Problem Obtaining Credit Card Processing

[myukmail]

Hi guys,
We run a mail forwarding company, My UK Mail Ltd (www.my-uk-mail.co.uk). We also offer Order Fulfilment services for businesses, but we are not necessarily after credit card processing for this service, as it involves higher sums of money.

We've been using PayPal to accept credit card payments, but have an urgent need for real credit card processing facilities. Customers in non-PayPal countries understandably do not want to fiddle around with cheques, and a virtual terminal would really come in handy.

We so far have applied to WorldPay and Fasthosts E-Merchant. WorldPay rejected us because we offer "postal delivery" which is at "a high risk of chargebacks" according to the staff there. I was informed that this policy was across all of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, so Streamline would not be able to help either. Natwest, our bank, also declined an Internet Merchant ID for the same reason.

Fasthosts have not given a reason for decline, only that we do not meet their credit scoring criteria. They state they only use public domain information from Companies House, so possibly this could be down to our recent incorporation (7th November), as we were previously trading as a Sole Trader.

Could anybody recommend any other credit card processing facilities, or offer any advice or information?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Tin]

Hi there

I use Barclays for my e-commerce credit card handling but I don't have a bank account with them and didn't when I applied for their merchant services. Early days yet but I think they're good, they don't hold on to your money as long as other merchant accounts and they were certainly cheaper in terms of setup costs and monthly charges than my current business bank.

I couldn't recommend Fasthosts, I used their reseller services for around 4 years and they just got more & more expensive with all sorts of charges that seemed to sneak in through the back door, I did consider them (for about 2 seconds) when I was looking for a merchant account as they'd just opened their newly launched merchant services with The Bank of Ireland around the same time but decided to shop elsewhere (wisely in my mind)!

Just a thought, are you offering postal delivery of goods to an address other than the card holders address, this could be seen as a problem by merchant account providers and if so could you not change your delivery practice to one of card holders address only?

Hope this helps

Cheers

Ray

 

nochex.com is excellent for transactions under £100...

 

[DotNetWebs]

nochex.com is excellent for transactions under £100...

NOCHEX are great, we us them for a couple of projects. One problem that may affect you though is that they will only handle UK credit/debit cards.

 

[Toon]

I use Bank of Scotland. I have an Internet account and a terminal. They know I do mail order and are happy to do business with me.

 

[quotes4]

This is such a big problem in the UK. Many of my clients are now setting up some form of on-line payment and getting their Internet Merchant accounts is a huge hurdle for them and unfortunately there is little we as web designers can do to help them.
Metacharge is another IM that you could try but they told me recently that they no longer approve businesses who don't expect to do more than £5000 worth of business through them each month.
You also have to be wary of their chargeback costs (for all IM providers) as the amount of fraud on-line is increasing and each fraudulent purchase will cost you around £15.
Personally, i'm advising my clients to get a standard merchant account and a credit card machine and take the online payments using an encrypted email. That way you avoid the payment gateway costs and can sift out the potential fraudulent claims before processing the credit card. It costs more to set up (around £300 per year for an SSL and a static IP address) and you'll need to have some development work done to encrypt the orders but it's worth it in my view.

 

[neildrinkdrop]

If you use paypal they actually offer a virtual terminal themselves, that may be an option for yourself? other than that a lot of third party companies offer virtual terminals such as paymentsense, elavon and cardsave.

 

[Simon-M]

^^ What he says re Paypal. They don't just give it to anyone though so you may need to apply and see what they say. As you have a history with them already, you are probably in a good position. With this you can take Visa and Mastercard. Not Amex though.

 

[exceedmedia]

NOCHEX are great, we us them for a couple of projects. One problem that may affect you though is that they will only handle UK credit/debit cards.

Also, please be aware that they hold a certain amount in reserve, up to £1000 in some cases!, and when you go to close the account, they withhold this amount for 180 days after the account is closed, so you're 6 months away from getting back that money at any point.

Their rates are pretty good for a non standard merchant account and we also found that the authorisation level was very high, much much better than Paymentsense's gateway which rejects payments for the slightest error.

The only other thing to be aware of is that it shows up as Nochex on peoples card statements, so you do get a few queries regarding what the payment was for.

 

[patientlady]

Old string 2005? may not get a response from the OP

 

[exceedmedia]

Hehe, blimey, didnt see that initial posting date!

 

[Bartuss]

I am new to this site, I hope that my post landed in the right place.
I am so confused by all the mixed opinions about Paymentsense. People here are mentioning 5 years contracts, termination fees etc.
However, Salesman I am talking to tells me its definitely:
- only 3 months rolling contract
- with £149 set up fee
- and 5 years contracts are only for terminal merchants NOT e-commerce.
- also no extra fee charged if my business is not DSS certified

Also First Data (contract I've printed from .pdf had First Data logo on it) seems to have shady reputation...
Is the salesman just trying to spoon feed me all nicest things he can just to get a commission of his sale?
I am still trying to find my feet with this... Please help help oh help...

 

[patientlady]

I am new to this site, I hope that my post landed in the right place.
I am so confused by all the mixed opinions about Paymentsense. People here are mentioning 5 years contracts, termination fees etc.
However, Salesman I am talking to tells me its definitely:
- only 3 months rolling contract
- with £149 set up fee
- and 5 years contracts are only for terminal merchants NOT e-commerce.
- also no extra fee charged if my business is not DSS certified

Also First Data (contract I've printed from .pdf had First Data logo on it) seems to have shady reputation...
Is the salesman just trying to spoon feed me all nicest things he can just to get a commission of his sale?
I am still trying to find my feet with this... Please help help oh help...

Mnn
Ok you need to read this
http://www.practicalecommerce.com/a...How-Be-Ready-to-Go-Beyond-PCI-DSS-Compliance-

Please be assured there is nothing 'shady' about First Data who would be the merchant provider

Try these guys, they will be a lot cheaper than quoted above
PCI DSS with the guys below is £30 per annum and compulsory otherwise you are fined
www.payyours.co.uk and there merchant provider is Streamline