Hey guys, I am new to this forum and was recommended to come here by a member in the [H]ardForum over at [H]ardOCP.

I am planning to start a small business on PC selling with a few friends. I am looking into some Credit Card charging providers. Paypal seems to be great for me since I just started and don't have a big amount of budget to spend. Paypal charge a rather low transaction fee and all but the only thing I don't like about it, it's that it requires customers to sign up on Paypal in order for them to pay. I have looked at 2checkout and a few others as well but I am undecided.

I am not sure, but I have went to some websites that seem to be using a service offered by Yahoo? Does anyone know if Yahoo offers a credit card charging service?

If you guys know some low cost yet reliable creadit card charging service providers, please post here.

Thanks in advance for any help offered,
Steven

Paypal is the worst, if you blow your nose the wrong way they will freeze your account and make you fax them some docs, which can take 'up to 10 days' quoted by one guy i talked to over the phone

While thats all going on, you cant do anything other feed them more money, cant take out, cant transfer it....cant do anything

their security flags are pathedic

Ahh icic Thanks for the head up Alaskan.

Any other advice is great appreciated.

Thanks,
Steven

Well if your looking for over all low per % fees, theres many out there, what i recommend is find a real merchant account with little or NO fees to startup, many will charge $250 to $500 for a merchant account.

We have been using and strongly recomment Merchant-Accounts-4less.com

Hey thanks again Alaskan.

Merchant-accounts-4less is very attractive but I am not quite clear on their pricing. I have emailed them and asked as well. Can you give me a rundown on how they charge and etc.? And if they provide a shopping cart or not?

Thanks again for your time,
Steven

This question depends on your monthly credit card volume. With a true merchant account (like AlaskanWolf is talking about), you will probably enjoy the lowest percentage fee or discount taken out of the charge, but most true merchant accounts come with monthly fees for statement charges, virtual terminal fees, etc. etc. (I have not checked out Merchant-Accounts-4less.com so I don't know what they are charging).

If you are just starting out, you should investigate the so-called third party credit card processors. Most of these don't have a monthly fee, but the percentage fee or discount rate is slightly higher. I haven't done the math myself, but someone here on WHT estimated that the breakeven point between using an average merchant account versus using the average third party processor was somewhere around $1,200 credit card billing per month. (Your mileage may vary ;) ).

Some third party credit card processors to look at include:

www.paypal.com
www.propay.com
www.2checkout.com
www.hostcharge.com
www.worldpay.com
www.revecom.com

In comparing companies, be sure to compare the following attributes:

- % Discount Fee
- Initial Set-up fee
- Monthly Fees (if any)
- Reputation on WHT (use the search button)
- Ease of use for customers (Buy-It-Now Buttons or Shopping Cart?)
- How fast can you get your money?
- Do they charge for withdrawing money from your account?
- Deposits Required (if any).
- Maximum Amount of Volume per month.
- Fee for Chargebacks.
- World Currencies Handled (If needed).
- How does the charge look on your customer's credit card statement? (This may sound funny, but if the charge is not recognizable, many people will just call up their credit card company and do a chargeback first and then let you fight to get your money. For example, I have some issues with the way HostCharge handles this).

Ultimately, it might be better to get your own merchant account if you can afford it. But it's a decision I think every business owner needs to make for themselves.


Kind Regards,

Keith

err I cant realy help you out much :) your probably allready seen this but www.2checkout.com are the best,i have been using them for a few months and i have been delighted with their service :)

Hey guys, thanks for the input :) Really appreciated. I will be sure looking into more of those links you guys provided. Once again, thanks for the help :)

Steven

Account restrictions by PayPal are actually quite rare. The reasons an account can be restricted can be found in our USER AGREEMENT, so I would recommend checking them if you have questions on the service. We do have a variety of anti-fraud measures in place to protect all of our users to the highest level possible.

I realize that restrictions draw a fair amount of attention, but they are not common. They can also be resolved.

Hi Damon...

What ever became of that announcement that MasterCard was not going to let third-party credit card processors like PayPal accept their card anymore? Did PayPal settle the issue with MasterCard?

Kind Regards,

Keith

hi,
i dont know if this kind of thing is allowed here or not ..
if it isnt mods please delete ..

i actually started a small business about 6 months ago myself and did a aLOT of research and i think i have a pretty good deal when it comes to merchant processing etc.
i got the lowest rate i could find , no motnhly minimum ( which was a big thing for us as we didnt know how our business may do ) ..
i will gladly mail you the companies contact number etc if you are interested anad you can check them out.

regards,
n.

netguy...

Why don't you just post the info so we can all check it out.

;)

sure guys ..
thier rates ( what we pay and they will honor the same deal )
1.49 %
no transaction fee
no monthly minimum
and i think 10 $ statement fee

if someone knows anything cheaper i would be very interested.

also when it comes to a machine a lot of credit companies will try to get you to LEASE thier machine ..i bought mine off of our fav auction site for 100 $s :)


there ..


regards,
n.

ps: i am new here :)

Can you post the contact info?

Hi

Netguy,maybe you can tell me the company website?
Name of company?

Thanks

Daniel

After many months, I am still very happy with 2Checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com)

2checkout.com looks good but they charge a 5.5% discount rate - and even though they have a .45 cent transaction fee the 5.5% is pretty high in my opinion.

JDT

After many month's of searching this is the best I've found on merchant accounts. Higher setup fees, lower percentage/monthly (I hope to be in business awhile).

I am just waiting on some stuff from authorize.net to finish, the store is at http://www.steelz.com.

I chose them because I actually got to discuss my needs (proprietary server) with a live individual. One of the other card services representatives actually said "umm. I don't know, I have only worked here a week." Sure sign me up for that one...

Anyways the 1% range usually requires a terminal and Point of Sale location. The other card services I looked at were about 2.5%/.35/25 monthly/15 auth.net / not including AVS.

If you want more info just let me know.


• Application Fee: NONE
• Fixed Discount Rate: 2.04%
Non-Swipe Mail/Phone/Internet Rate
• Network Transaction Fee: 20¢
Including AVS at No Extra Charge
• Holdback: $0 + 0 Days
Funds Available at your bank in 48 Hours
• Monthly Volume: No Limit
• Monthly Technical/Support Fee: $5.00
24/7 800 Toll Free Support & itemized Statement
• Monthly Minimum Processing Fee: $15.00
Example - $736x2.04%=$15.01
• Processing: VeriSign PayFlow Link
Online Real-time Processing & Virtual Terminal
• Total Cost: $395
• Gateway Fee: $10/Month (Flat Fee)
• Transaction Fee: 0¢ (No transaction fees)