Credit Card Virtual Terminal

[Niper1]

All,

I'm new to the board, but just wondered if anyone else has had trouble getting a credit card terminal sorted? without getting ripped off?

I've got banks quoting me £150 Setup, £20 per month + 1.75% per txn with a minimum of like £0.25p, these are just example figures, but first years costs before you've even sold a thing are £500...if you can get one...!

Paypal have a terminal in the US, but its not available in the UK...???

Other options mean signing upto WorldPay or something similar, which again are a rip off!

Any ideas?

[Hedgehog Toys]

Problem is mate, if you want a merchant account, virtual terminal, etc etc then you have to pay for it and the banks know that and hit you for chunks of money. If you are a small business it can be difficult to lay out large amounts of cash in the initial 12 months so it becomes a catch22 situation.
Do you lay out the money and hope you can recoup the cash quickly or do you struggle without the terminal and lose potential sales.

[Rob Holmes]

We use Worldpay - they are £170 per year which includes everything I need. I am more than happy to pay this level of annual fee and less happy but do pay 50p for a debit card or 4% for a credit card transaction.

Have you had a look at Protx ? I took the liberty of finding a useful page for you here (http://www.protx.com/smallbusiness/04.asp)

Hope this helps,

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

That sounds like typical costs to me. Infact, maybe a little lower then typical.

Rob - you must have money to burn!

[Carl-CSNM]

We use Worldpay - they are £170 per year which includes everything I need. I am more than happy to pay this level of annual fee and less happy but do pay 50p for a debit card or 4% for a credit card transaction.

Have you had a look at Protx ? I took the liberty of finding a useful page for you here (http://www.protx.com/smallbusiness/04.asp)

Hope this helps,

Rob

I assume you signed up a few years ago?

[Rob Holmes]

yes I did.

I still didn't (& don't) get it as cheap as Ozzy :mad:

Rob

[Niper1]

Hi Rob,

Just been onto the Protx website, they look perfect mate...I have just emailed them to find out if its all true, if so then I'm having me a virtual terminal to start with, then if business takes off...I shall go for the complete package!

Cheers mate, much appreciated
Paul

[Carl-CSNM]

Hi Rob,

Just been onto the Protx website, they look perfect mate...I have just emailed them to find out if its all true, if so then I'm having me a virtual terminal to start with, then if business takes off...I shall go for the complete package!

Cheers mate, much appreciated
Paul

Don't forgot you will need a Merchant Account from your bank to use Protx.

[Rob Holmes]

Don't forget you will need a Merchant Account from your bank to use Protx.
Yes this is true.

It does add to the cost - as hedgehog mentioned in a previous post - these things do cost.

At the time we were looking Worldpay was the only serious answer for the smaller business that didn't want to get too involved with the technicalities - they were very plug and play.

I'm unsure of the cost of a merchant account - maybe you can let us know an indication Niper1 ?

The upsides to a merchant account is you should get your money a little quicker than Worldpay who hold ours for 2 weeks before paying it into our account which has always been their biggest fault in my eyes (and they will eventually have to drop it for us when our trading volume rises to a 'bargainable figure' )

Rob

[DuaneJackson]

I use ProTX for one of my own companies and also set up a few clients with them. They're the only people I'd consider for online payments.

As Carl points out, this isn't an alternative to having a merchant account, it's an alternative to using your banks own system such as epdq or streamline.

[bmedia]

Have you tried metacharge.com ?

[Niper1]

KashFlow/Carl,

Yeah thanks, sent my email to Protx, we'll see what comes back.

I realise that I need a merchant account, no worries just didn't want the rip off costs of Bank VT...£150 setup...for what delivering the VT...I don't think so...

We'll see what Protx say...then I'll start the ball rolling.

Cheers
Paul

[Hedgehog Toys]

I have just contacted Lloyds Cardnet today with regards setting up a merchant account. I will let you know what they propose to charge me :)

[Carl-CSNM]

You could also try VelocityPay, http://www.velocitypay.co.uk/

We signed up last week. Like WorldPay they also offer the Merchant Account. :)

[openmind]

We're with Lloyds/Protx and couldn't be happier. They even rang us after a couple of months and reduced our fees as we were taking a lot more than we anticipated...

[Niper1]

Hi Phil,

How much did/do Lloyds charge? I've just emailed them and asked for a price!

Paul

[openmind]

They charged us a set-up fee of £300+vat, no annual fee and then we negotiated our transaction fees. It's impossible to say how much the transaction fees will be as they base it on length of tie trading, turnover, risk etc...

[lesliedocherty]

Hi,

just to jump in here, Protx seem very reasonably priced, is there customer service good as i feel i am overpaying with world pay, and they hold my money for 4 weeks.

leslie

[DuaneJackson]

Hi Leslie,

Personally I've never had cause to call them for anything, but one of my clients is often on the phone to them with some question or another and he's remarked on how helpful they are - he's very happy with the level of service and he's very anal about these things in his own company.

[JamieM]

Hi,

I have heard raving reports about the offer from the FSB. They have a partnership to offer preferrential rates on merchant services. I think it is through Streamline but not sure.

Get in touch with them at www.fsb.org.uk

[thegateways]

You could also check nochex, multicards, ChronoPay, velocitypay, authorize.net etc, best way to get an overall comparison about their rates, and check whose offering is best to go with.