Help me choose a payment processing system please.

[rossmc]

I'm a sole trader who hopes to start a web-based business soon. Without going into too much detail I'll have around 50-100 users who will each be paying monthly variable fees (much in the same a seller would to eBay). Each transaction will probably be around £10 per month, which means around £500-1000 will be processed each month.

I know World Pay's Future Pay system is one option and I've been told Protx do something similar. can anyone else recommend a solution? Also am I missing something glaringly obvious here that will be a problem?

[blown away]

The Secpay premium packages offer repeat transaction facilities, at that level of transaction - credit card subscription may work out cheaper for you than the fixed debit card fee, it depends on the rates your IMA will charge you. I found Streamline to be the cheapest for us - but i suppose it entirely depends on your business/transaction levels.

[Naughty Vend]

Worldpay FuturePay is good, the client administers their membership and they update their card etc when it expires or bounces, you also don't hold that data on your server - so you can sleep well at night...

You can also integrate this with a membership management system, no live subscription, no access to web site, fully automated.

[rossmc]

Worldpay Guture pay sounds like the way forward. By the sound of things it would also mean I won't have any of the hassles of processing transactions.

Any idea of the costs involved?

[Naughty Vend]

In addition to the package you choose with WorldPay it costs £100 to add this feature to your account, current prices of set-up listed below via link;

Standard Account Prices : worldpay.com/uk/sme/content.php?page=pricing
Future Pay Product : worldpay.com/uk/sme/content.php?page=step2&sub=2

I noticed their "New Business Deal" but the sneaky sods are taking the route of some others, charging a percentage on debit cards so choose your product carefully based upon what you expect your split of card type and transaction volume to be, personally I'd stick to the standard fixed £0.45 per debit card as this "new business deal" seems geared to capture the less aware.

However you have a unique model here charging £10.00 per transaction per person per month, a transaction of £15.00 on their 3.35% per debit card would cost £0.50 + FSC (about £0.15) which is the same as standard account but as you are charging less than that break even point you could actually benefit from taking their deal with reduced set up costs. If you think that in the future your transactions could commonly exceed the BEP at this charge scale then go standard set-up, else take the deal.

Anyone else reading this post, do the math first as what works for rossmc may not be right for you...

[rossmc]

Appreciate the help there mate.

[aquazoo]

I use Optimal Payments for my repeat billing, although they don't appear to be that well know in the UK. Anyway I find them to be very good although their tech support is in Canada.

Phil at webmerchant.co.uk set it up the acount for me.

[rossmc]

What are the costs associated with Optimal Payments?

[aquazoo]

optimal costs: http://www.web-merchant.co.uk/Costs_Optimal.asp

Note this includes the costs of having a merchant account with them.

How competitive do you find these costs compared to repeat bill competitors?

[rossmc]

Seems cheap but I think I'd need their world account as Optimal doesn't allow recurring payments with differing amounts.

Also...from what I can see they are simply resellers for the likes of WorldPay, am I right in thinking this? Anyone notice the similarities between their World Account and WorldPays?

[Carl-CSNM]

We use Optimal but not with the company above, I think they must be resellers or something.

We also use recurring payments with Optimal.

[aquazoo]

Seems cheap but I think I'd need their world account as Optimal doesn't allow recurring payments with differing amounts.

Also...from what I can see they are simply resellers for the likes of WorldPay, am I right in thinking this? Anyone notice the similarities between their World Account and WorldPays?

Webmerchant are resellers for Optimal. But Optimal is a standalone system competing with Worldpay etc.

They do let you change the amounts billed in their system, but you have to change it manually yourself.

[DragonZ]

moneybookers is another option

[shades]

You may wish to check few more payment processors depending on your requirement such as;
protx
nochex
chronopay
moneybookers
multicards
secpay
2checkout

[Learn E-Business]

Hi there

Personally I'd avoid using worldpay - they are kind of expensive.

There are a few things to consider:

Do you need multicurrency?
Are you happy to wait a month for your payment to reach you? Check the T & C's - some Payment Gateway providers don't pay you right away.
How quickly do you need to get setup? Within a week - Use paypal
Do you want to set up an internet banking account? (This usually takes up to 6 weeks).
Do you wish to offer premium security?
What credit/debit cards do you wish to accept? American Express? Not all accept Amex.
I used to resell, securetrading back in 2001 and they were excellent - ultra-secure too. I now use Protx on my music portal and paypal on my ebusiness courses site (chosen for speed and established security).

Have a think about your needs when planning, then do a cost comparison of the suppliers

Hope that helps
Kind Regards
Deborah
Learnebusiness.com:redface:

[rossmc]

I know PayPal offer a function whereby you can set a regular monthly/weekly payments, for example if it was a magazine subscription.

However, does PayPal allow you to take a monthly amount which will vary?

For example, in the same way that a seller's eBay fees come off each month but the payment amount varies depending on how much that seller has sold.

[aquazoo]

Irrespective of how good Paypal actually is please bear in mind that websites with paypal give the impression of being amateurish, and will put a lot of customers off - or at least they put me right off.

[lynndevine@streamline.com]

Hi Ross,

Worldpay and Streamline are part of the same group (Royal Bank of Scotland), I work for them and if you give me a call, I'll make sure the costs are kept to a minimum.

[thehunnipot]

Hi there

I don't know much about this area but we do offer a payment solution for cash payers. It's called go&pay and you can integrate this option into your shopping cart as an alternative option. If you type in go&pay into google you will see the link to the website. Or if you wanted I could email you a brochure? just PM your email address to me.

Regards

Kate

[rossmc]

Cheers Kate but it needs to have the same functionality as WorldPay's FuturePay service.

[DavidT]

Without getting into any discussion on PayPal's image...

Using PayPal, the costs per month to you would be:

Minimum - 50 x 20p + 50 x £10 x 3.4% = £27
Maximum - 100 x 20p + 100 x £10 x 3.4% = £54

No other fees necessary with them and fairly sure subscription/recurring fees can vary per transaction.

WorldPay (from what I could see with Merchant) your costs would be:

£200 setup

plus per month:

Minimum - £30 + 50 x 45p (4.5% C/Cards or flat D/Cards) = £52.50
Maximum - £30 + 100 x 45p = £75.00

Go and Pay - Sorry, could find fees easily so left it at that

Secpay, Few packages but along these lines:

Starter 10, cost per month to you:

Minimum & Maximum - £10 (flat fee for up to 100 transactions)

Based on costs... it would probably be best to compare your options like this. And then consider image (I hadn't realised PayPal had such a negative image, and not sure why... just a merchant service to me), functionality and your needs.

Bear in mind also... PayPal is no charge until you start taking transactions, Secpay looks better (based on cost) for you but £10 month commences from setup.

Sorry if the format of this is difficult to read... was only going to Post a Quick Reply... but winding down and the beancounter in me was curious.

Cheers

[DavidT]

Sorry... just realised Secpay requires you to also have an IMA (Internet Merchant Account) with one of the banks they integrate with... so expect additional costs and effort, paperwork etc in setup.

[rossmc]

The reason I need WorldPay's FuturePay service is that I can change the monthly amounts I charge for fees rather than having the same fixed amount (much in the same way that eBay sellers are charged their fees). This is not a feature of PayPal as far as I'm aware.

A full rundown of FuturePay:
http://support.worldpay.com/kb/product_guides/futurepay/fpay2000.html