Choosing an Online Payment Processor

[TotalWebSolutions]

Please bare in mind EcomMerchant from Total Web Solutions. We are PCI Level 1 accredited and offer a pay page and Virtual Terminal from only £10 per month. Our solution works with an Internet Merchant ID from Barclays, HSBC, Natwest/RBS (Streamline) or Lloyds TSB. The pay page is fully customisable but held on our secure server. It is compatible with most 'off the shelf' shopping carts as well as bespoke integration.

For further details search 'Total Web Solutions' via your search engine.

Sales

 

[yourmomma]

What would be the best solution for someone who takes card payments over the phone? I heard PayPal's pretty good, but I think my customers would have to register with them first. What I need is an ability to process a payment just by entering the customer's card details so that the customer wouldn't even need to go online. Is it even possible?

Any info appreciated.

 

[Green Jelly]

Yourmomma - this is possible with a PayPal Business account. Customers have the option of using a credit/debit card or money in their PayPal account.

 

[Green Jelly]

Can anyone share their experience of HSBC Merchant services?

 

[yourmomma]

Thanks for you reply, Green_Jelly. Sorry I can't help with your question.

The PayPal method sounds good, however, one of the conditions that I forgot to mention is that I would like my company name to appear on my customers' bank statements. I believe that it would look more professional if PayPal did not appear on any of them. Would you happen to know if this is possible with PayPal?

Thank you!

Edit:

From an article about PayPal on some website:

The transaction fees are low and the setup fees are almost non existant. However, you don't officially have a merchant account, so your business name will not appear on customer bank statements.

So not good

 

[MARLEY2]

PAYPAL IS A NIGHTMARE - You get alot of money in the account and they think something dodgy is happening and then freaze your account.

Worldpay has great customer service , But I cant get the return URL to work - 4 weeks later - same problem.

patrasys.com owe me £7000 and will be taken them to court , and many other people have had problems.

cardsave.net - Just signed up to them waiting for details in the post , will let you lot all know soon.

2checkout.com - many people have had problems trying to sign up with that company. and they are very picky who they use.

securepay.com Will let you lot know more about them soon.


hope this info helps

 

[MARLEY2]

Paypal

Before using paypal.com take a look here , paypalsucks.com

Sellers , If you if you turn over alot of money they want to know everything.

If you are a seller and worried that How you can avoid paypal Chargebacks then Before Reading this Article, you may like to read our Article Paypal Chargback Scams.
To Avoid Paypal Chargebacks -
1. As a seller look at the ebay history of the buyer. If the buyer is very new then you have to be extra careful and if you think the chances of scam and fraud is way too high for you and you can't take the risk, then its better to just avoid such buyers.
2. Just because a buyer has some reputation doesn't mean he can't fraud you or won't file for chargeback. Its always good to talk to the person by email/IM/Phone if you think its worth your time.
3. While Shipping a product, always ship it from a reputable service like DHL or FedEx and always keep all kind of documentation.
4. Most of the Chargebacks happen because the product is NOT tangible that is it is a service. For example, many designers, programmers and web based business owners often gets scammers regularly by people who chargebacks after getting the service as paypal do not cover such cases and you are completely on your own.
In this case, you CAN'T do anything and the money will be deducted from your account and will be given back to the fraud buyer. Paypal may run a formal procedure for this but you will never your money.
To avoid such cases, always make sure that the buyer is an honest guy and always do your due diligence to make sure the person is the right guy otherwise you really can't blame paypal later since they obviously are saying they do not consider such cases.
A small list of options to verify the Buyer can be -
1. Ask for his address and verify it
2. Ask for his Phone number and verify it
3. Ask for his identity proof like passport and verify it.


----------------------------------------------------
If your selling a service , membership , websites , seo

The customer can do a chargeback and you lose all the money !! The customer would just say that they didnt get the goods and then you lose all the money.

 

[yourmomma]

Thanks for the info! Very useful indeed.

One more question - do you know if any of these companies allow you to put your company name on customer bank statements? I don't want my customers to just see "world pay" or "paypal" on their statements for obvious reasons!

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Hi yourmomma,

Our solution - EcomMerchant - will allow you to have your company name on the statement as it will be the name set up with the bank providing the Internet Merchant Account.

If you want further information on our low-cost, PCI level 1 accredited solution just send me a private message with your details and I will happily get back to you.

Regards,

Simon

 

[gloriousnetwork]

Thanks for all the blog posts. We have been using Paypal but are looking to change. I've heard a lot of good things about Sage so may take a look at them.

Best wishes

 

[gloriousnetwork]

Ecom-merchant sound good too. I'll take a look.

 

[cosmetics4less]

We use Sage and Streamline with FSB reduced rates. This works fine. We also offer Paypal which we haven't had any problems with in more than 4 years but it's much more expensive.

Customers seem to like Paypal as they perceive it to be safer and it's much easier and quicker than inputting your card details. About 30% of our customers choose Paypal over card payments.

 

[Dreamwaver]

I think paypal and credit are wide receptive.

 

[Discountbannerprinting.co.uk]

Paypal can be integrated so you don't even see that paypal is behind the payment process

Website Payments Pro

£20 a month, no merchant account and a decision in a 5 - 7 working days.

You Can accept cards, paypal and they may even give you the virtual terminal free (Payment over the phone)

Not a bad starting point for a company.

 

[Amy_Sagepay]

Hi All,

If you have any queries about our products or services just give me a shout!

Amy
Sage Pay

 

[limessl]

I went with HSBC in the end, there were cheaper alternatives out there but I felt more secure going with the people I bank with.

£20 a month isn't bad I guess, and the rates I got as a complete start-up were not a rip-off (although I did use the alternatives as a bargaining tool!)

 

[simpson7647]

hi all, im on the verge of setting up my E-commerce website, do i need a business bank account?
I currently have a Abbey debit card ive been using to fund my website but do i need a business bank account or will this do fine??

What is a business bank account and what are the pros and cons??

Thanks all

Ryan

 

[Amy_Sagepay]

Hi Ryan,

The answer is yes. When setting up your E-commerce site you will be required to set up a Business bank account and Merchant account.
The merchant account is necessary because this acts as an agreement between yourself and your bank that you are able to take online payments. Once a shopper has purchased on your site, the funds will need to go through your merchant bank before being settled into your business bank account.

Hope this helps!
Amy

 

[simpson7647]

thankyou Amy for your quick and accurate reply.
Are there any guides that willl walk me through this as im not too knowledgable about this and im on the verge of setting up my e-commerence shop website.


thanks

 

[simpson7647]

Hi Ryan,

The answer is yes. When setting up your E-commerce site you will be required to set up a Business bank account and Merchant account.
The merchant account is necessary because this acts as an agreement between yourself and your bank that you are able to take online payments. Once a shopper has purchased on your site, the funds will need to go through your merchant bank before being settled into your business bank account.

Hope this helps!
Amy

hi there, okay i kind of get what you mean.
So if i wanted to run my e-commerce site just through paypal, i wouldnt have to set up a business bank account? Whats a merchant account??
But im wanting to set up other ways of paying such as via credit card as well.

Bit confusing but im sure ill get the hang of it soon

 

[Discountbannerprinting.co.uk]

Paypal standard (No cost expect per transaction) you can take most types of card and paypal over the internet (This will pass your customer over to there site to pay).

Paypal website pro (£20 a month) will allow you to take most types of card and payments over the phone (Virtual terminal) and you can integrate this into your site (The customer will not know it is paypal processing the transaction).

You do not need a merchant or business bank account you can just use your own personal account.

 

[simpson7647]

thanks for the reply so i dont actually need a business account?

Although i guess there are plenty of advantages to using one?? What are these

Thanks

 

[Josh G.]

By looking at this thread, I thought to share my views on "Getting started in E-Commerce - Choosing an Online Payment Processor"...

I feel that any business who is about to open an E-Commerce website, must mull over my thought thoroughly. I believe that any E-Commerce website should have a secure online payment system to ensure complete safety of their customers. By saying so, I would like to introduce a service provider "TeleSign INC" which offers phone authentication and telephone verification to secure personal details of customers and to stop spam and fraudsters.

Verifying a user's telephone number takes only a few seconds:

* User enters their telephone number on a website
* TeleSign immediately sends an automated voice call or SMS to the user with a one-time PIN code
* User enters this one-time PIN code onto the website
* User is verified ...

 

[Newmedia]

Can You/Should You use two different payment processors on your site in case you have problems with one and they stop accepting payments you still have the other as a fallback????

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Can You/Should You use two different payment processors on your site in case you have problems with one and they stop accepting payments you still have the other as a fallback????

Yes, you can have more than one payment processor on a single website. Depending on what shopping cart you are using you should be able to add as many payment modules as you want and either have them all active - giving customer the choice of who to use - or have one active and another as a fall back you can activate at any time.

 

[PayPoint net]

Can You/Should You use two different payment processors on your site in case you have problems with one and they stop accepting payments you still have the other as a fallback????

It is great if you can have two payment providers so in the event of a fail you have a backup provider that can accept your customers payments. However unfortunately for many smaller businesses, especially when starting out, this is not a realistic option. Offering additional payment types such as PayPal could be a way around this (while your business is growing) to ensure that there is an alternative for your customers to make payments.Then once your business starts to grow you can have a think about adding an extra payment service provider. Is is advisable (when selecting a payment partner) to see if they can provide you with their reliability stats of their platform and infrastructure.

 

[jamescharls123]

Today merchant account became an essential thing for most of the business. If you allow your customers to pay by credit card than it means you are running ahead from your competitors. It is really very useful in increasing your sales and popularity.

 

[Card Cutters Ltd]

Very nice and knowledgeable article. Ozzy, I would like to say that you have made it nice and easy for everyone to understand what the procedure is and how its done.

To this I would like to add that getting set up to take payments online is as easy as this article. This is not a sales pitch but I have seen our customers say that it is very very easy and simple and very quick.

I would also like to say that please do not just trust your banks they end up giving you premium prices. Compare, there is a lot of competiton in the market and you can get the best out of it.

 

[Nochexman]

Who is Ozzy?

 

[Card Cutters Ltd]

Paypal charge too much (probably more than 3%) and hold your money. People have mentioned at times they might even end up holding your money for a month or so. I would say not to go with, there is a lot in the market with better customer service, lower rates and secure.

 

[Card Cutters Ltd]

Ozzy is the guy who has compiled-Getting started in E-Commerce - Choosing an Online Payment Processor.

 

[AshleyWhiteBusiness]

Have you heard about some issues regarding Paypal?

 

[simpson7647]

Have you heard about some issues regarding Paypal?

What's this then?

thanks,

 

[joshef]

Merchants accepting online payments need to follow list of security requirements. The online payment specific security is designed to decrease the chance of the billing and personal information being stolen. The transfer needs to occur over secure encrypted connection. so, it's a secure process and the user no need to worry about his or her personal information.

 

[jojules]

For those of you who find that paypal and ebay are not good to deal with they are both owned by the same company I believe the same company that now owns skype who for no reason whatsoever take money out of your account for themselves if it is in there unused for over 3 months. Basically they are a law unto themselves and I have stayed well clear of any dealings with all those companies... shame really skype was pretty amazing prior to being bought out as was ebay...

Skype is owned by Microsoft, and they do not own eBay and PayPal... I am not sure about this, but I think PayPal is owned by eBay...

I've been using 2CheckOut for Paypal (I don't like having to deal with them directly, it's too much of a hassle) and Credit Card payments in conjunction with Liberty Resreve and Perfect Money for alternative payments on my sites.

Since someone mentioned DDoS - and it can be a real pain... for protection I'm with Vistnet - never any uptime issues with them.

So far this combination, and I've been with it for over 2 years now is enough for my customers to keep coming back.

 

[Stephen Black]

Is there a price comparison site for card processing?

 

[Nochexman]

Hi Stephen.

Take a look at paymentbrain.co.uk (I have no association, though Nochex is one of the options available on there).

Good luck!

Peter (I work for Nochex)