. Much to my surprise then the card arrived just 3 days later and the pin the same day. Pretty impressive as was I thought the merchant facility for taking online payments.

I thought you could only take Paypal payments from customers with a personal Paypal account with it but now it seems that you can take almost all credit & debit cards with an all inclusive tranaction fee I believe of between 3.5% and 1.5% depending on volume. Those seem like pretty decent rates to me and if the service on that product is up to scratch too a damned good deal - particularly as it integrates with almost all shoipping carts including the free ones. Hope the info help. Jade

[JIrwin1982]

SagePay formely Protx is very good!!!

[HardwareHeroes]

Paypal paymnets pro is an easy-in solution not requiring a decent amount of verification but the service is flaky.

If you are a member of the FSB, you get a very attractive, discounted rate on the Streamline product - its VERY good and at 1.2% or thereabouts, it is tough to beat.

[phil battison]

If you have or can get a Merchant ID from one of the major credit and debit card acquirers (e.g. Barclays Merchant Services, Royal Bank of Scotland Streamline, Lloyds Cardnet etc.) then this account combined with a Protx account is a good/reasonably priced way to go. You end up with two relationships to manage but once its all up and running its pretty painless and having used Protx for a couple of years we can only report good things about them.

Getting the Merchant ID can be the challege as the banks are increasinly "picky" about who they give an account to and on what terms. If you do stuggle consider WorldPay (part of Royal Bank of Scotland) - they are much more flexible but the catch is they hang onto you money for longer

[davewills]

Thanks for all your responses!

As for my part, I too did some research, visited some forums where people have given honest reviews and zeroed on the payment processor Patrasys for the time being. I emailed the customer care and even called them - they were so responsive.

I also read the fact from their website that Patrasys offers lower rates on transactions and here is the good thing - they are compatible with magento which im gonna use.

So let me get ahead with and try patrasys and then come back to you guys on how it went.

Thx,
Dave

[Online Trader]

Dave I think you shoul dread the 2 threads below this one before going ahead with patrasys :eek:

[SPLASH]

http://www.perpetualpayments.com/ well recommended

[primrose]

Have been using Sagepay (formely Protx) for many years and am very happy with service and support when required.

[RobF]

Having dealt with startup merchants for over five years, time and time again it's made sense to recommend PayPal as a good place to start - not because it is the best solution (far from it) but because if you've yet to discover how your online business will fare, PayPal is easy to setup and the lowest upfront investment of time. Going this route gives you the opportunity to test the water without long term committment and see whether the business works.

As one of the other posters has mentioned, banks are picky about giving out Internet Merchant Accounts and particularly so if you have no trading history - hence a period with PayPal at least solves that. I recommend PayPal only as a short-term solution, you shouldn't expect to be with them for the long haul as it's not a serious business facility and looks and seems lightweight to consumers. Your plan should be to partner with a PSP as soon as required.

At that point, or right now, if you're convinced of the long term viability of your business, a good PSP is one who can meet your needs whatever they are. There are several strong UK PSP's (even mentioned on this thread) but if you are building from startup, the ones that will make a difference to you are those that can accommodate you whether or not your bank is willing to give you a Merchant Account.

For that reason might I recommend PayPoint.net who offer both the Protx model (a gateway to use with your choice of bank) and a Worldpay model (merchant account included, a complete solution). The expertise across the two can bridge the gap whatever position you find yourself in before or after a PayPal pilot. I will say I am biased here, but having worked in the PSP industry for many years I feel I can be objective if a customers needs dictate (hence suggesting PayPal as your first point of call).

Whoever you choose, might I suggest before you start trawling websites, you take a piece of paper and scribble down all the things you think you'll need in order to successfully run your online business (it's second nature for people to think of what they need when they open a bricks and mortar shop but people don't always consider what they'll need long term to run their web business). Once you have this list, and only then, start visiting websites of different PSP's and assessing who meets all these needs.

[acceptcards]

Hi there

Our company is an independant firm who offer free advice to all business looking to start or already processing card payments. Rather than trawling through websites trying to get your head round how it all works, let us know how your business works and what your after and we will do all the work for you.

We have agreements in place with most of the major uk acquiring banks, PSP's and terminal rental companies so are able to search all the options available on your behalf and come back to you with the cheapest most suitable solution for your business.

We can arrange not only e-commerce facilities but MOTO (telephone) and chip and pin services as well, and nine times out of ten we will save you money on existing rates or offer a better deal than what you would get if you went direct.

Have a look at our website acceptcards.co.uk or give us a call 01422 382 408 and we will be happy to assist.

Regards
Jasmine

[webpromoterservice]

You could also try out Google checkout.The transaction fees are one of the most competitive in the market and if you use google adwords you can also have free transaction processing

The payout settlements are also very quick,unlike worldpays which can take 4 weeks if you have a junior integration(which is what most small users get)

[cybermega]

In my opinion, the best, easiest, quickest and most reliable is paypoint.net

[crowstone68]

Definitely agree with that - we use SagePay/Protx - great that they have 24 hour support now, but you could have a long wait on the phone during the day if you have a technical query. Found it easy to integrate into our website too.

[b2bmarketing]

Does paypal have a monthly limit on how much one can draw from his account? :|

[caththere]

Hi all,

I am starting up with an e-commerce site, and although there are several processors out there - Im just bid undecided on implementing one, just wanted to hear from guys - your personal experiences.

This could very much help me out in zeroing in on a processor - reliable, fast & one who has good customer care :)


~Dave

Most e-commerce have PayPal and Credit/debit card intergrated into the software they sell. Companies like PHPprobid that sell auction softwares tend to go futher and introduce other payment processors such as Nochex, Moneybookers, Googlecheckout, SagePay, AlertPay. Companies that do this do well when they intoduce other payment processors other than PayPal.

[crowstone68]

Hi,
I use SagePay on my site and have found it to be 100% reliable and pretty easy to integrate.

Dave Huggett
www.a1coffee.co.uk (http://www.a1coffee.co.uk)