Is setting up a gateway REALLy going to cost me that much !

[nade]

I appreciate that there is lots on here about gateways so forgive the 'new post'.
Trying to set up a gateway in order to take credit / debit cards having grappled with PayPal for the last 6 months. I find that a considerable amount of people get put off by the fact that they have to sign up to paypal first.
So Ive made the decision to look into an improved method.
I find however that Lloyds want £300 to set up a merchant account (even though I have a business account with them, there are other set up fees and then a monthly fee of £20 per month. With order number at the moment of 20 per month (average transaction of £20) this seems very expensive.
Iam I missing something - are there alternatives ?

 

[finleydesign]

You are aware that people don't have to sign up to paypal, they can just pay using their cards through the paypal system

 

[deniser]

You are aware that people don't have to sign up to paypal, they can just pay using their cards through the paypal system

That may be the case but public perception remains that they have to have a Paypal account and this puts people off. This is because the account box is huge and the "don't have a paypal account" bit is tiny.

 

[nade]

You are aware that people don't have to sign up to paypal, they can just pay using their cards through the paypal system

I must admit I did not know this. I thought that when they got the the payment page that they had to 'sign up to google'. Perhaps I need to look at this again as it might be that I am doing something wrong

 

[deniser]

I must admit I did not know this. I thought that when they got the the payment page that they had to 'sign up to google'. Perhaps I need to look at this again as it might be that I am doing something wrong

Do a test order and view it through the eyes of the public without a Paypal account.

 

[ITsoldUK]

There are 2 elements to consider in this as I am sure you are aware and alas one of them may be more difficult to change.

1. The first one is easy, your Payment Service Provider (PSP or payment gateway). There are tons in the marketplace and you can choose via price as the deciding medium (although not always wise). I integrate a lot of sites with Sagepay (the old protx) and they charge a fixed fee of £20pm for up to 1000 transactions for example.

2. This one can be a bit trickier and that it the ACQUIRING BANK of which you have alluded to. It is much harder to shop around here as you will need a receiving merchant account with the bank (such as Lloyds) and this is where they often have you by the cahoonas. They can charge what they like and often do.

There are a few options that do not require a merchant account (such as PP) and it really does depend on how secure you want to be when accepting payment online...

There is more to it and I would advise approaching a Professional for advice if in any doubt as you do not want to get this aspect wrong.

HTH

Regards
Daren

 

[darren atkinson]

For you average order values and quantity I'd recommend sticking with Paypal.

Have you looked at their Payments Pro service?

This can be setup so that payment details are entered on your site directly and simply processed by Paypal, this is what we used when we first set up our ecommerce site, customers didn't need to know that it was PayPal doing the transactions.

We moved to Streamline as a merchant back because of our increased turnover and their lower fees. It was a few years back but I got better rates because I joined the FSB and I also believe the setup fee was either waived or reduced.

 

[nade]

As always some great advice here and it is very much appreciated. I will explore some of the options given, and thanks again

 

[fisicx]

Consider as well that you can explain how paypal works on your website:

'When you submit your order you will be taken to the PayPal payment portal. If you have a PayPal account you can use this or you can pay using your credit card'

If you are using the paypal expcress checkout then you have the option to send the custmer directly to the 'guest checkout'.

So there are loads of different ways to use paypal - the API is very flexible, it just needs a bit of research

 

[Deleted member 61074]

Try Worldpay too, they have several options including one where you dont need your own merchant acct- look for "business gateway plus"

 

[PayPoint net]

Hi there are a couple of payment gateway comparison sites for you to check rates against - paymentbrain.co.uk and electronic-payments.co.uk - there are many gateway processors listed on both sites.

 

[Kuji_Shop]

For a while I had just PayPal and even with information telling customers they could use their card if they didn't have an account, it deflected sales.

Now I use Nochex and PayPal and it's fine.

 

[cromiem]

I use streamline/worldpay with being a member of the FSB takes a couple of weeks to setup but worth it.