Worldpay / Protx

[Chell]

I am seriously pee'd off with Paypal and trying to set up Paypal Pro, I think I miight need to look for an alternative.

I've been looking at Protx and Worldpay sites and also done a search of old threads on here.

Protx:
Need a merchant account but I don't really understand what that is all about, I think I pay fees for that. I presume I also need business banking in the first place.
I can't see what protx charge from their site.
Telephone payments possible but can I take payments at fairs?

Worldpay:
I don't need a merchant account


Set-up Fee: GBP 200.00
Monthly Fee: GBP 30.00 each month (first month payable upon application).



GBP 0.50 per transaction for UK Debit cards.
4.50% on the value of all other transactions e.g. credit and charge cards.


Does anyone use/have used either of these? What are the pros and cons?

I know I've read about haggling for prices, is that just for Protx?

ETA: do I have to wait a month for my money from both of them?

My brain is pickled from looking now. I was calmly getting organsied for tomorrow till I found that Paypal still hasn't sorted the problems I was having.

[Mary Poppins]

Sorry Chell, I can't help you on this. I only have Paypal and Nochex which seem to work well for me. I have thought about going for a different type of payment but at the moment am reluctant to pay x amount per month for a system and still to have to pay a similar commission per transaction to what I pay with Paypal/Nochex.

If I had my way I would change completely to Nochex but some people do like Paypal.

[judithbl]

I have protx. Are you a member of the FSB - if you are then set up is free and then you also get a reduced rate. I pay 20p for debit cards and I think it is 1.6% for credit cards

It is through streamline
xx

[judithbl]

ps Protx is paid within a couple of days. A bank settlement goes through every night
x

[Chell]

I have protx. Are you a member of the FSB - if you are then set up is free and then you also get a reduced rate. I pay 20p for debit cards and I think it is 1.6% for credit cards

It is through streamline
xx

Can you remember how much it was to join FSB? Is there a fee for Streamline too? I can't remember if you need a security certificate for Protx.

[judithbl]

Its £100 per year and £30 registration fee.
x

[judithbl]

When I did streamline I think it was £200. But I believe that if you go in through FSB there isn't a charge.....but not 100% sure.

Protx charge £20 plus VAT per month.

You don't need a certificate if you use protx gateway that is away from your site which is what I use.

Hope this helps. The FSB halved my costs with Streamline and I would say in one month I managed to save enough on fees to warrant the cost of joining.
xx

[Chell]

Did you find it made any difference to sales when you changed to Protx?

[judithbl]

Yes - I think people have more confidence in a site with something like that on;
x

[Chell]

People keep saying that, this is why I feel it is time to upgrade from Paypal and Nochex. I was going to go with Paypal Pro for the virtual terminal but I am so fed up with them.

Worldpays seems the easier option to set up though.

[judithbl]

You do get a virtual terminal with Protx too. It just has to be that your main sales come through the site and you use it as a backup
x

[stour]

You've got to be so careful with this.

you've got to separate the payment gateway from the merchant account.

For example, i use Protx as my payment gateway which ensures that cards are processed securely and also puts a page up on the internet where i can alter my payments and do refunds etc.

I use Streamline as my merchant account. they actually do the processing once the details have been passed to them securely by protx. They put the money into our account.

costs:

Protx charge £25 incl. vat per month. this is for less than 3,000 transactions per quarter. over that and it's 10p per transaction. this is not dependent on either what card is used or the value of the transaction. i have never found anyone who has managed to negotiate this down. in my memory there isn't a set up fee.

Streamline's fees are different and depends upon transaction volumes etc. this is very negotiable and can be helped if you are a member of an organisation etc. if my memory serves me right there's a set up fee on here but again that's negotiable.

there are lots of other ones who are similar to streamline and protx - hsbc do one and there's lloyds cardnet etc.

when i started four or five years ago they were really funny about letting you have a merchant account. i was told that they were really difficult to get. that appears to have changed now and indeed we get merchant banking companies phoning asking for our business. my answer is always 'no' as they turned us down when we were starting out.

Confusingly, Worldpay is a mixture of the two and do both but the thing people have always criticised them for is that it can take 2 weeks between them processing the order and you receiving the money. this isn't the fact iwth Streamline who do it in a matter of a couple of days.

i hope this helps.

Sarah

[judithbl]

I think it all depends whether you can afford to wait for Worldpay to send your moiney through to you, it would certainly be harder at Christmas to manage your cashflow with Worldpay.

It is personal choice though.
xx

[naturalnursery]

I used wp when we first set up, and had no issues with the service - always very helpful.

However, they are more expensive than the others and they do hold onto your money for a long time.

The advice re fsb is spot on - we have just joined for this very reason.

Though FSB do have an agreement with WP too - it still works out more so maybe look at the streamline/protx set up as that was the cheapest I could get rates for.

Axx

[Laura@FYP]

I did a lot of research into this when I was setting up, and decided on Protx as my payment processor, with Lloyds Cardnet as my merchant account. Worldpay was my second choice, but I decided against it as the time delay for transferring the money was so long.
So far I am pleased with my decision, Protx has no set-up costs and is £20+ vat per month, and I managed to blag my way out of paying the Cardnet set-up fee :cheesy: My Cardnet rates are currently 20p for debit cards and 2.5% for credit cards.
I have the Protx support to be excellent, I can get through on the phone straight away and they are really helpful, and patient! :laugh: The money is transferred quickly too.
I also have my business account with Lloyds, with which there are no fees for 18 months.
So if you were to go the merchant account route, you would need a business account (get one with a long fee-free period) a merchant account (compare set-up fees, transaction fees and any minimal monthly payments) and a payment processor- I can highly recommend Protx.
Hope that helps some :happy72:

[lajlaj]

I've used all three.

Worldpay - wouldn't recommend personally, it was very expensive to use and they keep hold of your money for a month, making cash flow a nightmare. If I had a particularly busy week and had a run on stock, often I had to wait to purchase more stock or put it on a credit card as the money took four weeks to drop down into my account.

Protx - used twice - the first time was with HSBC as the merchant account. £20 a month for protx and a %age of each transaction to the HSBC. Had to shut the HSBC account last year or would still be using.

Protx with Streamline - was good - got the streamline rate through the FSB but when they found out about my problems last year they shut the account with just two weeks notice. I wasn't a happy bunny because I had handed in all details but they didn't look properly, gave me the account then withdrew at a later date. Was only with them for a very short time (less than a month).

Now I use PayPal Pro - it is OK, obviously it is PP and that is a big problem to me but it costs £20 a month (same as Protx) and my transaction charges are now quite low due to the volume I put through them. Advantages are that it keeps customers within my own website, nobody knows their payments are processed via PPPro, it is just a secure gateway payment iykwim? Disadvantages, you cannot get hold of anyone if there is a problem, it is very random.

IMHO best solution is Protx & Streamline (with FSB rates) if you can get it. Next best is PPPro.

I've looked at lots of other processers (SecPay plus many others) but they all seem to be more expensive. Cheapest option (for me) is PPPro - which works fine so long as there are no problems!!

[Candeez]

PPPay.com [UK company] have low fees, I don't know if they provide the service you need, but might be worth checking out though.

[Chell]

....... Disadvantages, you cannot get hold of anyone if there is a problem, it is very random.


....... Cheapest option (for me) is PPPro - which works fine so long as there are no problems!!

I can't even manage to get it set up without problems so it is putting me right off trying any more. You'd think they'd at least try and be helpful to get your business. They can't manage to doa simple thing like change my name on my account.

I then tried to set up a new account and got an email to say it was active. Luckily I did a test transaction before Karen installed it, I had an error message saying there was a problem with my bank account and to contact them. It didn't give any indication of what the problem is.

I'll have to look at business banking and Protx by the looks of things.

[Dino]

Chell, check securetrading.com too, they are an alternative payment processor like Protx. I have a customer that uses them and has no problems, the support is good too. You need a merchant account also, just like with Protx.

[feistygal]

I had Protx with Streamline when I joined the FSB. I had lots of problems with Protx after about the first 6 months or so. Orders not being logged etc and it does seem to go down relatively often. Also if you have more than one site you have to pay the monthly fee per site which made it very expensive for me at the time with two sites and the charge for the card machine.

PayPal Pro has been a godsend for me. Only one charge despite having it on 3 websites. Never lost an order, there was a slight blip about 6 weeks ago when the business bank account sent me a new debit card and I hadn't realised that it had a different card number. This meant my Paypal account was stopped because they hadn't been paid. One phone call and within 5 minutes it was all sorted by Paypal. Customers don't realise they are using Paypal unless they choose the express payment and my sales have definitely risen an awful lot since using Paypal. The settlement is faster than Protx as well, I withdraw every day and it takes 2-3 days to reach my account so I get money in my account every working day.

My charges are a lot, lot lower than with Protx and Streamline even though I had negotiated good rates with them (lower than with the FSB deal)