Online shop - the payments bit

[roy]

What recommendations and experience do members he have of credit card processors. I'm not talking paypal here, I mean real time CC transaction.

One of my clients is about to start selling off the back of their site and asked me for some advice.

[roy]

Oh, I forgot. Do all CC processors plug into all shopping carts - or is that asking too much?

[trainershack]

roy

i can only talk from personal experience and can recommend using protx with actinic.

[roy]

Just had a quick look at Protx.

They don't seem to charge enough. Am I correct in thinking that the bank/credit card then charge a percentage of the transaction too?

[peterjhale]

we are currently using Worldpay (and ppal)

On the whole, Worldpay are pretty good - and extremely reliable

The only drawback are the high fees and payment terms (although you can re-negotiate these later on)

[peterjhale]

Ive also tried 2Checkout.com

Easy to use and set up - instant set up actually as they dont seem to check anything - Fees are high (c 5%) and non negotiable

[lemontart]

there is also nochex for uk users but very limited,

beth

[trainershack]

Originally Posted by roy

Just had a quick look at Protx.

They don't seem to charge enough. Am I correct in thinking that the bank/credit card then charge a percentage of the transaction too?

yes, you will get charged per transaction through your bank's merchant account also. the rates vary depending on your turnover

[trainershack]

Originally Posted by lemontart

there is also nochex for uk users but very limited,

beth

also recommend this highly.

[Anne Currie]

There are two ways you can go to take credit and debit card payments over the internet.

- Use an "internet payment service provider". That's a single company who will collect credit card details and store the money for you in their own merchant account, transferring it to you on a regular basis. This is the easiest, though generally most expensive, option. Probably the most reputable company offering this service in the UK is WorldPay, though it isn't cheap. 2Checkout mentioned above is an ipsp as well.

- A payment gateway company combined with a merchant account of your own. The payment gateway company collects the credit card details and submits them to the bank that holds your merchant account, the bank then gets the funds and puts them into your account. You can then transfer the money from your merchant account to your own businesss account. This is more of a hassle to set up, and takes longer, but it is generally cheaper (in fact, it can be a third the price of some ipsps, so this is certainly worth investigating). Protx is a payment gateway only, which is why the prices seem so low to you, the merchant account you use Protx with will charge you a credit card %. I believe the largest merchant account provider in the UK is Streamline, though again, they are not necessarily the cheapest. Barclaycard also offer merchant accounts and both BarclayCard and WorldPay offer payment gateway services (more expensively than protx).

There are literally hundreds of companies offering all of these services, there's no way you'll be able to compare them all, so just pick a handful or go with recommendations.

Here are some more factors you should take into consideration when deciding on your payment means.
- What will the user experience be like, do you want to be able to brand the card detail collection pages so they look like the rest of your site? Some providers offer this, some don't.
- How much of a monthly or up-front fee do you want to commit to? Many IPSPs take a large percentage of your sales but charge no upfront fees or monthly charges (like ShareIt!). This may be a low risk option.
- Can you get a cheaper deal by joining a professional business association who have a special rate negotiated?
- Is your company stable enough to have a merchant account (not every bank will offer one to a new company).

Good luck! If it helps, I have been researching this for my company and I'll probably go with protx as a payment gateway combined with a Streamline or Barclaycard merchant account.