Payment Processor/banking Survey

[Chell]

Sorry, I know this has been done before but......

What Payment processor do you use? What are the pros and cons? What have you used in the past and why did you change?

At what point did you decide that you needed more than just a Paypal or Nochex sellers acccount?

Did it result in an increase in sales?

Who do you have your business banking with, what are the fees like? Again, any pros and cons. I know I also need a merchant account for some payment methods but I don't 100% understand that bit.

:thank_you:

[lajlaj]

Yes there is definately an increase in sales, it is something I recommend to everyone.

Started with WorldPay - because there was no other way at that time of getting a merchant account. Advantages - could take credit cards - Disadvantages too many to name - mainly that they kept your money for a month and it is very very expensive to use.

Moved to HSBC (merchant account) and Protx - Fabulous option £20 a month for Protx at the time and %age of sale for HSBC. Worked well together. Only shut it down because I moved banks and couldn't keep the HSBC merchant account.

Had a brief spell last year with Streamline and Protx. Account shut due to other issues.

Moved on to PayPal Pro and I have to say it is really quite good. £20 a month, includes a virtual terminal and the ability to accept pre-authorised payments. Normal paypal fees apply but I now have very favourable rates with them. Downside they aren't brilliant to get hold of although I have to say that they have always been very very helpful on the few occasions I've had to make contact with them - but then I have a business account and that helpline does seem to be manned. Very easy to set up and simple to integrate with the back end of my shopping cart.

For me PPPro is a no brainer if you are already using PayPal as your main credit card supplier and don't want to go as far as sorting out a merchant account (which can be difficult at the best of times never mind in the current economic climate). For £20 a month it does everything you need a credit card processor to do, especially the virtual terminal which seriously adds to turnover - we have at least one a day telephone to pay because they don't trust t'internet!

[Chell]

For me PPPro is a no brainer if you are already using PayPal as your main credit card supplier and don't want to go as far as sorting out a merchant account (which can be difficult at the best of times never mind in the current economic climate). For £20 a month it does everything you need a credit card processor to do, especially the virtual terminal which seriously adds to turnover - we have at least one a day telephone to pay because they don't trust t'internet!

Sorry, I'm confused here, I thought I didn't need a merchant account for Paypal Pro? :unsure:

Is it only Paypal Pro that offers the virtual terminal? I'd like that for phone orders and also if I do fairs again at Christmas.

The thing putting me off is that I need an SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address which is costly each year.

Although Protox has the set up fee, in the long run it would be cheaper (I think).

[Miranda]

What Payment processor do you use? What are the pros and cons? What have you used in the past and why did you change?
Started with HSBC and a PDQ machine, taking details online which were encrypted, then I moved to Cardnet with Streamline merchant banking - warning the sales rep LIES about the get out clause (which was unreasonable anyway) but I had proof he'd told me a months' notice after the inital period as I'd still got the bit of paper on which I'd scribbled notes when he was there with his card stapled to it - it was a months notice on the anniversary to give a YEAR's ntoice, they settled with a months notice no quibble and I believe had been told to change it anyway) . Then had to go to online processing and HSBC offered best deal


At what point did you decide that you needed more than just a Paypal or Nochex sellers acccount? Nobrainer as neither Paypal or Nochex existed and back in 1999 I coudl see internet sales would be BIG

Did it result in an increase in sales?
Yes, but that was because we went from local to nationwide by going online - but at the time no-one else not even PHP or Bambino Mio offered online payment you had to phone or send a cheque

Who do you have your business banking with, what are the fees like? Again, any pros and cons. I know I also need a merchant account for some payment methods but I don't 100% understand that bit.
HSBC, Haggle the rates., play one against the other. Helps I bank there anyway. Still have a PDQ machine about 15% of our sales go through that, and having a portable one is handy for shows.

[lajlaj]

Sorry, I'm confused here, I thought I didn't need a merchant account for Paypal Pro? :unsure:

Is it only Paypal Pro that offers the virtual terminal? I'd like that for phone orders and also if I do fairs again at Christmas.

The thing putting me off is that I need an SSL certificate and a dedicated IP address which is costly each year.

Although Protox has the set up fee, in the long run it would be cheaper (I think).

No you don't need a merchant account with PayPal Pro, that is what I'm saying, with some of the other options you do.

I have an SSL certificate built into my hosting package so haven't had to tackle that as an issue really.

[BellaMiller]

Hiya - can't offer historical info but this is what I did when setting up:
Joined the FSB - streamline without the set up fees so just pay the processing fees each month. Got Protx via a deal online - I think it worked out about £15.00 a month.
Also with the fsb you get free business banking with the co-op, which I use.

[feistygal]

I started with a Nochex merchant account which worked fine and was ok except for the retainer they hung on to but we paid that up front. Ordinary Paypal at the time wasn't an option because of loosing orders etc from the admin panel.

Then I joined the FSB and took the Protx and Streamline deal for free set up on both and discounted fees. Worked fine but the increase in sales wasn't because of switching to them it was because of SEO, Adwords and the site having been open longer. I had a portable card terminal which was handy for phone orders but at the shows I went to only 1 or 2 people used cards not cash.

Switched to Paypal Pro in December last year and sales are way up. Customers love being able to enter their card details on your site without having to leave. Even with 3 websites I am paying a lot less in fees per year than I was with Protx and Streamline. Telephone orders are up as well.