I have searched the WHT and the web and I seem to get very conflicting reviews.

I have recently purchased AWBS license for a side project of mine and thought it might be beneficial to sign up for the merchant account advertised on AWBS.

This merchant account is essentially a mirror of Modern Authorize offer: BluePay, $49 setup, no mothly, gateway nor statement fees, 4.95% discount rate, $0.40 per transaction. It is offered via Total Online Solutions (I understand it is the company behind the AWBS system).

BluePay reviews here on WHT are very positive, and are quite recent, too. However, when I clicked on the "sign up" button I was redirected to Onlinedatacorp page. When I searched WHT for "onlinedatacorp" I was surprised: their image is pretty ugly, however most posts are dated.

So, which way is it: is it a trustworthy offer or should I stay away? Any alternatives? Unfortunately, I cannot justify the expense of $25 per month for this project. If I could I would probably sign up with CDG.

Another question: They don't seem to allow American Express (for shipped goods only for new merchants). Is that a permanent ban?

Thanks everybody for your time!

You better try http://moneybookers.com I just signed up there, it's amazing with all devises, languages, countries etc and free, they charge the fees of transaction only just like Paypal. You'll need to see it yourself better ;)

Thanks, altm, but I think they are just a money transfer company, not merchant services. Moreover, they are based in the UK and my project is based in the US.

Merchant services, check it here " http://www.x-cart.com/payment_gateways.html " there you can view the comparison of all merchants etc ;)

That rate(close to 5%) will end up killing you if you do any sizeable ammount of processing...

If you are just starting out then BluePay may be just what you need, but you will most likely(hopefully) outgrow it and end up getting a plain old merchant account(in that case, highly recommend CDG).

Unsure about the AMEX ban, but AMEX is usally picky about who they let accept their card, so tough to tell with those guys...

Thanks for your answer IH-Ken. I did my math and it turns out that I would need $770 in monthly processing to actually break even on the "small business" CDG plan.

How did I arrive at that amount? I took the 4.95% discount rate, subtracted 2.35% CDG discount rate. I got 2.6%. Then I took $25 in CDG fees, subtracted $5 for fraud defender service which I intend to purchase anyway and divided $20 by 0.026. That gives me $770 in monthly volume when I would need to switch over.

I don't anticipate getting that volume early on, so the BluePay account seems to be the better option. Is there anything I missed in my calculations?

Interesting way of doing it - but I do think you might be correct? It depends also on the number of transactions as well since the lower volume of transaction costs will increase on Bluepay's side.

I just put everything into a spreadsheet that I created at $10 average ticket and 40 transactions.

Just make sure there are no long term committments for you on that rate so you will not be locked in and you do not have an exclusivity clause. That way, when you are ready, you can easily switch

Originally posted by Corey Bryant
Just make sure there are no long term committments for you on that rate so you will not be locked in and you do not have an exclusivity clause. That way, when you are ready, you can easily switch
There is one year agreement, but I do indeed need to read it over again for the exclusivity clause. Very good idea! Thanks.

As for "per transaction" fee, I cannot find it anywhere on CDG WHT promo site, so I cannot really compare it. Perhaps I missed it.

Any idea where the conflicting reviews came from?

Sorry - no idea about the conflicting reviews.

Most MAPs do not have the exclusivity, but there are a few that do. And this could hold your business back bby you not wanting to process too much or if you had a merchant account thru another provider, they might limit you to a certain amount per month and you could not get another provider

I read through the agreement (90 kilobytes of text :eek: ), but I found nothing limiting me to one provider.

There are several fun clauses though, like a contract is only for a year, but it renews automagically for ... another year if not cancelled 30 days prior to expiration. Of course they can take your arm, leg and first-born whenever they want. I am sure though most of these sites will have similar clauses, so I am not overly concerned.

I sent CDG an email anyway, because I don't like the silence to the question of BluePay/OnlineDataCorp reviews. We shall see what their answer will be. I guess $20 per month more for a peace of mind might be well worth it.

BluePay/ModernAuthorize users? Anything to add? Pretty please?