Hi All!

We currently use PayPal on a shared server running OSCommerce. We do about $30K/mo in transactions and need to move up to a better server, gateway, & merchants account. I'm planning on going to a dedicated server (possibly Dedicated Place.com) and need a Merchants Account and Gateway.

Currently with PayPal we have 2.2% transaction fees and then get 1.5% back on debit card purchases which we use with our supplier for an average of about 1%.

I've seen a few at about 2%. Do any offer a Debit card with cash back like PayPal does?

I need a reliable, low cost Merchants account and gateway. Also the ability to manually charge a card if needed.

For the gateway, I see some Merchant Accounts offer their own gateway or should I try to go with Authorize.net?

Who should we look at?
Thanks,
Dac

For osCommerce, I'd recommend Authorize.Net as the gateway as there is more 3rd party community support for that gateway over any other gateway in the osC community from what we've seen.

If you are doing $30K/month in volume, it sounds like you are definitely more than ready to migrate to a direct merchant account solution.

And any merchant account solution will allow you to run through manual charges. You can do this through the Virtual Terminal functionality provided by Authorize.net.

Best of luck with your search!

Welcome to the forums Dac!

I agree - a merchant account with that type of volume if you are in The United States or Canada is usually a better deal in the long run.

If you can - get everything from one company. It is usually a bit easier than going to different companies because one tends to blame the other for problems. Getting everything from one company might help in customer service a bit.

if you are worried about fraudulent transactions, I would consider Verisign's Payflow Pro. It is a bit more expensive than the other gateways but they give you 1,000 free transactions and while most gateways charge a transaction fee, this could save you about $100.00 in transaction costs from the gateway

Do any offer a Debit card with cash back like PayPal does?

I don't think too many US acquirers offer this. You might consider checking with PayPal on whether you can retain it by using their new PayPal Pro API.

Thanks guys. I'm leaning towards Dedicated Place for a host, Authorize.net and CDG Commerce.

I think you are going to the right direction.

Most of the companies that offer e-commerce hosting support also sell merchant accounts and Authorize.net. I would recommend going with a host that will give you support in your particular shopping cart (osCommerce).

For your volume of sales i think you will get around 2% discount rate. Do you also have retail business? if so you may be able to get a better deal.

For retail (card present) processing, you'll get a much lower rate for sure.

Most retail merchant accounts have rates that average around 1.5-3.5% depending on the type of card. The pricing for retail accounts is probably the single most competitive realm of merchant processing and there are a lot of creative structures available in the marketplace.