Multi-User Supported Bank Accounts (On line store)

davidmsherlock

Hey Folks,

I am new to this forum, but I can already see it has a great collection of people posting on it. I thought it was worth asking for some advice here.

I am in the process of setting up an on line store that supports various payment processing gateways (not just pay pal). The site is a business venture between myself and two friends (both located in Belgium). I am located in Scotland.

When a customer purchases an item from our store, I want the money to go into one central bank account and from there I need to be able to transfers the funds (with minimal cost) to our own separate bank accounts. Naturally this main bank account must be on line based.

What bank or service would you recommend in this situation? It would be excellent if there was a bank service that allows multiply users to administrate the one bank account to transfer funds and so fourth. This however, is not essential but would be a nice bonus.

Thanks in advance!

David

davidmsherlock

I've been doing some research on the various bank accounts available that offer good online services. So far i have the following list:

SANTANDER
ALLIANCE & LEICESTER PLC *
NATWEST BANK PLC
LLOYDS TSB BANK PLC
CAHOOT *
Smile *

The ones marked with a star are rated highly on web based review sites. Based on my above post, which service would you say best fits my needs?

fooboo

Good as they may be I'm guessing you'll want to be able to do international payments online? And it sounds to me like it ought to be a business account...

Looks like NatWest will do it if you pay a monthly subscription for their "Bankline" internet banking service, can't see that Lloyds will do it. You can get the user access arrangements you describe with HSBC (I have a friend who has a set up so that one of his staff can pay bills when he is away), and make international payments.

cottager

OH has business accounts at Natwest, and with mandates etc I have full online access; so after jumping through a few hoops there's no problem per se about other people having permission to access an account and operate it.

I wouldn't know, but the potential problem in your case could be that your friends reside in Belgium: you'd need to check if it's possible for them to access/operate a UK account. You may be able to hold the account jointly, but there could be difficulty with this for the same sort of reason.

As your business setup may be quite different, I should point out we're in a small sole trader situation, not a limited company, and as such we're able to use the normal online banking facility available to personal account holders, rather than have to use the Bankline service mentioned in the earlier post, or any other system which may apply to a larger, more 'corporate' business. We have no experience of Bankline or international payments.

Also, if you're a limited co, this may involve significant differences from our situation, as well as the type of account available to you and the T&Cs applicable... again, I wouldn't know. It seems to me there could be wider implications too with having partners in another country -- taxation for instance.

You may get advice about this sort of thing, or indeed any other aspect of setting up your business, by asking questions on the Small Biz board. There are people there who have online stores, experience of different payment methods, international transactions, tax implications etc etc: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=27