Accepting credit card payments through website

xha1r

Hello,

It'd be great if I were to be able to setup a payments system for credit cards on my companies website. However, with myself and our webmaster having no experience with this, we are unsure whether to go ahead with it as we don't wish to cause any problems for the person paying.

Is setting up such a system difficult and does it more or less work itself? What companies are best for doing so? Is there a need for doing this? Or would most people just pay by cheque for example?

We will be setting up a Paypal option as it is relatively simple, but I would really like to get the credit card option in there to cover all bases.

Any replies are much appreciated.

Regards,
JB.

PS. I have posted this in both the B/E/F and Webmaster forum as I wasn't sure which it was most suited to.

louie

We are working at the moment in setting up the Realex Mpi 3d secure credit card processing and I have to say, because of lack of information, on this type of processing it gets complicated, but at the end we are all winners.

At the moment, still in testing stage but it looks grand and it seems like everything is done on our side.

forbairt

I'll be using a crowd called World Net TPS shortly for this ... its pretty simple to integrate it into your website ... they are handling the credit card details so you don't get to store them ... PHEW..

dahamsta

I googled that crowd and all I could find was an osC module. Seems odd that they don't show up in a search.

EDIT: Found it via MSN. What is their pricing and how does it compare to Realex?

adam

grahamor

Realex are irish and well recommended. It is easy to set up.

I integrated it for www.yappernut.ie and www.newbridgesilverware.com

All you need is a merchant bank account (to pay the money into)
Some code to work to make it work with your website.)they provided me with asp and java code, although i did in c# in the end it still helped)

Send me a PM if you need any more info.

louie

Ken Shabby wrote:

I googled that crowd and all I could find was an osC module. Seems odd that they don't show up in a search.

EDIT: Found it via MSN. What is their pricing and how does it compare to Realex?

adam

Same here, and to be honest never heard of it before so after googled the company got the same result - some add on for oScommerce.

What and Who is this company?

Realex is Irish owned and it only takes few days for the money to go into your account not like 4 weeks from other providers?
If you go for the basic one and not the 3d secure make sure the CVN is passed accross and veryfied as well.

misterq

Lets be clear about something, Realex don't provide you with a credit card merchant account. All they do is simply process the payments. So they don't hold on to the cash at all.

To use Realex, you also need to get a merchant account through your bank, so funds should be in your bank account 48-72 hours after processing.

On the other hand, you have the likes of PayPal, WorldPay etc, who provide the 2 together and they hang on to your cash for varying lengths of time.

mneylon

misterq wrote:

On the other hand, you have the likes of PayPal, WorldPay etc, who provide the 2 together and they hang on to your cash for varying lengths of time.

There's a big difference between them...

Paypal - no Laser

WorldPay - even if they give you a merchant account they still hold onto your money for quite some time compared to the likes of Realex. They also impose some crazy limitations depending on the business you are in.

misterq

There are definitely differences Michele, no doubt there. And as has been discussed in other posts, there are a few other alternatives out there that haven't been mentioned too.

I was speaking to someone in PayPal recently who told me that they are keen to get Laser/Maestro, but are wise enough not to give an ETA on it until the are sure it can be delivered.

I've not had any issues with WorldPay but they are cautious about who they give accounts to. In my own personal experience, only one company had major issues (their accounts were showing a loss from the previous year).

The holding on to the cash for 4 weeks is a pain, but you can actually get them to lower this after a while. I get my cash after a week, but there is no reason why I shouldn't since I've been with them since 2002 with no chargebacks.

Anyhow, the right solution for a particular company involves getting pricing from as many possible suppliers and then sitting down to see what the costs will be based on the average price of your transactions and a realistic estimate of how much you will be selling on a monthly/weekly basis.

mneylon

If PayPal were to support Laser it would make life a lot easier for smaller merchants.

Any delays in getting the cash can be really painful...

dahamsta

Be nice if they made their remote API available outside of the US too.

mneylon

Ken Shabby wrote:

Be nice if they made their remote API available outside of the US too.

We're using it via modernbill as far as I know

louie

blacknight wrote:

If PayPal were to support Laser it would make life a lot easier for smaller merchants.

Any delays in getting the cash can be really painful...

I don't really see how they are going to do that taking that the Laser cards will be discontinued very soon and is meant to become some sort of Visa card more like Switch in UK.

misterq

Yes, a thing called Maestro, which is in use around Europe, thats why I said "Laser/Maestro".

Maestro will be much handier. I've used my dual Laser/Maestro card to pay for things in Holland and Hungary this year.

ChRoMe

Realex is the best option available to you by far. I've setup cc processing for several different sites and its a very simple and straightforward processing.

To be honest I wouldnt waste my time with the likes of paypal etc. IMHO paypal and similar services dont really portray a professional image to the customer along with their crazy commision percentages etc.

cgarvey

Realex is only an option if he/she's expecting a fair bit of turnover. If it's something small in value that won't be selling too much of, then Realex charges will rule them out (unless they have changed drastically recently).

.cg

dahamsta

What cg said. As with any aspect of web development, there are several options and solutions for different scenarios. There's nothing wrong with PayPal for someone dipping their toe in the water, for example.

adam

PixelTrawler

Mods: is it possible to make this one a sticky as I think its a question a lot of people have and it would be useful to keep this thread around rather then it disappearing down the archives - theres a fair few start points and useful contacts in this thread

PixelTrawler

ChRoMe wrote:

Realex is the best option available to you by far. I've setup cc processing for several different sites and its a very simple and straightforward processing.

To be honest I wouldnt waste my time with the likes of paypal etc. IMHO paypal and similar services dont really portray a professional image to the customer along with their crazy commision percentages etc.

Which option do you use : Redirect Integration or Remote integration. Is there a greater risk with remote integration if your site was hacked and customer data stolen - are you open to being sued or does realex cover this?

Although redirect integration may not look quite as professional, is it a safer option for a small business. The one thing i cant see on the realex site is any legal cover.

mneylon

I put this together last year:
http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2005/12/19/e-commerce-cheat-sheet-part-1/

Rollo Tamasi

Joebloggs4817 wrote:

Mods: is it possible to make this one a sticky

i would be of the opinion that the stickys need a bit of a overhaul in general. 7 stickys is quite a lot imo.