Accepting Credit Cards for startup businesses

[sammy]

Hi everyone i was wondering if anyone has any experience with 2checkout???

I would like to accept credit cards and have found the following companies that DO NOT need Merchant account number

Worldpay-Worlddirect
Secure Trading- STpay
Metacharge
Worldwidebilling
Paysat
Paysystems

Also there is

Paypal
Nochex
Fastpay

I am particularly interested in people that have used 2 checkout on their site as well as SecureTrading

I want to know which of these is the best for a startup business in terms of cost, shopping cart intergration, ease of use etc

Please can people post about which of the above they use or which they reccommend or have heard good things about

Hope someone can help

Cheers Samad

 

[lisastorey]

Hi Samad,

We have been using Paypal for a couple of years and although I have seen a few bad things written about them we have never had any problems.

We recently incorporated the company so I took the opportunity to look around at other payment processors and to be honest there wasnt that much differentiation between them so we ended up staying with Paypal.

Hope this helps in some way.

Lisa

 

[Ozzy]

Hi Lisa,
Your emails from the forum are bouncing by the way!

As for payment providers, from the list you have sent I would recommend Worldpay due to their status and how well their are known. This "in theory" would give more confidence to your potential clients.
However I have no experience of 2CheckOut so cannot comment on their performance.

 

[lisastorey]

Hi Lisa,
Your emails from the forum are bouncing by the way!

Thanks Richard ... wondered why I wasn't getting notifications ...... have updated my e-mail address

 

[sammy]

Thanks a lot everyone

 

[WSC-Will]

You might find this website useful as it's choco full of information on accepting payments online and is backed by the DTI & Scottish Enterprise.

 

[Stephen]

Hi Samad

It probably depends quite a lot on the nature of your business, how long you've been trading, what your average transaction value is going to be etc. etc.

However, you may well find that a merchant account with the same bank as you use for your business current account is cheapest (and avoids having delays on accessing your money or requiring you to keep reserves) - and then use a separate card payment processor.

Some of the more cost effective payment processors seem to be www.protx.com and www.secpay.com - protx have a nice competitor comparison (that for us said secpay would be cheaper!!).

For us - ease of customers handing over their payment was a priority, and so far secpay has been pretty easy to implement.

As for 2checkout - I believe their transactions would show on your customer's statements in US$. I might be wrong on this, but worth checking out.

Hope this helps,
Steve

PS - Worryingly, checking the links above show a network solutions holding page for protx - not sure why this might be, but the link is correct, so should return shortly!!!

 

[sportingmemories]

With regards to WorldPay, sure they are a recognised brand that no what they`re doing. If you`re a small business though i have used them in the past and their transaction fees are very high with a lead time of 4 weeks on paying to your account unless you set up an internet merchant account with your bank which equals even more money.

I have also found their customer service to be poor at best.

 

[copy cat]

Hi Samad


I have recently started an ecommerce site and found PayPal to be the cheapest and easiest to use.

I have just looked at stephens reply and protx also looks good, but I'm just dabbling at the moment so PayPal is still the best for me, as its easy in and easy out with no set up or monthly fees.

Hope this helps

Mark

 

[simon-at-shopfitter]

PayPal...the cheapest and easiest to use.

Hi Mark (and everyone else),

I don't mean to be picky, but our rates at NOCHEX are only 2.6% plus 20p compared to 3.4% plus 20p. In fact you have to be processing over £15,000 per month before PayPal's rates are lower than our standard ones. By that time we'd expect you to have start to talking to us about our enhanced merchant offering.



Simon
Communications Manager
www.nochex.com

 

[Cornish Steve]

We have chosen to use PayPal because it is simple to use, interfaces with our storefront software, and requires no monthly fee. I'm open to using NoChex, so please convince me!

Our courses are available and appropriate for professionals from any English-speaking country; our typical class includes participants from several countries. Because of this, we are marketing in many countries. I'm wrestling, however, with the issue of currency.

Right now, our prices are displayed in US dollars, with a figure displayed for euros too. It has been suggested to me that this is likely to be a big disincentive to Britons who will want to purchase only in pounds. If I'm honest, I know that my family in England would probably not buy anything if prices are not displayed in pounds. How do other people feel about it?

If prices must be presented in pounds, should we have a British storefront to site alongside our regular storefront? What would you suggest?

 

[copy cat]

Hi Steve

Personally speaking it does not put me off that prices are marked up in other currencies. Basically if it is something I want or need then I will purchase it. My only stipulation is that they have to accept a credit card if it is a foreign site, as this gives you a level of protection.

My usual method is to look first in the UK for that product, especially if the first site I come across looks foreign. But if the site looks truly international then that will make me look more closely.

I think that maybe the issue for people in Briton is a question of relevance. Is this information or product designed or compatible for me in the UK? Although your courses are obviously universal, people are always looking for a local connection as is it promotes confidence. So if you include UK currency it can only be beneficial, especially as it will only be a small addition to your web site. I would also give all your currencies equal prominence, again to give people confidence that your information is truly universal.

This is only a personal opinion, but family and friends seem to have similar habits when buying online.

 

[Ozzy]

When I shop online I will buy downloadable software/ebooks from any website in any country, but if it is a boxed product I will only buy from a UK retailer.
I was once tricked into buying a digital camera which had a .uk domain name and I though I was buying from a UK company. It turned out I was buying from a French company and delivery was over a week. I wasn't impressed and wont shop their again, and now look a lot more closesly!

As for payment options on a website...
I will be comfortable buying from a store that uses a solution provider I recognise, or if they use internal processing it must be a big name brand I know (Tesco's etc).
If I come across a website that tries to give the impression of a big corporate and then use PayPal and tend to leave their site and go elsewhere. PayPal to me says small individual/company starting up. If the website makes this clear that they are a <5 employee level company sort of size then I feel at least they are being honest, and I am happy to deal with an honest company and pay via PayPal.

Just my own online shopping habits

 

[The_JinJ]

The Nochex option - can it have the total integration that US Paypal system currently offers? ie the customer doesn't even know that they are using Nochex for a checkout?
Or does it just have the redirection to the checkout page similar to UK PAypal?

 

[simon-at-shopfitter]

Hi Neil,

Currently, the NOCHEX payment page works in a similar manner to PayPal's UK system. However, we have introduced a much more streamlined and flexible payment page. This can be tailored to match your own site's look and feel, allowing header, footer and left and right columns to be added as you require. It still resides on the NOCHEX secure server, however, is very professional in appearance.

New sign-ups to NOCHEX are automatically assigned to the new system but we haven't migrated existing accounts over yet.

Regarding the 'total integration' you've mentioned, I assume you're referring to whats commonly termed API. We don't offer this at the moment, although using the callback system it can and does integrate successfully with your own database. We are talking about an API version although its not imminent and no decision has been made one way or the other.

I hope thats of help.



Simon
Communications Manager
www.nochex.com

 

[Ozzy]

Personally I think API's are overrated
Speaking as a technically minded shopper I prefer to see what security the onlien store has in place to handle my credit card details, and it reassures me when I can see the cards being processed by a reputable payment solutions provider.
There is the danger that an online store is pretending to use an API but is simply using a mailform script behind a secure certificate! (meaning my credit card details could be being email insecurely to an hotmail email account for example).

 

[simon-at-shopfitter]

I understand your point of view, Ozzy, and I feel its something that a lot of new entrants to e-commerce often overlook when deciding which store-builder package to use.

I would urge anyone who isn't using an internet merchant/psp such as NOCHEX to ensure that any credit card details are stored on the system's server in an encrypted form and that e-mail notifications are only carrying basic order notification/confirmation details.

I've seen some systems that don't really fulfill the requirement very well. Of those I do know well, such as shopfitter.com and Actinic the encryption system ensures that even if someone hacked the server then they wouldn't be able to use the information because they would still need the private key to carry out the decryption - and only the webshop owner should have that.

I urge everyone to check the security arrangements for an e-com system before committing to it. Once your site has built link authority and been regularly indexed by the search engines changing to a new webshop system can be complicated, time consuming and potentially very costly in lost business - its not just a case of swapping everything over, you MUST protect your existing search engine rankings.

Actinic has a very comprehensive pdf document about its security and encryption system - http://downloads.actinic.com/docs/white_papers/Security.pdf.

Also, a much shorter explanation for Shopfitter 3 can be found at https://orders3.shopfitter.com/thawte.htm. These will both give you an idea of what to look for with other system providers.

Of course, the simplest, safest and best practise method is to integrate directly with your payment service provider, which cuts out all the issues mentioned above.



Simon
Communications Manager
www.nochex.com

 

[Another Media Group]

Hi,

I've used 2checkout.com in the past and I have also just integrated into my new venture at Epicare Facial Hair Remover.

Take a look if you want to see how easy it is to integrate into a new or existing site.

You can only accept credit cards using 2Checkout.com so if your looking to accept Switch and Solo etc. then you need something else.