accepting online payment

MrNuked

I want to set up a system to accept credit card payments online.

It must be free or very cheap to set up.
It must be reasonably user-friendly.
Big commissions on payments are ok.
I am not expecting to make much money from it. My target to cover the hosting and domain fees.
There should be no delays in validating the transaction. ie: the user should be able to receive the product immediately.

Is this feasable? Any recommendations?

nahdoic

If your target market already have paypal accounts it is absolutely fantastic.

If they don't then just do credit cards.

I got my first sale for tracking services (not advertising services) on the StatCounter website this morning. And yes they paid with paypal

MrNuked

do paypal pay into irish accounts now?

buddy

I have a Paypal account but I have'nt yet tried to add a bank account to it - does anyone know if it can be done for Irish bank accounts.

nahdoic

No paypal doesn't pay into Irish accounts.

I had to set up a US bank account to get my money out.

If you are looking for the most easy, as few as possible strings attached check out

http://www.paysystems.com/

http://www.2checkout.com/

I use 2checkout as a back up to paypal, but it only deals in dollars which is perfect for my target market. And again if you have a US bank account it can be transferred to your account automatically every month. If you don't they are very prompt with the monthly check sent to your address.

Pay Systems deal in euros, but I haven't used them myself. But other people on this board like Blacknight do.

MrNuked

Do paysystems pay into Irish accounts?
The 2chckout site seems to be down.

nahdoic

Dunno about paysystems.

2checkout do get hit by a lot of DDOS attacks but they really try very hard to give the best damn service. Even now the check out page for customers is still up, but when they get a DDOS attack they often take down all other service to make sure your customers can still buy.

mneylon

Paypal - totally useless unless you have a UK bank account, as they will NOT pay into Irish banks. (Please don't question me on this one )

Paysystems: Will process in UK Stg or Euro or US dollar. Payment is by cheque. Problem is that if you take payment in Euro drawn on a UK account you will be screwed on bank charges here.

2Checkout: Will process in Euro, dollar etc., As far as I know they only pay out in Dollars

WorldPay: Will process in up to 3 currencies and pay out directly into your account via wire transfer.

For a small business in Ireland Paysystems or 2Checkout are probably the best options, although Worldpay is a great service. The downside to Worldpay are the setup fees.
Paypal is a non-runner

Ignore any mention of Realex - it's a red herring unless you are doing 4 digits a month.

nahdoic

I think we should make Blacknight's post a sticky.

Or at least some sort of sticky for on-line payment processing for the small time webmaster. It comes up again and again and again.

nahdoic

2checkout only pays out in dollars. They accept payment in several different currencies.

Paypal is not necessarily a non-runner, but you will have to set up a bank account in the US or the UK. And if you're target market have paypal accounts, it is fantastic.

mneylon

Originally posted by nahdoic
Paypal is not necessarily a non-runner, but you will have to set up a bank account in the US or the UK. And if you're target market have paypal accounts, it is fantastic.

Which renders it practically useless

nahdoic

Originally posted by blacknight
Which renders it practically useless

It took me a month to set up a US bank account. But it was very well worth it. I'm not sure if my business would have been half as successful if I couldn't accept paypal payments.

If your target market have paypal accounts, I would recommend it.

ChicoMendez

It comes up again and again and again.

Chalk that one down! - was just going to ask about it myself.

A variation of the question above....
supposing one was to setup an online reservation site for hmmm lets say hotels....
the user fills out the form... pays etc etc.
what happens next .... does the online reservation site get the money and pay the hotel / that would get messy i reckon.
would there be a way to directly pay the hotel and shave commission off and send it to the online reservation site .


Has anyone had any experience is this domain?

mneylon

If you can use something like CNGHotels' affiliate thingy it would save you a lot of hassle tbh

ChicoMendez

thats alright if its hotels we are talking about...but if its some other type of business?

mneylon

Then you'd have to come to some other type of arrangement, wouldn't you?

FreeHost

quote:

---

Originally posted by nahdoic
Paypal is not necessarily a non-runner, but you will have to set up a bank account in the US or the UK. And if you're target market have paypal accounts, it is fantastic.

---

Which renders it practically useless

As you said your target is to make the domain and hosting renewal. If that's the case check to see if your host accepts PayPal payments. If you make any money over that figure you could use it to buy stuff on the net.

If you become really sucessfull then just change your payment gateway.

Fergal C

In response to Chico's query you could consider something along the lines of what is used in some hostels sites. That is you charge a deposit on the website to the consumer and this is your commission. The consumer then pays the service provider the rest when they utilise the service.

I've also been considering Worldpay, the commission charge would be about 4.5%, seems quite high to me? Any opinions?

Cr8or

I would go with www.paysystems.com my self. They seem to be very limited on the branding/template of the payment portal .. but they have good rates.

Regarding paypal ... have a read over http://www.paypalsucks.com/

mneylon

Originally posted by Henri
I've also been considering Worldpay, the commission charge would be about 4.5%, seems quite high to me? Any opinions?

4.5% is about average for a 3rd party processor. In some cases there is a per transaction fee, or a monthly fee, so to get a clear view of which processor works out best for your business you need to take a number of factors into consideration.

For example:
Item 1 = 10 EURO
Item 2 = 100 EURO

If you pay 1euro per transaction and 4.5% of the total you endup with:
Item 1
10 - 1 = 9 - 4.5% = 8.60 cost of transaction = 1.40

Item 2
100 - 1 = 99 - 4.5% = 94.55 cost of transaction = 5.45

If you then factor in the number of transactions that you are doing per payment period, as paysystems et al only pay out once every few weeks, you can then see how much you are losing in the process.
If you include the banking fees on this side, where applicable, or the cost of the transfer into your account, you may finally have a clear view.