taking payments - what to do, who to go with?

[imadam]

i've been reading previous threads on this forum and i am a tiny bit clued up on what i need to do but would like to advice as my needs haven't been mentioned.

basically i currently run a service company such as a painter. we currently take payments by cash or cheque but would also like to take payments by a physical terminal. this however is just an additional thing which might make sense to do whilst we sign up to companies and is not the main need right now. the physical terminal will take payments for a different name we trade under

what i will be doing soon is opening up an online store selling items related to what we do e.g. paint brushes for this. so i need to be able to take payments online.

we've chose opencart which has a few suggestion listed such as worldpay, sagepay, paypal and paypoint (plus a few more)

we currently have a business bank account with natwest which we will soon start paying to have as the 2 year free banking runs out in october so sticking with them isn't required though wondered if we'd get better rates because we are with them.

can someone suggest who and what we can try so that we get a good deal? from what i've seen we'll need a PSP and an IMA though few seem to also do physical terminals. would we be saving much by having a physical terminal added on or is it best to go for a better deal from a company that doesn't do this and then get a terminal later?

our accounts are currently done through sage instant accounts and it's use that does it so ideal if it works with this well.

one concern of mine is i can't seem to see how it looks when they customer would be entering their card details as i'd like it to match the sites "trusted" feel some what. it doesn't need to be identical but i've seen some "old" looking payment systems around and they don't put much trust in me so i'd like one that looks good.

when customer enters their details will it go to another website or will they just be required to enter things like securicode boxes that appears to be through some sort of iframe on my website?

i'd like to get this dealt with so i can move onto the next area whilst the site isn't live. one thing that concerns me is i'd be paying £20+ per month whilst we get no sales.

 

[eshopwiz]

Paypal, even tho I dont really like it...

 

[Poppy Design]

if you are a member of the FSB I think they offer pretty good rates for members via Worldpay as one of my ecommerce clients use them.

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

if you are a member of the FSB I think they offer pretty good rates for members via Worldpay as one of my ecommerce clients use them.

The FSB offer the rates for other Payment Gateways as well including ourselves (not just WorldPay) using a Streamline merchant ID. We have plenty of merchants using our Payment Gateway that applied via the FSB for a Streamline merchant account.

 

[PayPoint net]

Opencart payment pages can be customised to include your brand's logo enabling you to tie it into the overall design of your site; many payment service providers also offer customisation if you host your payment page with them.

Cardholder data can also be stored securely by your PSP, further increasing customer confidence.

We offer full integration with Opencart and you can now try our payment gateway free for 30 days without any obligations; if you require an internet merchant account, we can arrange one for you.

Our payment gateway is also bundled with a virtual terminal, which allows you to process card payments over the phone or by mail order, which may negate your need for a physical terminal?


Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

Good luck with your business.

Eva

 

[imadam]

thanks for the replies. the physical terminal is needed for payments on the job to replace cash or cheque. this method is expensive as cheques and cash do for the minute however my thought was that we could get a better deal getting both from the same company making it a more attractive option.