Accepting online payments

Paddymcc_2

Which online merchant bank is cheapest for a small business for accepting payments?

Ive looked at a number of merchant banks but they are looking for hundreds of punds a month for the service and im sick of being robbed by paypal at any given opportunity when im changing euros to sterling and commission charges for each transaction.

I also think the Paypal payment service on my site may be making things unneccessarily more complicated for users and thus driving them away.

Any advice appreciated.

Savvy_Sue

Suggest you do a search for online payment as I think the question has been asked - I'm afraid I don't know when or what the answer was!

star1_2

Checkout .... http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=77686&page=1&pp=10

It's mentioned on there - I help customers with taking on-line payments, unless you know you are going to make enough profits to cover the fees associated with being a 'merchant' consider using someone like worldpay who will charge you a higher transaction % per order - you can always consider changing later.

Hope that helps.

:cool:

black-saturn

I wish more sites would use paypal as one of their payment methods. I don't have a credit or debit card anymore and hardly any sites allow you to pay by cheque so a site which let you pay by Paypal would be wonderful for me.

buglawton

Yes this has been answered before, for low or seasonal turnover:

1. For Shopping Cart on your Website, use http://www.mals-e.com linked to Paypal. If you get your Paypal Account verified, it will directly accept Credit Cards from non-Paypal members. mals-e is free, Paypal is 3 percent-ish.

2. For a mobile point of sale terminal on your WAP mobile phone, http://www.adelantesoftware.com Fees are 30p ish per mobile transaction plus 2 to 3 percent-ish for the Credit Card processing. No monthly charge but £6 minimum fee spend.

3. For other miscellaneous payments to you (eg Customer Not Present on phone or by fax), Bank of Ireland with http://www.adelantesoftware.com will set you up also with a Virtual Terminal on a Web Page to do the biz. Fees similar to mobile. No monthly charge but £6 minimum fee spend.

Allow several weeks for the application process with (2) & (3).

The above are optimal for new businesses who don't want to pay a £30-50 monthly service charge. I have tested (1) - good, but setting up the Postage costs is fiddly - and am nearly set up for (2) and (3) and will be reporting the experience in Moneysavingexpert. If anyone can beat these I'd be interested to hear.

HOLsale

thank you buglawton that was very helpful!

now to be sure i am getting all of this correctly

the mals eware site provides you with a shopping cart/trolly does it also set up each page in a sort of catalogue fashion (ie i just plug in my own graphics and description but the framework is laid)

and then i just plug in/integrate my payment system right? i take it if i use paypal i can just follow the instructions on their site for this?

i take it this program does NOT do an inventory of your stock? (does paypal?)

can you change the look of the mals eware site to look like your own business?

i'm looking for a lowcost way of getting an online shop myself and not having much luck i fear... i think this may possibly be what i'm looking for :T

Colin2511

I have paypal on my website and am just in the middle of getting my merchant nos as I think this will grow business. You will need the online merchant no, which stramline and others charge £250 set up + fees for, if you join FSB (£130 for 1st yr), then you get reduced fees and no set up, also no minimum montly fee. You then need protx or one of the others as the secure bit for your website they will charge £20 per month, which is the same as most people are charged in shops for the terminal (its like a virtual terminal). Online payments will attract a higher % fee than in shops as theya re riskier. If you join through FSB, then you can also sign up for taking payments over the phone at no extra charge, just in case any customer wants to ring your with their details, this is no extra form Protx as the virtual terminal has this screen already

buglawton

HOLsale wrote:

....now to be sure i am getting all of this correctly
the mals eware site provides you with a shopping cart/trolly...

mals-e integrates invisibly into your website, via links on your Buy buttons, so that people can add your items to a shopping basket then pay by Paypal, NOCHEX or some other ways.

It suits you if you can turn your hand to a bit of html cut'n'paste in your web pages and is genuinely free to use. The twiddly bit is getting a satisfactory postage rates system on it.

It does not manage inventory - other more paid-for systems can do that.

In the end we decided to stick to the Ebay Shop for our handbags & accessories online retail becuase it means the Inventory is (sort of) managed in one place, so we use our Website as a 'shop window'. Ebay's listing fees + sale fees + Paypal all take such a bite that we are now changing over to Wholesale where we take Credit Cards directly (see previous post on how) but not online.

thegateway

star1 is right, they are charging higher transaction % per order. Alternatively you can check with ChronoPay, their charges are very reasonable comparatively.

Astaroth

I know a lot of people who have given very good reports on NoChex - both their intermediary product and "merchant" account.

Personally I dont trust any company that uses paypal for its payment system (other than ebay companies) as to me it looks unprofessional and says to me that they are a spotty teenager in their bedroom over inflating themselves as a large(r) company

straws

'Personally I dont trust any company that uses paypal for its payment system (other than ebay companies) as to me it looks unprofessional and says to me that they are a spotty teenager in their bedroom over inflating themselves as a large(r) company'

Or maybe they're just trying to make a living! We all have to start somewhere. I work full-time and I'm a silversmith and jewellery designer setting up my own website. I sell my work to several shops and galleries and also produce commissions and I'm certainly not a spotty teenager! I just can't afford to pay the ridiculous merchant account charges, so PayPal is one of my only options.
I've also bought from web-based companies who use PayPal and have received a completely professional service.
It's up to you if you don't want to buy from companies who use Paypal, but don't make such harsh judgments.