Which Payment gateway?

[Odin]

Thought id ask fellow online merchants which gateway they would reccomend.
My business would be very small for now so my thought would be to go with Starpay.
Starpay has a yearly fee of $500 witth no transaction fees. Anyone know if the are reliable?

[dferguson]

Hi Odin

Is there any reason that you must go real time? Why not process your cards manually via an eftpos terminal? This would cut out the payment gateway cost.

[Odin]

i probably could but im not sure on how to do this. I'll look into it.

[dferguson]

Many of our merchants use manual EFTPOS terminal facilities to process the card numbers they recieve via our GTS server. It cuts out the payment gateway costs and gives the merchant some flexability as to when the card is processes. Worth looking into.

[angelao]

When I started up I approached the major banks. They wanted to charge up to 8% merchant fees.Then I was recommended to go to Bendigo Bank who were extremely helpful and the merchant fees were much lower.

[dferguson]

Indication from our merchants suggest that you should be aiming for LESS THAN 2% for VISA and MASTERCARD transactions.

[dferguson]

Hi

Its really simple. (more simple than real time)

All you need is an EFTPOS terminal from your bank. It will allow you to swipe cards when the customer is present (e.g in a retail situation) or it will allow you to type in a card number and process it. (e.g phone, mail order or even internet originated transaction)

[iangarner]

Hi,

That may be the case in Australia, but here in the UK it's a different ball game. No UK bank will give a PDQ terminal (what you people know as EFTPOS) to a company trading solely on the internet, and so the only option is to trade using a PSP and merchant number. The catch 22 though is that internet merchant numbers are hard to come by, and the whole process takes weeks and weeks. If and when you do get a merchant number, you're paid 30 days in arrears as they class internet sales as high risk in the UK. Visa/Mastercard rates also vary between 2.8% and 3.5%

Personally, I don't like the the whole PSP server to server realtime process, and I would prefer to be in a position where I can enter transactions manually. I've worked in this (music) indsutry a long time, and the buying patterns are quite distinct, and so usually you can spot a fraudster before you've even checked out the card details.

I finally managed to source a merhcant number the week before last and I have since signed up with Protx.. the good thing about Protx though is that they offer an online terminal (VSP Terminal) which works the same way in which a PDQ machine would.. and so card details can be taken manually through the GTS server.

If anyone based in the UK has encountered similar problems, my advice would be to contact Barclays Bank and obtain a merchant number through their en@ble service.. basically, they reverse the whole merchant number process - providing you with a number within 4 days rather than 6 weeks - you then have 30 days to complete and return their forms. Protx are actually really good at getting you up and running too, I encountered a couple of techincal problems but their support desk and/or help is second to none.

Had I known this from day one, I may have been up and running two months ago!!!

[dferguson]

Hi Ian

Thanks for this feedback - Hopefully it will help our other UK customers get into selling online faster.

[mark]

So what you are suggesting in a round about way is that we should start with a manual system and do a it of a shake down .. then go on to a full auto ..

the down side i guess is finding a merchant provider that wont slug you twice for fees on the eftpos and then the realtime later ..

am i right >?

[dferguson]

Hi

Basically yes... You can start with the manual/offline method and if your volume increases you can move to real time by selecting one of the supported gateways and asking your bank for a real time merchant account.

If your still under contract for your original manual eftpos/pdq terminal then you would probably still need to pay those fees until the contract ends.. But maybe if you are upgrading to real time merchant status the bank will waive the fees or let you upgrade?!

[bryan]

Newbie.
Commonwealth Bank have a combined merchant and gateway system. Does EziMerchant work with CommWeb? Anybody had experience with it? Uses Visa Secure which requires credit card user to have a password.

[dferguson]

Hi

No, ezimerchant Pro does not support this gateway.

Visa and Mastercard Secure is basically a non event in Australia - You wont find many sites that support it at all (I think at the moment there is about 50 Australia wide and all of these were custom implemented)

[extralite]

Have I got this right?

if i want to set up interenet payment it will cost approx :

$450 for the shopping cart software.

$35 a month for the secure server.

$35 a month for eway to transmit data to the bank.

$300 setup from the bank.

$30 monthly fee from the bank.

2.5% approx per transaction

Total Around $700 to set up. Around $100 a month in fees to ezimerchant, eway and bank, plus 2.5% per transaction?

[dferguson]

Hi

$449.00 - yes
$29.95 for the GTS - not $35

The other fees you will need to confirm with the relevant parties but they sound about right.

This is if you want to go real time and not offline/Manual.

[mark]

thus far we have not found any hold back on buyers
when asked to direct deposit to our account

none have been past ebay customers who are accustomed to this processs ....

any comments ?

[finches]

Saw your post about real time costs. How much for manual/offline? Am starting and online business and seeing waht is cheapest to begin with.

[dferguson]

NOTE: Edit 25th September 2008. Our official recommendation has changed as a result of changes in compliance requirements. Please see http://www.ezimerchant.com/faq/show/faq10012.asp for details. We no longer recommend manual transactions

Please see our FAQ

http://www.ezimerchant.com/faq/show/faq50073.asp

If your just starting out I would always reccommend Manual Transactions.

Basically you will only need the following:

1. ezimerchant
2. GTS account ($29.95 per month)
3. Website Hosting - go with anyone you like or go with www.myshophosting.com
4. Money Order/Telephone Order (MOTO) compatible EFTPOS Terminal from your bank.

Approx cost for the merchant account with terminal.. $~300 setup and then $~25 per month + 1.8% of each transaction.. These prices will differ from bank to bank of course.

I hope this helps.

[ink cartridges]

there has been mention in the past of paymate.com.au

we use it successfully -
if you absorb all the costs its about 4-5% which isnt cheap BUT you dont pay a set up fee - you dont pay a monthly bulls..t this and that fee that the banks charge

worth looking into if not for sole use but as an alternative

[ink cartridges]

ohhh and its endorsed by ebay ... at least you know ebay have checked them out

we have been using paymate for more than a year ... they do credit checks on the buyers and we have not suffered a charge back

[merchant121]

You shouldn't have to pay any start up fees. You should be able to get an account for about $25 a month plus transaction fees.

Note: If they are a real processor, they must charge transaction fees. They may absorb them upto $500, but after that, you will pay. That's just how the inductry is. I'ld shy away from a bogus claim like that if I were you.

[niko]

I love it when people direct deposit but don't like it when they say they will in the order and don't actually deposit!! Freaken time wasters!!! Yes Bendigo bank, I love them dearly, especially due to the fact I can talk face to face with the Branch Manager to get the answers from the Horse not the carrot.... errrr, EFTPOS manual with MOTO is what I did so that if someone wants to see the product in real life and then use CC then it all works dandy. Current Bendigo Bank charges is 1.8% per transaction. Online or virtual EFTPOS doesn't allow you to swipe but is perfect if you don't give out your physical address (purely online bsuiness).

[Wall Of Fame]

Hi,
For all of you out there still deciding. I have just made a decision that I thought I would share.
I use VirtualPos from the Commonwealth Bank. Only a $75 start up fee and is about 20c per transaction. With this you have the opporunity to upgrade to other services if your business expands at no extra start up cost. I find it more than easy to use. And they give you user and technical guide books and they have a help line open if you need it. I have found it to be a pleasant, not too costly and a user friendly experience all 'round.

[Annie R]

This sounds very interesting. Are there any monthly fees attached?
Annie

[nate]

After being told by CBA that they would not provide a merchant account without using VBV, we went to Westpac. They have an excellent online approval system that allows you to enter card numbers either one at a time or in batches. Cost is $220 to start up and only 1.4% per transaction. Since there is no termnial, we don't have to pay any monthly fees.

[penseur]

I have also chosen VirtualPOS from the Commonwealth Bank because they have the best deal by far compared to similar services from any other Australian bank - lowest establishment fee, lowest commission, lowest minimum merchant service fee. Some other banks made the arbitrary decision that as a customised label wine merchant they need to charge me very high fees and commissions. However, does anyone know anything about their technical subcontractor, Cardlink? So far, they have been somewhat sluggish in getting the technical aspect of my merchant account happening.

[adrianlacy]

we use a manual system accepting bc, mc, visa only from westpac.

this has a very major advantage over the auto internet systems - if you don't have stock, or can no longer get stock, you don't have to get the tx reversed.

If you have a business where upgrading a customers order request may be possible, its all too hard unless its manual.

charges are minimal - 1.281%, terminal access fee is $24.20 per month and you have full control. westpac send rolls of thermal paper for free, so there is no other expense

[steve]

You may consider ChronoPay as a possible option if you are located in EU. They seem to have a good handle on marketplace and there has been positive feedback about them in different forums.

[fooj]

I think what David Ferguson says rings pretty true. The manual way is the way to go. I've had a real time gateway and never again.

I'm now with [e-path.com.au]* but another one to look at is [payecom.com]*. No transaction fees, none of the normal "real time" charges and I get to check the order and payment details before I charge it manually into my merchant account. Unbelievably excellent and cheap system.

Still trying to integrate it into my em but I've now got a webdeveloper working on it for me.

Absolutely give these guys a look. Much more secure too.

My 2c worth anyway.

* Edited to remove advertising links

[discountpumps]

1. Who is the best bank/building society to get a merchant account with?
I am online but also have a store so it should not be that hard. It is a low risk buiness of fraud.
The bad things...
I have not owned store for long and so I dont have a track record and I need to be able to take payment over the phone and manually enter then.
Many jobs we do are on site so we need to take c/c numbers back and process them etc and some are online which we want to process manually.
They really dont like this.
I own my own home but didint really want to go down that road.
Any help or ideas on someone easy to get a merchant? Even 3rd party expensive ones would be great to compare please? I dont want a "online" one, just one which is manual and can enter numbers given by phone etc from customers,

Lastly, What do I pay Ezimerchant each month if I am using them to collect the data and numbers for the sale and sendng them to my email but not doing any real time payments as I will enter them myself.
I wouldnt need the gateway feees then would I? Just the GPS to prcess orders and send to me?
I guess this includes and orders, even paypal etc.
Please help

Oh P.S. If I went real time, would I pay for a payment gateway as well ezimerchant fees or just the one payment gateway? I am trying to work out if ezimerchant is a gateway etc? What else do I need.
Cheers
MT

[dferguson]

ezimerchant isnt the gateway - our system talks to a gateway if necessary. You might like to read this FAQ: http://www.ezimerchant.com/faq/show/faq50073.asp

[adrianlacy]

discountpumps
all banks will happily provide merchant facilities with mail order/ telephone order / internet order facilities - if your bank doesn't - try westpac who i'm happily with. there's no security required that i think you were suggesting. pay ezimerchant extra for the fraud data which gives a rating on the information of each order to determine degree of risk - ie an order from USA requesting delivery to Nigeria, with an IP location in India and a credit card from UK would probably have a bright red rating of 10 ! you can also request the 3 digit cvc number on the back of the card for added security - i've only ever had one bad transaction out of thousands. banks have no problem with you collecting data and entering manually - they simply protect themselves by reversing the transaction if there's insufficient proof the transaction was authorised.
you pay monthly terminal fees for terminal rental and transaction fees based on sales as a percentage - these terminals usually all offer eftpos as well as visa/mastercard, then extra again for diners/amex

hope you find a good merchant facility

[aschiller]

We are now offering a highly cost effective payment gateway service (http://www.ezimerchant.com/ezimerchantdeferredrealtime.asp).
Merchants considering manual card transactions should consider the impact on PCI DSS compliance (https://www.pcisecuritystandards.org/security_standards/pci_dss.shtml) and the risks (http://www.ezimerchant.com/faq/show/faq10012.asp) involved with handling credit card data.