Anyone have recent experience with any of the above merchant account providers?

I have narrowed down to the above given:
- we are based in the UK
- we want to set prices for customers in British pounds
- we want to accept recurring monthly payments.

I have had difficulty getting Planet Payment to answer questions -no response to emails, phones go to voicemail - this worries me.

Andrew

PS we rejected others for the following reasons:
Clickbank - no recurring payments
Ravecom - problems and concerns on this board
2checkout - US$ payments only
Verotel - very expensive
Charge.com - international pages lead to Worldpay!
www.electronictransfer.com - US$ payments only

I'm looking for something similar. The difference is that my company is based in Canada but I'm still looking for a payment system in which I can list both Canadian and US dollars and have transactions deposited into a local bank in local currency.

I had exactly the same problems as you are having with Planet Payment but after multiple emails and phone messages I was finally able to contact a sales rep that was extremely helpful and friendly.

Here is my current short list for a merchant account but I am still looking for other options:

Planet Payment:
Pros: Use authorize.net gateway
You can post and settle in multiple currencies
Do not require a US bank account

Cons: Can't sell annual fees (must break an annual charge into monthly payments)
Deposit twice monthly into your accout and a wire transfer fee of $30 USD applies to this

Surefire:
Pros: Can wire transfer to account at no extra charge (may only apply to North America)

Cons: Can't post and settle in multiple currencies
No recurring billing and no billing software that can be used that supports this

Paynet Merchant Services
Pros: Can choose authorize.net or verisign payment gateway

Cons: Require US bank
Settle in US funds only


I'm not sure who I will choose but I'm leaning towards planet payment. They definitely have the better services but having to pay $60 US per month just for deposits seems high. If you have any other suggestions I'd definitely be interested.

Thanks!
After a few calls and email reminders I got a call from PP's very helpful London representative today.

I hadn't realised about the restriction on annual transactions. I thought it was interesting that they preferred monthly frequencies since it was this type of recurring billing that a local bank here was very concerned about. I will have to follow up on this. With annual payments I was hoping to be able to charge the annual fee up front but when it came to the annual renewal I would go back with an invoice and get a fresh authority for a new transaction again. I wasn't going to just automatically put a charge through a year after the original transaction - I can see why this would cause problems for them.

The wire transfer fees do see excessive but the advantages
- multi currency
- ability to hold the cc numbers ourselves and have complete control over charge amounts
- our own name on the customers bill (he said with 'PP' alongside)
- ability to fully customise the screens and even avoid using their own screens completely

outway those short term costs. (By the way, remember your own bank may charge further fees for receiving the wire transfer, my bank charges 12 pounds for that).

Also they seem to be closely partnered with Authorize.net which is reassuring.

Worldpay seems the only alternative but the screens look poor, they hold the card numbers and it doesn't look good with customers. Not to mention a 6 weeks delay on payments! (Though they are likely to be a solid, reliable option, UK's NatWest own a chunk of them).

Finally, don't assume it's that hard to set up a US bank account. If you have a business account with your own bank they should be able to introduce you to a US bank and get an account set up reasonably easily. At least that's the impression that I get from my own (British) bank's website - attitudes may differ elsewhere.

Happy to exchange experiences either here or by email.

Andrew

We use Worldpay and would recomment them.

The admin control panel that you log into is great, it enables you to view all transactions (failed & successfull) and make refunds or part-refunds.

I think the payment screen is fine since the update a few months ago, you can modify the colour scheme and change buttons to copy the style of your site.