cheapest way of accepting credit cards online

jrey1981

Just wondering if anyone knows the cheapest way of accepting credit cards online for a small business.

I'm guessing:
Realex Payments
Paypal or
Worldpay?

Anyone have any advice or recommendations?

louie

Paypal or Realex if you have a nice transaction volume.

Bluenarf

paypal!!!

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paul,
www.paulsnet.org

daymobrew

PayPal Website Payments Standard looks easy enough.
You can see how it compares to the other PayPal options.

fintan

Also have a look at

www.2checkout.com

wba88

make sure your site has 'SSL' i think its called (makes it secure)
i think its okay not to hav it with paypal but you need it with other checkouts that accept cc's

Bluenarf

if you use paypal they use one of their own ssl server to complete the transaction. its only when confidential information has to pass through your server that you require an ssl connection. but if u are using 3rd party groups for authoring credit cards and whatnot u usually don't need one. ssl certificats are expensive, very expensive

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Paul
www.paulsnet.org

jrey1981

I think the transaction volume is going to be small.

2checkout looks a bit dodgy.

forbairt

jrey1981 wrote:

I think the transaction volume is going to be small.

I'd say go with paypal ... a lot of people have an account and its possibly the easiest way for the moment ...

If the volume of transactions increases you can look into other options such as realex

mneylon

With PayPal you can have the money in your bank account within 5 working days.

2Checkout - payment cycle is weekly, charges are quite high and you won't see your money immediately - there's also a holdback fund

The Corinthian

Bluenarf wrote:

ssl certificats are expensive, very expensive

You have to be taking the piss. The most you should pay for a cert is about €100 p.a. from an Irish host and you can get them a lot cheaper than that.

Even at €100, though, if you're using it for taking in payments and you feel that you're not going to cover a €100 p.a. overhead with what you'll take in then I suggest you don't bother with your venture.

jrey1981, if you're looking for cheapest then I suspect you mean cheapest in the sense of set-up and license fees - if so use Paypal.

seamus

wba88 wrote:

make sure your site has 'SSL' i think its called (makes it secure)
i think its okay not to hav it with paypal but you need it with other checkouts that accept cc's

Many external providers don't require you to have SSL set up. You just post the info to them and they then take the credit card information from the user in an SSL session.
It's never a bad idea though to have SSL set up if/when you're taking any information from customers, even if you're not handling CC info directly.

MartMax

Bluenarf wrote:

ssl certificats are expensive, very expensive

You can get RapidSSL certificate as little as USD$13 nowadays. Afaik, they are root certificates and work fine with many web browsers.

Marty

fintan

jrey1981 wrote:

2checkout looks a bit dodgy.

Been using it for 2 years now with no hassles.

CoNfOuNd

2checkout is good but if you are a small retailer you may want to start with PayPal. PayPal can be integrated into your website.

Also, SSL certificates don't have to be expensive but you'll find some companies do over-charge for them so shop around. Even if you aren't handling sensitive data, SSL certificates can often help by re-assuring customers that the data being transferred is secure.

jrey1981

thanks guys looks like it'd have to be Paypal...not keen on the fees though so I'd have to adjust prices accordingly

NullZer0

Hi, I would recommende Paypal for the simple reason that it is reliable and also alot of your visitors may already be familar with it from ebay etc.. and of course feel more confident in it.