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Online payment options

I hope I'm posting this in the correct place.

I organised an event last year and charged people to take part, not making a profit as all the takings were ploughed back into the event. I hope to do the same again this year, so I'm working on a website to allow people to enter and pay online.

Last year my payments were handled through PayPal, which was fine - no problems really - but strikes me as being quite expensive.

I have the luxury of time on my side this time, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of other payment gateways.

What I really liked about PayPal was the fact that I could keep the money I'd made in that account until I needed to spend it on stuff for the event. However, obviously sometimes I'd buy goods for myself, pay with PayPal and that would come out of the balance in the account.

What I'd like is something similar, so I can keep the funds for the event out of my own bank account, and ideally some means of spending it straight from the account. We're only talking about a couple of grand turnover, so saving fees is very important to me.

Any ideas? Or should I stick with PayPal?

Comments

  • RFW
    RFW Posts: 10,432 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    There are many payment gateways, the prices are all much the same. Stripe is the rising competitor, but as I said barely any difference in price.

    One option would be to be a registered charity and use your bank's payment system, they may offer special/free rates.

    Probably the best idea would be to have a bank account set up and ask people to pay into that and keep Paypal. Some will want the security of Paypal and others won't be too bothered (esp if you mention that one costs you and the other doesn't), perhaps offer a small discount for bank transfer,
    .
  • DeeGee75
    DeeGee75 Posts: 52 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10 Posts Combo Breaker
    Thanks for that. Paypal is nice and easy and I think folk recognise it. I have got plugins for the website and such. Maybe worth paying the extra couple of tenths of a percent for that!
  • theonlywayisup
    theonlywayisup Posts: 16,032 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    You should also consider what level of PCI compliance would be needed, depending on how your customers pay and what data you see/store.
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