online payment systems for online shop

artichoke

hi all

i am setting up a new business online and looking at the options for payment.

I know i could use paypal which takes approx a 3% fee.

What are my other options?

someone mentioned world pay ? i see they take a £3.5% fee plus £15 a month..

i presume SAGE pay and all the others must charge similar fees..

Has anyone done any research on this?

What is the cheapest but still secure option for small businesses to use?

thanks for any advice

art

chalkie99

There are other options such as Google Checkout which charges the same as PayPal and works well for us.

Another option you might want to look at is this where you pay a fee of £10 a month and this covers your first 300 transactions per month. an advantage of this is that for an extra £2 a moth you can also take cards over the 'phone which we get asked for quite often.

It really depends on how much business you think you are likely to do.

Third option would be a full card acceptance deal through your bank.

newbie2011

Paypal is well known and trusted by lots of people..

chalkie99

newbie2011 wrote: »

Paypal is well known and trusted by lots of people..

PayPal is well known and NOT trusted by lots of people due to the way they assist fraudulent buyers - see http://www.paypalsucks.com/ or look at the Ebay forum on this site.

artichoke

hi all

thanks

chalkie99 wrote: »

There are other options such as Google Checkout which charges the same as PayPal and works well for us.

Another option you might want to look at is this where you pay a fee of £10 a month and this covers your first 300 transactions per month..

this looks interesting - do they just charge £10 a month or do they take a percentage of the sale like the others do?

it is the 3% and more perecentages that paypal and the others take that is bothering me ...

art

chalkie99

No, it's £10 per month which includes the first 300 transactions per month, after that they charge a very reasonable 10p per transaction.

PayPal is, I think, 20p flat charge for every sale + 3.4% and, of course, with all merchants you are paying a percentage not only on the sale value but also the postage and packaging and VAT if registered, so it can eat into your margins.

The main problem with PayPal seems to be that it almost universally sides with the buyer if a dispute is raised, buyers recognise this and take advantage so you are more prone to rogue buyers and chargebacks.

newbie2011

chalkie99 wrote: »

PayPal is well known and NOT trusted by lots of people due to the way they assist fraudulent buyers - see http://www.paypalsucks.com/ or look at the Ebay forum on this site.

Yes good point, however, I was presuming the orginal poster was referring to which online payment processer to use for his website? Paypal is so well known and trusted by lots of 'buyers'. As a buyer on a new website you've never bought from before, if your paying through paypal, you may feel its much more reliable source?
Paypal is so easy to use in my opinon...

However it does have its down sides, buyers can complain about the products they have bought/not recieved etc... But surely that can be seen as a good side too? Its makes customers more likely to trust the source they are buying from, knowing if something goes wrong, they can take it up with paypal.

paulofessex

chalkie99 wrote: »

There are other options such as Google Checkout which charges the same as PayPal and works well for us.

Another option you might want to look at is this where you pay a fee of £10 a month and this covers your first 300 transactions per month. an advantage of this is that for an extra £2 a moth you can also take cards over the 'phone which we get asked for quite often.

It really depends on how much business you think you are likely to do.

Third option would be a full card acceptance deal through your bank.

Seems that you need to open a merchant account with a bank during the process of using this service, it does also mention that the Bank will contact you to provide a quote, therefore is it right to persume that there is a fee to pay the Bank, and then the monthly £10 charges etc?

campaign

Nochex, allopass, have some cheap options and no monthly fees,
this site has info on many types and you can compare, btw, the nochex link is broken though, but google finds them easily.
This is my first post so I can't post a link, if you google online electronic payment solutions you will find it listed (after the promoted sites), try the epayments solutions directory, I found it very helpful.
I am setting up a new site too with only low payments recieved, we cant afford to lose them in fees!
hope you find it useful.

raineshoe

We run an online shop and use Paypal and Nochex. However, I'd say 85% of my customers pay through paypal despite having Nochex, Paypal, Cheque, Cash and Online banking options. I don't like Paypal much myself, but it serves a purpose and if you customers like it then live with it.

Incidentally we have found Nochex very good. There is a £50.00 set up fee which is a one off, but overall okay. I think they are keen to take Paypal's share of the market although I think that will be difficult.

soolin

chalkie99 wrote: »

PayPal is well known and NOT trusted by lots of people due to the way they assist fraudulent buyers - see http://www.paypalsucks.com/ or look at the Ebay forum on this site.

It is trusted though by buyers and that is all that matters. If buyers trust the payment service they see then they are more likely to buy from that site, start giving them options that they don't know or are uneasy about and they will just buy elsewhere.