Does anyone take Google Checkout, Protx, Other Gateway?

blue_monkey_2

not on eBay obviously, but does anyone else use these elsewhere?

I was looking for some opinions on GC really.

Do you as a customer have more faith in a website that has a Google Checkout Logo?

How do you find the fees with GC?

Do you use Protx or another Gateway for processing payments? How do you feel this works for you? Do customers trust shopping with you?

Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thank you.

Edit: I have edited the title to get some feedback on other Gateways as I need to make a decision by the end of today and get my site up and running by the end of the week, and I wondered how others found accepting payments when they sell online. Thanks.

ArmitageShanks

Before we had a merchant account we used it as our credit card payment option on ebay.

Also accept it on our website, take up isn't huge but from a business side of things it's great- low fees, funds with you in around a week.

Many people seem to only use ebay for online shopping and as such haven't heard of it. Worldwide, google is more commonly used than paypal and imo google is far superior to paypal.

blue_monkey_2

Thanks AS, I did not think about the International market, that is interesting because we seem to have lost a lot of international sales.

At the moment I process cards myself but have to move hosts and it means purchasing aSSL licence or getting an online card processor but I am not sure what to do. I wanted Barclays ePDQ but they will take the customers funds right away and some customers place orders for delivery 2 weeks later - I prefer to charge when I have the goods, not at time of website purchase - if that makes sense - so this is why i looked at Google Checkout.

But given that it might increase my overseas sales again it might be worth giving it a try - I cna alwys got back to SSL if need be and I have the cardmachine for phone orders too.

Decisions, decisions......

ArmitageShanks

There's a integration problem with GC and our website at the moment which means people paying from abroad cant use it, which I think is quite common problem.

We use protx which is integrated in the site and also has a manual online terminal. Costs £20/month. No complaints at all, international buyers seem to use it quite happily. The big problem is the merchant account; we went with Barclays which was £250 start up and £25/month and fees around 2%. The worst thing is they hold the funds for 30 days. This is the same with them all from what I have gathered.

But if you join the FSB you can get natwest streamline for £150, fees 1.4% and importantly only 3 days holding which is fanstanic. I only wish I knew about it before signing up with barclycard merchant services.

GC is not a true rival for direct card gateways, but is certainly more than a match for paypal. I have been toying with the idea of introducing paypal to out site but with a 2% surcharge.

Brooker_Dave

blue_monkey wrote: »

not on eBay obviously, but does anyone else use it elsewhere?

I was looking for some opinions on it really.

Do you as a customer have more faith in a website that has a Google Checkout Logo?

Any thoughts would be most helpful.

Thank you.

It's very good.

Easy cheap and flexible.

Does exactly what it says on the tin...

Brooker_Dave

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

There's a integration problem with GC and our website at the moment which means people paying from abroad cant use it, which I think is quite common problem.

That could be an issue with your cart setup rather than with GC.

blue_monkey_2

I've been quite lucky with my merchant accounts to be honest. I'd recommend joining the National Market Traders Federation for £70 a year or something. For that I get £5 Million Public Liability, also it seems to give me discounts on various things.

I set up 2 merchant accounts - one for card processing manually and the other for web transactions, I get no monthly fee and a low rate for processing, I've had the web account for 2 years and never used it, LOL. I did not pay anything to set up the accounts either. They do not hold my money, I've processed some today and that will go to my account on Thursday so in that respect I know what I have got and when I get my money.

The e-commerce site I have now has integrated SSL but I have to do one of 3 options and I have to get it sorted before I change my site over, which I want to do tomorrow if I can. I am going over to Bluepark - anyone use or heard of them? The site seems fantastic, OK more than I am paying now, but it has so much potential, EKM could not give me a search engine so this is why I decided to change over. But it means everything has to be done one step at a time.

I have a couple of options:

1) Buy an SSL cert for £70 and continue to process the cards myself
2) Use Google Checkout - means I may get more exposure but it means higher fees plus paying for Adwords. Is that worth it?? Surely competitors can keep on clicking so I get charged?
3) Protx which is £20 a month, I've been looking at that tonight.

I've got a list of options, still no further to whittling them down.

I've enquired about ePDQ and becaause I am with Barclays they will not charge me a set up fee, so it will just be the card processing fees (I get about 2% on CC and 29p on DC at the moment).

At the moment I process each payment manually through my handheld terminal - whch I would still need to keep - and I pay £9 a month line rental and 10p per transaction for them to go through that. It cost a huge amount of money so it seems a waste not to use it. However, the connection has been a bit ropey in this place where I am living now.

Because I do not want to charge people before the goods are in hand (not all orders are like this, around 1/3 of orders are goods that are on Special Order) I decided that ePDQ was not really for me so it leaves one of the above. I did think I'd give GC a go and if that does not work go and get my SSL as I can then do what I am doing now. What do you think?

I can't believe that Worldpay wanted £200 set up!!

I wish there was a website board so we could all chat about stuff like this as it would be really helpful, I know we have the techie board but it would be nice to speak to other people that retail away from pee-bay.

ArmitageShanks

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

That could be an issue with your cart setup rather than with GC.

It's a £200 month job so I don't have to worry about that sort of thing.;) There's quite a lot on the GC forums about it; the technicians are 'looking into it' but apparently it's complicated.:rolleyes:

Brooker_Dave

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

It's a £200 month job so I don't have to worry about that sort of thing.;) There's quite a lot on the GC forums about it; the technicians are 'looking into it' but apparently it's complicated.:rolleyes:

Looks like I've been lucky then, sold quite a bit to all manner of countries without any drama.

The lack of any sort of phone support in case of disaster with GC is a bit of a worry though.

ArmitageShanks

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Looks like I've been lucky then, sold quite a bit to all manner of countries without any drama.

The lack of any sort of phone support in case of disaster with GC is a bit of a worry though.

True, but the email support is good. Also how founded it is I don't know, but GC inspires a certain amount of faith even confidence, something you just don't have with paypal.

The only thing you have to watch for is for the payment being declined.

Brooker_Dave

ArmitageShanks wrote: »

True, but the email support is good. Also how founded it is I don't know, but GC inspires a certain amount of faith even confidence, something you just don't have with paypal.

The only thing you have to watch for is for the payment being declined.

I've only had the one declined, and only (I think) because he cocked up his address, still paid up though with cash - the flexibility of a website over ebay's inflexible rules.....