Hi, folks -

I'm a Web designer who just started doing low-volume reselling (for Venturesonline, who I would recommend!), and I need to set up a cheap, low-overhead system to accept credit cards online.

While the majority of my hosting clients will be my own design clients (and so the cost of hosting will be rolled into the overall design fee), I also have been accepting a small number of clients separate from my design services. With these clients I'll need to be able to charge their card for i) one-time fees, and ii) reoccuring fees.

I've looked into PayPal but I've had a few complaints that their signup process is too complex and user-unfriendly for those who live outside of the US. As many of my clients are Canadian, I need something else.

I'm processing around 1-3 new clients a month, so I'm trying to find something that's easy, but still fairly cheap. Third-party is fine as long as the signup process isn't convoluted like PayPal.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,
Neil
--
Slumming at the beatnikPad : beatnikpad.com
"Oh, Walter - take me to a cool, blue place... and gas me!"
- bucket of blood

<<Please set up a signature (see PROFILES above)>>

http://www.revecom.com/

http://www.2checkout.com/

Originally posted by avara
http://www.2checkout.com/
I concure

www.ibill.com

Originally posted by airtime166
www.ibill.com
For low volume? I don't think so!

heres a comparison... my typical sale is $10.95

so, off a 10.95 sale, takehome is:
iBill - 9.3075
Revecom - 9.517475
2checkout - 9.34775

Originally posted by gabeosx
2checkout - 9.34775

That's not right. 2checkout charges 45 cents plus 5.5 percent per transaction. That means you end up getting 9.89775.

www.2checkout.com gets my vote

Excellent support & great service :D

Originally posted by avara
http://www.2checkout.com/

Do users need to become members for reoccuring payments (and regular one-time payments), or can they just fill out their personal info once and that's it?

Also, how do they handle chargebacks (not that I'm gonna get any, just curious)?

thanks!
Neil

Originally posted by theNonsuch


Do users need to become members for reoccuring payments (and regular one-time payments), or can they just fill out their personal info once and that's it?

Also, how do they handle chargebacks (not that I'm gonna get any, just curious)?

thanks!
Neil

1) No, your customers dont need to become members, they just fill in their info and thats it :D

2) One of the best features about 2checkout is that they "absorb" the chargeback fees if they are not deemed to be excessive.

Hi,

Feel free to send me an email if you need any further information on 2checkout.com, or visit our FAQ page
http://www.2checkout.com/faqs.htm

I don't want to be labelled as 'soliciting business' here, but bear in mind that 2checkout charges a transaction % and a transaction fee (as all 3rd party processors do), but we do not charge a monthly statement fee nor do we have monthly minimums (i.e...no hidden charges). We also absorb the chargeback fee (as VarunShoor stated) as long as they are not excessive.

TomD
tom@2checkout.com

hey! no monthly fees! I must have been half asleep when i read it last time. I swear it said $10 a month. I'm going to sign up straight away! Anyone want to me my referrer? :D

hello,
i would recommend http://www.echo-inc.com
cheep setup for internet based acount and low monthly fee of 10 bucks gets waved when you dont have any Activity for that month
check out there site for more information
hope this helps
Jamenjaw

Originally posted by avara


That's not right. 2checkout charges 45 cents plus 5.5 percent per transaction. That means you end up getting 9.89775.

5.5% of $10.95 is $0.99 + $0.45 = $1.44

10.95
- 1.44
---------
9.51

Originally posted by Jedito


5.5% of $10.95 is $0.99 + $0.45 = $1.44

10.95
- 1.44
---------
9.51

Yeah, that was my only concern about 2checkout.com - it seems quite a bit more expensive than paypal or revecom...

I looked at echo-inc.com - unfortunately they only deal with U.S. accounts for the Internet billing, so it's useless for me. Thanks for the time, however!

I'm leaning towards 2checkout.com, but haven't decided yet. Because of the very low volume I'm going to be doing, $49 US (which works out to around 75 cdn) seems pretty steep.

Then again, perhaps I'm just being a cheap bastard. :)

Thanks for the help, all!

Neil

Originally posted by Jedito


5.5% of $10.95 is $0.99 + $0.45 = $1.44

10.95
- 1.44
---------
9.51


how do you figure 5.5% of 10.95 is .99??

Don't even need a calculator to know thats wrong!

canadian taxes or something? :stickout

Listen to avara, he/she is correct:
Calculations are a bit off, yes. 5.5% of $10.95 is $0.60 (+ $0.45 = $1.05), and $10.95 - $1.05 = $9.90

LoL at the lack of math skills.

No offense.

Originally posted by aragon



how do you figure 5.5% of 10.95 is .99??

Don't even need a calculator to know thats wrong!

canadian taxes or something? :stickout

THe worst piece of that, is that I used a calculator!!
LOL I don't know what I typed there :P
You're right is $0.60

lol!

Why not use ProPay? If you can figure out a secure way to get the credit card details, using ProPay.com for your processing might work well.

Sean

5.5% of $10.95 is $0.99 + $0.45 = $1.44

10.95
- 1.44
---------
9.51

^^ how do you figure that? 10.95 * 0.055 = 0.60225 + .45 = 1.05225

10.95 - 1.05225 = $9.89775 unless my calculator is lying to me again :confused:

**30 seconds later**

*bangs head on side of desk as he realises he is not at the end of the posts, just the end of the first page*

Originally posted by porcupine

**30 seconds later**

*bangs head on side of desk as he realises he is not at the end of the posts, just the end of the first page*

newbie! :stickout newbie! :stickout newbie! :stickout

:cool: :cool:

Heh, it is rare that a thread actually makes me LOL, but between Jedito's calculator skills and porcupine's post, it happened.

yeah yeah.. funny.. I want to see you after 32 hours awake :D

Personal USD account at US bank:
1. ATM Card
2. only need your intenational passport
3. can accept any bank transfer at US or international.
4. can open merchant account to accept credit card.
5. low cost - only need USD100 deposit and low service fee.

my suggestion:

2checkout.com + Personal US bank account (for you to transfer money cheap)

<<Please contact users directly>>

Well I think I will go with 2checkout... seems you get the most from your payments...... if i read all this right?

Another thing I came across was a FREE MERCHANT ACCOUNT....... Anyone heard of Quciken 2002 Home/Business Edition? They set you up with a merchant account (bills under YOURNAME) and stuff.... You can send them links to pay or charge them yourself.... The only thing is it takes 4.5% or something....... no charges just that... (I am in canada, so it may be different for US..)

just thought i would let ya know... (its 99$ CAN. at Staples Business Depot) so its a pretty good deal....

sean

Hello:

Does anyone know of a credit card processor other than paypal that offers a MasterCard (or Visa, or anything for that matter) Debit card to access your money?

I have seen many people on here mention they are Canadian, I am Canadian too... I have found a merchant provider that is Canadian based, and they seem to be fairly good, except they have a $295 setup fee... I think they deserve a mention though.
http://www.internetsecure.com/

Haha, quiet you! i could have deleted the post but i felt so idiotic after noticing that i was still on the first page (only reason i noticed was because it re-positioned me) i thought i deserved what i got.... but still, quiet you! =)

Originally posted by Jedito


5.5% of $10.95 is $0.99 + $0.45 = $1.44

10.95
- 1.44
---------
9.51

r u sure 5.5% of 10.95 is $0.99? :eek:

10.95 * 0.055 (5.5%) = 0.60225 + .45 = 1.05225

10.95 - 1.05225 = $9.89775

:D

Well, Kenji did the same thing as you, Porcupine....but he hasn't even realized it yet.

ECHO provides a bonifide merchant account, has 24/7/365 Customer Support, no hidden fees, and an online calculator :):) gg.

Originally posted by rusty7r
ECHO provides a bonifide merchant account, has 24/7/365 Customer Support and no hidden fees, gg.

Do they have an online calculator? :D...

Remember that the guy who started the thread says he wants something not too expensive, because is only for a few clients. Monthly fee payments and hundreds of dollars of setup is not what he is looking for.

Here are some credit card comparisons I did. Two scenarios, the first one is 100 transactions @ $50/ea the other is 100 transactions @$100/ea. I did not add echo-in, because their www site was just too confusing. PayPal is the winner in both cases. The total charges take into account one-time setup fees, monthly fees, transaction fees, and the discount rate.

# of Transactions: 100
total sales: $4,000.00

% of sales
AuthorizeNet $713.00 17.83%
Revecom $307.00 7.68%
PayPal $186.00 4.65%
HostCharge (Novice) $309.40 7.74%
HostCharge (Direct) $323.40 8.09%
HostCharge (Select) $368.40 9.21%
WorldPay $895.42 22.39%
2checkout $314.99 7.87%
Merchantanywhere $592.00 14.80%


# of Transactions: 100
total sales: $10,000.00
% of sales
AuthorizeNet $848.00 8.48%
Revecom $544.00 5.44%
PayPal $420.00 4.20%
HostCharge (Novice) $579.40 5.79%
HostCharge (Direct) $578.40 5.78%
HostCharge (Select) $608.40 6.08%
WorldPay $1,225.42 12.25%
2checkout $644.99 6.45%
Merchantanywhere $724.00 7.24%

Of course, that´s correct. When business starts to grow, better to look for a monthly merchant account. When business is too small go with 2checkout or revecom.

Paypal seems too easy. It looks like the "anybodymakeit" web site. That´s good if you have a hobby, garage sale or local shop. Remember that some countries cannot use Paypal.

One thing to remember with 2checkout is that they may offer full merchant account services some time in the future. I think this is a huge plus since you will theoriticially be able to upgrade from 3rd party CC processor to full merchant account without the customer noticing any difference except that your name is now on the bill and you now have a better rate.

I think that switching from a 3rd party CC processor to full merchant account could be a hassle this eliminates that hassle.

Just a thought ;)

Paypal seems too easy. It looks like the "anybodymakeit" web site. That´s good if you have a hobby, garage sale or local shop.

I use 2CheckOut and PayPal, and like both of them alot. I agree with megagente that PayPal has a bit of a "garage sale" image, but probably half of my business goes through them. It seems like folks who already have a PayPal account are more comfortable using it rather than a CC. Maybe, since they already have a PayPal account, it is easier for them to track all their online transactions in one place, I dunno. So I personally would recommend using both to provide options if it makes sense for your business - a company spending several hundred dollars for web design will not likely use PayPal, but a guy paying a few bucks a month might. Plus, I make more on a PayPal transaction anyway.

The only issue I faced in setting up with multiple payment processors was how to set up my order routines. I didn't want to have a payment link for each of say, ten plans, for 2 CheckOut and then another 10 for PayPal. So I use phpManager to handle the billing interface, and am quite happy with it (it cost me like $25 one-time if I recall).

By the way, does anyone use IBill? Even with my IWA/HWG member discount, IBill's fees were astronomical in comparison to 2CheckOut. When I called IBill to inquire, they seemed dumbfounded that I was able to get such vastly superior rates from 2CheckOut! Who knows, maybe IBill will wake up and figure it out?!:D

Originally posted by j_rumba
Here are some credit card comparisons I did. Two scenarios, the first one is 100 transactions @ $50/ea the other is 100 transactions @$100/ea. I did not add echo-in, because their www site was just too confusing. PayPal is the winner in both cases. The total charges take into account one-time setup fees, monthly fees, transaction fees, and the discount rate.

# of Transactions: 100
total sales: $4,000.00

% of sales
AuthorizeNet $713.00 17.83%
Revecom $307.00 7.68%
PayPal $186.00 4.65%
HostCharge (Novice) $309.40 7.74%
HostCharge (Direct) $323.40 8.09%
HostCharge (Select) $368.40 9.21%
WorldPay $895.42 22.39%
2checkout $314.99 7.87%
Merchantanywhere $592.00 14.80%


# of Transactions: 100
total sales: $10,000.00
% of sales
AuthorizeNet $848.00 8.48%
Revecom $544.00 5.44%
PayPal $420.00 4.20%
HostCharge (Novice) $579.40 5.79%
HostCharge (Direct) $578.40 5.78%
HostCharge (Select) $608.40 6.08%
WorldPay $1,225.42 12.25%
2checkout $644.99 6.45%
Merchantanywhere $724.00 7.24%

The HostCharge prices are off. First, there's no Novice account as it is called the Basic account. Select offers the lowest prices, followed by Direct, and then Novice. Revecom is more expensive than HostCharge's Select account. According to my calculations, a $100 dollar item would cost $4.50 on HostCharge's Select account and $4.95 at Revecom, and $5.95 at 2Checkout.