I am just wondering if anyone has compiled a list of 3rd Party Processors - who could come in handy for a lot of folks here. Specially with companies like Pay Systems, going out of business, etc. I (for one) am just concerned, if my current 3rd Party Processor - 2CO goes out of business - I'm screwed. How fast can I switch to another provider, etc.

We are processing over $75k per month and thus have a lot to loose.

Yes, we are based internationally. SO as a back-up plan - what do all the learned folks here suggest.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Babs.

There are still some 3PP out there that you can go with to soread your risk, or you can also require a direct merchant account that might help out.

I checked out CCNow, but they charge a whopping 11.0% - that's a lot - even for a back-up. But then I guess its better than not having anyone to process your orders.

Babs.

2CO is going bust? Where'd you hear that?


JP

2CO is *not* going bust! Atleast I am hoping it does not.

I am just asking - "what if" it were to go bust, surely there would be no advance notice, etc.

Just want to prepare for such scenarios.

Babs.

There are some others that charge less then ccnow.

I use iKobo, few months experiences, very good so far.

Babushka99,

I was told that stormpay is reliable, furthermore they accept money order from the US customer. Their email reply is quite fast.

And moneybookers is a good one you can consider, I have not hrad of any bad news from stormpay and moneybookers yet.

I am using ikobo, so far no problem. For $75K per month, you have to post, fax or email your ducuments to ikobo to raise
your limits.

About ccnow, they charge a high fee, USD 11.95 monthly fee, and 11% discount rate. Ccnow might terminate your account, if your products are not meeting their new rules or requirements, but they do not hold your money, provided all your transactions have no problems. In overall, ccnow is realiable.

cavalry: have you sent any documents out yet?

Newlook,

No, I have not. I think I have to do it fast.

I have USD 27.00 just released from ikobo, but I cannot transfer or withdraw it to iKard, I think this is due to my withdawal limit is USD 202 per month.

So far, I already closed six sales transactions via ikobo, no problem at all. But another customer (7th transaction) complained ikobo's transfer fund to credit card confused him, I am scratching my head how to resolve it..

Newlook,

Did you send your documents to ikobo?

heard of ikobo. but, how realiable are they? heard of all the nightmares ppl are having (transactions rejected, withdrawal held up etc.). am trying to implement my 1st 3rd party payment system project. so, been scouting around for a reasonably-priced, and realiable one. so, far these are my observation:

paypal- poor support for international merchant (i am from malaysia) withdrawal

2CO-reasonably priced. no wired withdrawal to malaysia. check withdrawal via air mail (USD4)

ikobo-reasonably priced. withdrawal with ikard only (though i found that they r supported in msia)

worldpay-very pricey. realiable(from what i heard). withdrawal via remittance (10GBP)


maybe someone shd come up with a list of all the 3rd party and merchant account provider and let public post their comment, grouped by the providers. that would save lots of time searching thru the forum

Hi Lerler,

Since you are from Malaysia, have you ever heard of picpay?
They based in Nilai, but the way they run their credit card processing business is a bit funny. You need to put only one merchandise on their web site... They just set up in 2004.

Paypal is very troublesome for Malaysian to receive money, just forget about it. Unless you like travel in between Malaysia and Singapore.

2CO - no idea, some say it is good, some say it is bad..

iKobo - very good so far, but they allow very limit of receive and withdraw money, if you are new. But you can request to raise limit.

Worlpay - is very popular in Malaysia, I think one of the reasons is because of their marketing strategy, they have an office in Singapore pushing for sales, but they do not provide toll free - very stingy, furthermore I would say it is a miser company. I heard they will require a lot a deposits when your business grows.

How about:
(1) ccnow? USD 11.95 monthly fee, and 11% discount rate. They allow tangible products only. Their email support is got damn slow. They close your account without prior notification. But I do not think they will run our money away. In overall, they are reliable. And they accept up to 5 URLs on one account. CCnow was acquired by digital river not long ago.

(2) stormpay? USD 6.95 per transaction and 6.95% discount rate.
I think one of stormpay advantages is they accept US money order. They set up in 2002. Stormpay accepts both tangible and non-tangible products. Multiple websites accepted. I think they should be okay. But you never know.. just like paysystems..

(3) moneybooker? UK based company, so far not heard of any bad things from them. To me, it is very difficult to get a shopping cart integrates with their merchant buy button, I guess in return for this difficulties, they charge a very low fee.

(4) ccavenue? Indian based company. the information from their live chat support most of the time is misleading. They offer USD 10.00 wire tranfer. Somebody says they wire from Singapore.

(5) transactindia? they are just started accepting international account. 7% discount rate, they accept Visa and Master only.
Ther charge USD 33.00 wire transfer up to USD 5,000 per wire.

Hope this helps....

that helps cavalry. but i think i will most likely propose worldpay to my client. maybe 2CO as the supplementary. heard mixed reviews from all corner about the providers. need to get my feet wet to know how they really perform.

i think better get a secured and reliable one for the provider. =)

Another thing you need to think it over is the reserve fund they require:

Worldpay is famous of requiring a lot of reserve fund, they could require 2 months of our monthly sales turnover.

Ccnow does not hold any reserve fund if we have a clean record.

Stormpay might require 10% reserve if we exceed USD 2,000 sales per month - if I am not mistaken.

ccavenue requires 5% reserve for 180 days.

transactindia requires a flat USD 100.00 reserve until we close the account.

Sorry, I forgot to mention my favorite 3rd party processor, Mr. ikobo - they do not require reserve fund so far.

Good luck! Lerler...

Yeah, I think Worldpay has captured a lot of Malaysia market share, the next big player in Malaysia I would say is 2CO.

The next good potential player is ikobo, I would say.

Has anyone actually tired companies in the US that help you setup (i.e. get incorporated in the US), and then get a bank account and merchant account for you?

Usually the fees for all this varies between $1000-$1500 and supposedly you're all set. Anyone using them? If so - what is the transcaction fees you are paying? Service issues, etc.?

If you're processing $75k then WorldPay fees should be no problem. They are extremely reliable and are owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Originally posted by MattF
They are extremely reliable and are owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Straight to the point!

i must agree that worldpay has grabbed a significant share of malaysian 3rd party payment market. most of the malaysian online payment website uses worldpay.

Paypal is famous in Malaysia, but not popular.

If paypal is interested in Malaysia market (23 millions population), they should figure out how to let Malaysian withdraw money in Malaysia.

Worldpay is charging 4.5 discount rate for Singapore.
But for Malaysia, Worldpay is charging 5% discount rate?

I contacted WorldPay, sadly their site does not allow clients from Pakistan. I am thinking of writing them an email to explain my scenario and the amount of $$$ we are processing through 2CO. Maybe they will make an exception.

Babushka99, given the amount you are transacting are there no local banks or regional banks able to give you a proper merchant account ?

Onestar - unfortunately no.

Local banks provide merchant services that are billed in Pakistan Rupees only.

We tried that a few years ago, started receiving massive charge-backs as people thought their credit card had been misued - since the charge was shown in Rupees as opposed to US Dollars (even though we had informed them of the currency they were being charged at). Besides, the end US Dollar amount charged varied due to the fluctuating exchange rate.

Moreover, users are very reluctant (rightly so) to shop at a site where the billabel currency is other than the norm, i.e. US Dollars, Sterling, Euro, Can $, etc.

Quite a mess if you ask me. Thus, 2CO was a whole lot better. Only concerning thing now is the "what if 2CO goes bust". *shakes head* I don't want to think about that!

Babs.

Originally posted by Babushka99
Onestar - unfortunately no.

[QUOTE][B]
Moreover, users are very reluctant (rightly so) to shop at a site where the billabel currency is other than the norm, i.e. US Dollars, Sterling, Euro, Can $, etc.

Did you mean users only like to deal with one standard USD currency?
Or did you mean users like to deal with multiple currencies?


Quite a mess if you ask me. Thus, 2CO was a whole lot better. Only concerning thing now is the "what if 2CO goes bust". *shakes head* I don't want to think about that!

Babs.

Really cannot rely on one 3rd party processor, get a backup one.

I meant users would more or less lke to deal with the major currencies, like USD, Can $, Euro, GBP, as opposed to Thai Bhat, Pakistani/Indian Rupee, UAE Dhirams, etc.

The whole purpose of this post, was to get an opinion on the back-up 3PP.

Its been a very informative post to say the least. Lots of possibilities as far as 3PP are concerned.

Babs.

I see. Why don't you consider ikobo as back-up? Free sign-up, low fee. But eventually you need to submit your documents to ikobo to raise the limits. You have nothing to loose to sign-up Ikobo..

Ikobo isn't so great, there're weak points also. but It's good as a backup plan.

If you're doing $75k a month, then do it properly
Goto your bank, get a proper merchant account!

Originally posted by Nilomedia
Ikobo isn't so great, there're weak points also. but It's good as a backup plan.

I agree with Nilomedia, there is no perfect 3rd party processor.
And it is also depending on your location, business model, sales volume, and some requirementso to choose the 3rd party processor.

But do we have more options? Especially for non-US accounts like us?

well, i talked to my client about the cost of setting up an online merchant account and he seems to be put off by the fees involved. since he already has a merchant account (with a local bank, not online merchant account), he was thinking perhaps the system need to just capture the credit card no from online clients and his staff would ring them up and get the 3-digit code. but, i think that is not allowed by the bank right?

Lerler,

Is your client talking about credit card processing terminal in the retail store?

I think your client must be taliking about credit card processing terminal which uses in a physical retail store. The answer is no,
I asked this question to a bank before (I think it was public bank). Furthermore, the currency from the terminal is only in Malaysia Ringgit, not US dollar.

i think that's what he meant if i get him right. anyway, will meet up with him to get into the details of his idea. i think u r right, cavalry, without the physical presence of the credit card, it is not possible to implement this solution. if he opt for a non-3PP solution, might suggest he implement an ordering module without the payment facility. thanks again, cavalry

Lerler,

Please be aware online merchant and terminal merchant are two separate departments in the bank.

Here are some Malaysia 3rd party credit processing and money transfer companies you might be interested to look at:

http://www.integricity.com/
http://www.netcash.com.my/
http://www.ghl.com/
http://www.telemoneyworld.com/index.htm
https://www.picpay.com/

Be aware there is one 3rd party credit card company name by commercexxxxxxx located in Phileo xxx, this company is processing pirated DVD's credit card online payment, I suggest you'd better don't touch them, soon or later they will be in trouble.

Good luck!

75K via 2checkout alone? That is a big mistake in my openion.

If I were you, I would not wait tell 2checkout has problems to shift to another company. The best way is to devide your sales between at least 5 companies. So one sale goes to 2co, the second sale go to ccavenue, third sale go to iKobo, and so on. this way if one of them goes out of business, you just stop sending your customers to them, by disabling them in your shopping cart admin.

Aiesh

I agree on "load-balancing" payments between different 3PPs. But its a major programming effort for us, but yes, something well worth it. We've just finished PayPal integration and should be testing that in the coming week and go live in about 10 or so days time. Am looking at others. iKobo has said no to serving the Pakistan market, so that is out. CCNow charges 11% so that is out too (well not out completely). Am talking to WorldPay - am sharing financial information with them - lets see what they have to say.

Babs

Originally posted by aiesh
75K via 2checkout alone? That is a big mistake in my openion.

The best way is to devide your sales between at least 5 companies. So one sale goes to 2co, the second sale go to ccavenue, third sale go to iKobo, and so on. this way if one of them goes out of business, you just stop sending your customers to them, by disabling them in your shopping cart admin.

Aiesh

Aiesh,

Which credit card processor are you using in your desertstore?

Do you have any ideas to integrate multiple 3rd party processors on one shopping cart? When check out, customer can have more options to choose their desired processor or payment method.

One good example is from:
http://www.templatemonster.com/
Try to add one item, you can see multiple payment options when checkout.

Cavalry,

Yeah I like the way templatemonster has it done. Very nice and neat.

I don't know if generalized shopping carts will allow you to do that - have multiple processors "on/enabled" at the same time.

Babs.

Babs,

templatemonster is using javascripts shopping cart to link to multiple payment gateway options. No doubt this is a great
idea, but I do not know how to do it..?

Anybody here knows how to do this? Can share with us?

cavalry & Babushka99,

Sorry for the late reply. I am currently usuing 2co and our programmer is working on CCAvenue to be the second one.

When I started the business 5 years ago, I used to use internetsecure and after a while I had paysystems as a backup, then stopped using internetsecure and enabled paysystems but with no backup, and that was my mistake which I learned from. When paysystems collapsed on August and kept my money, I found myself facing two problems, one is I do not have the money, and the second is that I do not have a credit card processor. I applied to and enabled 2co within 3 days, but 2co did not release our funds tell the end of August.

I learned from this that I should not put all the eggs in one basket. Now my programmer is working to modify my custom shopping cart to have CCAvenue and 2CO in the same time, but our plan is not to leave the choice to the csutomer to choose the CC processor, but we will devide our sales between them, so one transaction goes 2co and the next one goes to CCAvenue. I do not see any reason to leave the choice to the customer, because the customer will pay with a credit card whether it is at 2co or CCAVENUE, leaving it to the customer, might confuse him.

Maybe the good thing is that I have Nawaz here, a full time programmer working for us.

Aiesh

Hi Aiesh,

Are you aware of ccavenue will hold 5% reserve fund from your last sales transaction for 180 days? Also, please double check with ccavenue whether if you can get your exact USD selling price? - after deducting ccavenue discount rate and 5% reserve.

According to another Indian 3rd party processor - transactindia, you may not get your exact USD selling price because of the currency fluctuation. Check out the very bottom of this link:
http://www.transactindia.com/faq.html

Good luck!

Originally posted by cavalry
Hi Aiesh,

Are you aware of ccavenue will hold 5% reserve fund from your last sales transaction for 180 days? Also, please double check with ccavenue whether if you can get your exact USD selling price? - after deducting ccavenue discount rate and 5% reserve.

Good luck!

I am aware of the 5% reserve, because all the 3pp I know are holding at least 5% for 180 days, just like 2co and CCAvenue.

CCAVENUE has two different types of accounts, one is in the indian currency and the other one is in $US. If you sign up for the USD one, then you get the exact amount your customer pays minus their transaction fees which is the same as 2CO fees.

Aiesh

Thank yiou for your valuable info.
I might consider to sign-up with ccavenue as well.
Thanks again, Aiesh