Payment Processor Recommendations?

[sabian1982]

Howdie!

I'm currently using Paypal for both onsite and offsite (redirected to Paypal) payments but due to poor support, limited fraud settings and quite high transactional fees (my AOV is quite high, usually £100+ per transaction), I think i could be getting a better deal from elsewhere. As a point of reference for every 100 sales, I'm paying in excess of £250 in Paypal fees (and that's excluding factoring in the fixed monthly fee).

In terms of the payments, I need to take worldwide orders (primiarily UK & Europe) via credit/debit payments from the likes of VISA, Mastercard & Amercian Express with the potential to upgrade to a virtual terminal for telephone sales in the future.

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated.

 

[deniser]

What sort of shopping cart are you wanting to use the gateway with?

 

[Dejay1788]

We use Sagepay, flat rate every month, can accept most anything and can also link to paypal. We find a lot of customers still like to use paypal so we keep the option for them. You just need to find a bank for a merchant account.

You may find however that the bank will hold onto funds for up to 4 weeks in the beginning however.

 

[Nochexman]

Helloo - can you say how many online transactions you are processing each month?

 

[sabian1982]

What sort of shopping cart are you wanting to use the gateway with?

Magento

We use Sagepay, flat rate every month, can accept most anything and can also link to paypal. We find a lot of customers still like to use paypal so we keep the option for them. You just need to find a bank for a merchant account.

You may find however that the bank will hold onto funds for up to 4 weeks in the beginning however.

I'd actually looked at Sagepay and thats at the top of my list at the moment however my concern was with the fees (or more accurately being sure I'm clear on what the fees will be beyond the fixed monthly rate). Yes there is a fixed monthly fee for up to 350 transactions but beyond that there is obviously a percentage of 1.99% on MasterCard/Visa and £0.40p on debit cards - this takes it to roughtly the same as the 1.9% I'm paying for Paypal. Presumably those rates are Sagepay specific for a merchant account, and better rates could be attained from elsewhere for a bank merchant account?

 

[Dejay1788]

Magento



I'd actually looked at Sagepay and thats at the top of my list at the moment however my concern was with the fees (or more accurately being sure I'm clear on what the fees will be beyond the fixed monthly rate). Yes there is a fixed monthly fee for up to 350 transactions but beyond that there is obviously a percentage of 1.99% on MasterCard/Visa and £0.40p on debit cards - this takes it to roughtly the same as the 1.9% I'm paying for Paypal. Presumably those rates are Sagepay specific for a merchant account, and better rates could be attained from elsewhere for a bank merchant account?

Yes they can, however it think it depends on volume of transactions. If I recall we pay 16p per visa transaction and then we have various percentages depending on other cards. We've found it is cheaper than Paypal for us.

 

[Payment Expert]

Stripe can be one more suitable option for you. It is easy to use, not very expersive and it supports features you are interested in, in particular, it allows accepting payments from US, Canada, UK, Australia and many Europeans countries and, what is more, it allows accepting payments in different currencies.

 

[deniser]

Stripe can be one more suitable option for you. It is easy to use, not very expersive and it supports features you are interested in, in particular, it allows accepting payments from US, Canada, UK, Australia and many Europeans countries and, what is more, it allows accepting payments in different currencies.

Yes but it's more expensive and has no fraud protection.

 

[deniser]

Magento



I'd actually looked at Sagepay and thats at the top of my list at the moment however my concern was with the fees (or more accurately being sure I'm clear on what the fees will be beyond the fixed monthly rate). Yes there is a fixed monthly fee for up to 350 transactions but beyond that there is obviously a percentage of 1.99% on MasterCard/Visa and £0.40p on debit cards - this takes it to roughtly the same as the 1.9% I'm paying for Paypal. Presumably those rates are Sagepay specific for a merchant account, and better rates could be attained from elsewhere for a bank merchant account?

I would second the Sagepay gateway but shop around for the merchant account.

Having tried out quite a few different gateways I have found Sagepay to be the most professional. I am happy to pay a few pounds extra for that each month. You also have total control over the rules you put in place for accepting payments - you have no control at all at some of the cheaper gateways. It also comes with 3rd Man which can be invaluable if a transaction has not gone through 3DS.

 

[sabian1982]

Having researched Sagepay, the above comments and also as a result of being in the process of setting up their virtual terminal, using them for the gateway does make sense at this stage.

This just leaves me with the need to find a suitable, reliable and well priced merchant account - any recommendations on that front as apposed to using Sagepay in this regard (although I will be asking them to quote for this also just to see what rates they can do for me!).

 

[deniser]

This just leaves me with the need to find a suitable, reliable and well priced merchant account - any recommendations on that front as apposed to using Sagepay in this regard (although I will be asking them to quote for this also just to see what rates they can do for me!).

I have tried First Data, Elavon and Barclaycard.

I wouldn't recommend Elavon. I find them difficult to communicate with and you have to log in to get your statements.

I don't have any complaints with First Data so far. You can speak to them easily on the phone, they are helpful with chargebacks, they send paper statements and they are inexpensive. However, I set up the account via Paymentsense and there were discrepancies between the prices quoted and those applied to the account so be very careful.

I didn't use Barclaycard long enough to form an impression but everything was very professional in the set up.

 

[sabian1982]

I don't have any complaints with First Data so far.

However, I set up the account via Paymentsense and there were discrepancies between the prices quoted and those applied to the account so be very careful.

I didn't use Barclaycard long enough to form an impression but everything was very professional in the set up.

Thanks - I've got the figures from Paymentsense and will give First Data a look as well.

 

[MattCollins]

It's certainly worth contacting a few providers to compare offers. And do take into account 'extra' charges for things like chargebacks, international cards, Amex cards - they can be quite significant.

Also, be aware that, starting 1st March 2015, Visa are changing what they charge providers for processing Visa debit transactions. Rather than the current fixed fee, the fee will depend on transaction size - the larger the transaction, the larger the fee. (As you have a high AOV, this is not good news for you.) Some providers will be passing these increases onto merchants, so make sure you understand whether you may be facing an increase when that change comes in.

 

[deniser]

Also, be aware that, starting 1st March 2015, Visa are changing what they charge providers for processing Visa debit transactions. Rather than the current fixed fee, the fee will depend on transaction size - the larger the transaction, the larger the fee. (As you have a high AOV, this is not good news for you.) Some providers will be passing these increases onto merchants, so make sure you understand whether you may be facing an increase when that change comes in.

Depending on what the higher percentages are, this could shift the balance back towards paypal especially if your volumes increase so that you get the 1.4% rate.

 

[antropy]

£100+per transaction ... for every 100 sales, I'm paying in excess of £250 in Paypal fees

So that's 2.5% - not too bad, and if you sell on eBay as well your sales volume on there will count towards volume discounts.

 

[Nochexman]

This just leaves me with the need to find a suitable, reliable and well priced merchant account - any recommendations on that front as apposed to using Sagepay in this regard (although I will be asking them to quote for this also just to see what rates they can do for me!).

Hi Sabian1982, would be interested to read what happened next - which merchant account did you get?

 

[Cromulent]

Yes but it's more expensive and has no fraud protection.

Stripe do have fraud protection.

 

[Nochexman]

Stripe do have fraud protection.

The problem with Stripe is that it does not use 3D Secure, and is vague about what fraud protection is provided. When you say it does have fraud protection you probably need to be a little more specific.

 

[deniser]

Stripe do have fraud protection.

What sort?

There is no seller protection like with Paypal and no 3DS. What protection does a seller have if a card is used fraudulently?

 

[adamo]

I vote for Stripe. They do actually have two forms of basic fraud protection (postcode validation and CVC2 validation), and I think their fees are fairly competitive and straightforward. There are also plenty of plugins for Magento, so integration with your existing site and checkout shouldn't be an issue.

 

[blueboy]

We've just moved from paypal to sagepay, have been live for a couple of days now. One thing no one has mentioned so far is currency conversion fees - stripe charges 2% and paypal even more for converting other currencies into the ones you accept, so for a business with a lot of non-GBP customers this adds significantly to the total transaction fee - eg with sagepay its 1.99% regardless of currency and with paypal it might be around 5% for a USD payment.

one negative point for us is the 40p flat charge for debit cards as our AOV is quite low, although we'll see what happens in March when visa's new pricing structure kicks in.

Anyone using sagepay with a different merchant account than evalon?

 

[AlunLucas]

A couple of merchants I know used independent agents to work out the best deal for them and are pretty happy with how it turned out as it saved them the hassle of ringing round for prices and then trying to negotiate when they didn't know what the providers' bottom lines were. The agents' job is to know all the rates across the marketplace and recommend the best deal for the merchant. They get a small commission from the provider so don't charge the merchant anything (although be wary as there are some who are in bed with one provider only so may not have your best interests at heart - probe them on this).

There are a few of them about but your best bet is to search for "merchant services advice" and a number of them will be on the first couple of pages.

 

[japancool]

I used cardswitcher.co.uk to get my merchant account, which halved the rate I was being offered directly from various merchants.

I highly recommend it.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

You could do a lot better re your rates, however it will depend on your Business Risk profile, your ATV, and how long you have been trading. If your ATV is quite low the new Visa charging model will probably work in your favour. We estimate anyone with an ATV of £ 35 - 40 or less will be better off.

Re the currency conversion fees this is nothing to do with your Gateway provider, rather the conventional processors ( e.g. NOT PayPal or Stripe ) do not charge a conversion fee, rather they use their own conversion rates and then settle to your account in Sterling. Ask Elavon what conversion rate they are using and if they are charging an additional fee for this facility, then time to shop around !

I would also endorse using Cardswitcher, and of course we would be happy to discuss possible solutions with you if you want to drop me a PM.

Mark

 

[ecenica]

Another vote for Stripe.

Plus points include,

Low fees
Excellent API
Docs
Control panel
Dev focused services
Responsive email/twitter support.
Security
Fast payments

Negatives.

Less brand recognition to likes of PayPal.
No support for 3DS.
Possible steep learning curve if not technically minded/
Some merchant types are excluded.
We find some clients don't get such favourable payment terms.

Re: fraud...

To fight fraud we use a third-party fraud system and own own human-checks.

 

[ChristinaC]

Hi, you can try authorized.net or Stripe.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

Re positives for Stripe whilst there are a lot of them, low rates is NOT one of them when compared to conventional Merchant accounts also operate longer settlement times,

 

[ecenica]

Interesting.

Conversely we find Stripe's fees and settlements to be extremely favourable. Certainly the best platform I've used in 18 years however I think we do get favourable terms due to the volume £/$'s we put through Stripe.

Stripe's added bonus of no monthly fee, free refunds and no fees for transferring monies to the merchant is usually what swings it for our users.

I'm sure there are cheaper alternatives but 'cheap' rarely equates to best.

 

[grgzy]

Has anyone had any reliability issues with their payment processor?

Using paypal for many online transactions I feel like despite being a large firm small validation issues can spring up from no where and take up a lot of your time and damage cash flow trying to resolve them.

All their support methods are terrible except on occasion their phone support can be efficient.

Their website is almost always online, However when manually processing payment requests they ask for a captua code over and over which can be annoying and feel like its a bug on their site.

 

[LMDServicesUK]

It will depend on what your monthly revenue through your website is ? If it is more than £ 500 well worth considering moving to a conventional Merchant process, and just keep PayPal as an option for your customers who wont use anything else ?

Other benefits 3D secure support, direct settlement to your Bank account, usually better support technically and commercially, but again will depend on your Shopping cart as to who you go with..

If you would like to discuss options in more detail please PM me.

Mark

 

[japancool]

I'm surprised you can get away with that name, given that Worldpay still use the "Cardsave" brand.

 

[marktico]

Any thoughts or recommendations appreciated.

hey ! You might want to try 2checkout.com - its a lil expensive than paypal, but they have got incredible support and seems the right alternative for you.

 

[CardSaverJon]

I'm surprised you can get away with that name, given that Worldpay still use the "Cardsave" brand.

That is something that's not up to me I'm afraid. I'm just trying to offer businesses a new alternative to the mainstream suppliers.

Rgrds,

Jon