We are about to open our online music store. We have chosen Beanstream in BC as a gateway and they work with TD for merchant accounts. it all looks good (I am not crazy about their name but that is not a real problem...)

But before we actually go ahead I just want to verify if they have a good reputation and offer a good service. I do realize that there are other possibilities. PsiGate for example. I read good comments about Paradata but I do not think they offer a merchant account as well (?)

Advices, comments, suggestions, direct experiences are all welcome.

Thanks

A few of my clients use them and I haven't heard bad about them. If you're shopping around, the Canadian market is pretty much www.internetsecure.com, www.psigate.com, www.worldpay.com and www.moneris.com. The only one I wouldn't recommend would be Psigate, a few of my clients had quite a bad go with them.

Not familiar with Beanstream. We've had good dealings with InternetSecure.

BooyaMcNasty and NyteOwl - Thanks for your replies
Nobody is reacting badly to the name of Beanstream, so their reputation must be OK. InternetSecure seems to have a good offer too but rather pricey.

I do not understand why Canadian merchant accounts are so un-competitive with the US market. But then that is certainly no reason to move our business to the USA.

Try www.payswiss.com

I have a friend who uses beanstream, and he seems to like them. He does all his billing manually, so I'm not sure how well they'd integrate into whatever software you're using...

We have about 2 dozen clients of ours that use PSIgate (including ourselves for CAD processing), and so far there have been no complaints.

The Canadian market is as follows:

1. Moneris (combination of Royal Bank & Bank of Montreal)

2. Paymentech (combination of Scotiabank & National Bank)

3. Global Payments (combination of CIBC and CITI Corp.)

4. TD Merchant Services (combination of TD and First Data)

5. Desjardins (offer VISA only)


EVERYONE else is just a reseller or partner of these 5.

Why would you go with an Internet Secure (reseller for Paymentech) or Beanstream (reseller for TD Merchant) or PSI Gate (reseller for Paymentech) when you can go DIRECTLY with the Merchant Provider?

Forget about Internet Secure, BeanStream & PSI Gate....just contact the above Merchant account providers directly and save yourself the headache of having to work with another middleman.

Thanks for responding "MediaEnterprise". Excellent perspective on the Merchant accounts providers. But, unless I am totally misunderstanding something, I would still have to choose a Gateway processor no? Such as Beanstream, or Internet Secure, or Paradata... Am I missing something?

Nope, you do not!

Moneris and Paymentech each have their own. Contact these companies and they will give you details.

I would NEVER go through one of those Gateways!

Moneris and Global Payments manage about 60% of the credit card transactions in Canada. Moneris work with E-Xact and Global work with Eigen developments for online transactions.

Thanks! Very helpful

Why would you go with an Internet Secure (reseller for Paymentech) or Beanstream (reseller for TD Merchant) or PSI Gate (reseller for Paymentech) when you can go DIRECTLY with the Merchant Provider?

Because these companies will approve merchants that the major banks will not directly. Banks in Canada are VERY risk adverse - and they do not have the infrstructure in place to handle the marginal clients (those that are more then likely safe, but, end up on the wrong side of the equation). Companies like psigate absorb some of the risk and are lean enough to deal with a large volume of small ticket vendors, which the banks cannot typically do.

I would NEVER go through one of those Gateways!

Why not - the gateway providers are certified with the various banks and provide users alot of flexibility, not to mention better support, then they can get directly from the bank. For example, iTransact is an outstanding solution, as they are certified with a major Canadian bank (TD) and several US merchant providers. So, a corporate client requiring both US and CAD dollar transactions (with actual US rates for the USD processing, vs CAD rates for USD transactions) - will save a significant amount of money going this route...

Which one has the best rates? And low setup fee. I'm just starting out and $450-$700 CAD is a little out of my reach for a start up fee. Also which have low monthly fees (or none)?

Hello kpm547, unfotunately, there arent any "cheap" options in Canada for an internet merchant account - and certainly not any with zero monthly fees. We have found a good combination to be ParaData and Paymentech. (Paymentech has a special rate through paradata (and yes, its lower then you would get from Paymentech directly) and the monthly is $35 I believe.

As a Canadian company, do I need to use a Canadian merchant? Or is it only if I want to collect in CAD. What if I wanted to collect in USD? Would I be able to use a US merchant?

As a Canadian company, do I need to use a Canadian merchant? Or is it only if I want to collect in CAD. What if I wanted to collect in USD? Would I be able to use a US merchant?

Hello,

Well, you can certainly acquire a USD merchant account in Canada (all you need is a USD bank account - which you can get at any bank)...

However, you will still be paying CAD merchant account rates. If you wanted to take advatage of US Merchant Account Rates, you would need to establish a US company, which would then entitle you to a true US merchant account...

Hope this helps...

Originally posted by kpm547
As a Canadian company, do I need to use a Canadian merchant? Or is it only if I want to collect in CAD. What if I wanted to collect in USD? Would I be able to use a US merchant?

As a Canadian company, you might not be able to get a us merchant account.

You can charge in either USD or CAD or Russian Rubles if you wanted... it depends on your merchant account configuration. Some Canadian merchant account providers (like psigate for example) can set you up with both USD and CAD processing capability.

No need to go with a US based company unless you can get approved by them, etc... (they're often cheaper).

It's not easy to get approved, though. You'd need to establish US residence, US bank account, etc...

good luck!

Originally posted by CartikaHosting
Because these companies will approve merchants that the major banks will not directly. Banks in Canada are VERY risk adverse - and they do not have the infrstructure in place to handle the marginal clients (those that are more then likely safe, but, end up on the wrong side of the equation). Companies like psigate absorb some of the risk and are lean enough to deal with a large volume of small ticket vendors, which the banks cannot typically do.

Why not - the gateway providers are certified with the various banks and provide users alot of flexibility, not to mention better support, then they can get directly from the bank. For example, iTransact is an outstanding solution, as they are certified with a major Canadian bank (TD) and several US merchant providers. So, a corporate client requiring both US and CAD dollar transactions (with actual US rates for the USD processing, vs CAD rates for USD transactions) - will save a significant amount of money going this route...

Why not?

Maybe for the simple fact that the Gateway providers take my hard earned money (a percentage on TOP of the what the Bank takes) not to mention that they hold the funds for extended periods of time.

Where as, with the Banks directly, you receive your funds directly in your Bank Account within 24-48 hours (after an order is placed)

I don't know about you, but cash flow is extremely important in my business.

If you prefer to get paid every 2 weeks (with an initial 2 week delay in some cases) and don't mind giving away another 2-5% of your money for nothing....than by all means, go with a Gateway Provider.

I'll just stick with Moneris, Paymentech and Global Payments directly.

Beanstream is the best, had Internetsecure, all types of issues with bogus orders. No such occurances with Beanstream.