Hi guys,

Like many of you, we've been using 2CheckOut.com for a few months now and overall we're happy with their services, but lately it seems they don't care much about their customers wants and needs and instead of getting better, they get worse and worse. Obviously they are going through some serious growing pains.

Do you guys thing it's time to start looking for another CC processor or stick with 2CheckOut.com and hope for better days?

Really, if you can afford it and justfy the cost, you should definately go for a full merchant account...

I'm using 2co, and I'm happy with them... But I don't do alot of business with it..

Could you be more specific about the types of 2co problems you've been having? I'm curious because I've been with them for some time now and honestly, their support still seems pretty good to me.

I agree FDrive. With the addition of their support forums and trouble ticket system it has looked to me that they have actualy been getting better not worse.

Myros

I haven't experienced any problems, but I do feel their service is getting worse and I know that they say that their servers are over loaded and they have to move things around in the admin area and stop emails and do this and do that.. These are all changes that affect the customers. Also, the more we grow the more I realize how limited their service is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that 2CheckOut is a bad company or anything like that, infact so far we've been very happy with them, but lately it just feels like they're going backwards instead of forwards (where they should be offering more and better tools for us, the customers).

Just wanted to know if anyone else has noticed these changes and what your thoughts are about this.

Originally posted by (SH)Saeed
I haven't experienced any problems, but I do feel their service is getting worse and I know that they say that their servers are over loaded and they have to move things around in the admin area and stop emails and do this and do that.. These are all changes that affect the customers. Also, the more we grow the more I realize how limited their service is. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that 2CheckOut is a bad company or anything like that, infact so far we've been very happy with them, but lately it just feels like they're going backwards instead of forwards (where they should be offering more and better tools for us, the customers).

Just wanted to know if anyone else has noticed these changes and what your thoughts are about this.

I guess I am at a loss here, after reading this email.

We've heard people complain about emails not being answered, so we added a ticket support system to give the management a better view of where our bottlenecks are.

This has also decreased support time, because the tickets are better directed to the specific department, rather to an individual (to potentially sit in an inbox).

There have been complaints about emails bouncing and customers not receiving the auto-sent emails. After all the investigation and changes we could do, we reached the conclusion that most of the source of the problem came from certain ISPs (AOL, HOTMAIL etc.) blocking any mail from Interland that it deemed "mass mail".

As I am typing this, our mail servers are migrating to another host.

The Admin Panel changes have been implemented to increase the speed and reliability of processing orders. Orders by your customers.

Simply put, everytime a set of Admin tools were opened, the Sales database had to be accessed to send you your sales information. That dB is on the Server that the customers are using to buy your products. It was much like using your key to unlock the front door of your house, and that triggered every light, every appliance, every faucet, the whirlpool & your air conditioning to turn on.

All we did, was move the Information from the startup, and set search parameters.

Just adding more servers isn't always the answer. I know that by changing the Admin tools as we did, has lowered the amount of hung addresses to the servers by over 90%. Those are customers that are not sitting flustrated at the process delays, or emailing you wondering what happened. I get an email everytime a server address hangs. Getting 10 in a peak hour, instead of 400, as it was during the month of June is an improvement I'm happy with.

The rest of our servers should be moved over the next week to 10 days. The capacity has been increased.

We've added another gateway for times with linkpt is down or overloaded.

We had planned to launch a handful of different Merchant Options and different rate plans this month. This would include enabling us to issue Merchant Accounts, and adding the option to have your business name appear on CC statements. Obviously the launch was put on the "back burner" until we corrected the server situation.

During all these changes, the customer inputting their CC and buying your product has not been disrupted.

I hope that is a priority that you agree with.

:D Sounds like you're starting to get with the "Host" program lol, good deal! *This is a compliment tom =)

Thanks for your input TomD. It sounds like maybe things will get better?

Maybe they are swamped with requests from ex-Cyberwings customers trying to get refunds :stickout :D

Mark
tqhosting.com

Will existing customers be able to switch to a different rate plan? The existing one doesnt' suit us too well.

TomD,

Thank you for your reply. That was basically what I was wondering about, what excactly has happened and when is your services going to improve like they have been doing in the past. I hope once you get this server problems taken care of, you try to add a few new features to the admin area.

Thanks again.

well I also use them and lately I hav'nt gotten emails for my monthly recurring payments so I email thier support took me 3 emails and posting on thier forums to get a reply back and before I got a reply back it took a week so they definatly need more support.

By tom's reply I'd say
"it's time to get w 2checkout" ;)

Sounds great... cya on signup's soon :)

Originally posted by TomD


We had planned to launch a handful of different Merchant Options and different rate plans this month. This would include enabling us to issue Merchant Accounts, and adding the option to have your business name appear on CC statements. Obviously the launch was put on the "back burner" until we corrected the server situation.

.

By any chance you guyz will offer real full merchant account for international business like what planetpayment is offering?

We have a couple of accounts at 2checkout.com. And we've had our fair share of problems which is to be somewhat expected. However, support has been pretty good so far. On a couple of ocassions I've actually e-mail Tom directly (who to my understanding only deals with tech. issues) who was kind enough to look into the matter although.

Overall, I'd give them thumbs up. The only thing I wish that they would provide is a virtual terminal and Debit cards. However, the way I look at it they will definitely be offering these seeing as Hostcharge has already started offering this

-mat

Originally posted by TomD
We had planned to launch a handful of different Merchant Options and different rate plans this month. This would include enabling us to issue Merchant Accounts, and adding the option to have your business name appear on CC statements. Obviously the launch was put on the "back burner" until we corrected the server situation.

You definitely got my attention here. We use 2checkout because of recurring billing and our dis-satisfaction with our merchant account at FirstPay.net.

-Lamar

While I'm not as rushed as I was during "prime time" yesterday, let me answer some of the questions/ comments since my post.

Originally posted by sloop
Maybe they are swamped with requests from ex-Cyberwings customers trying to get refunds
Mark
tqhosting.com


Nowhere near as many as you all would assume. More are requesting their transaction numbers so they can Opt in to the 'new plan'



Originally posted by AcuNett
Will existing customers be able to switch to a different rate plan? The existing one doesnt' suit us too well.


There will be a number of different plans offering different rate structures dependant on the features you wish. This includes (to my limited knowledge) plans where you are responsible for fraud checking, virt. terminals, names on CC statements etc.




Originally posted by zdwebhosting
well I also use them and lately I hav'nt gotten emails for my monthly recurring payments so I email thier support took me 3 emails and posting on thier forums to get a reply back and before I got a reply back it took a week so they definatly need more support.


This has been an error in the Payment Gateway (linkpt) not in our not batching out the recurring sales. We have been promised a number of times that "all is functioning"..and then the next batch fails.
It was at the point where our Billing staff were sitting on emails, rather than telling the Sellers that the charge would run that night, and then find that the batch failed again. The email problem has been rectified with the new ticket system and the people involved dealt with. They now well understand that even 'bad news' is better then 'no news' to our sellers.



Originally posted by freeva
By any chance you guyz will offer real full merchant account for international business like what planetpayment is offering?


Yes.
The biggest delay for us has been to try to find a solution where people that don't normally qualify for a Merchant Account, have the opportunity to get one under our new system. Banks really do not like Internet sales.





Originally posted by tokios.com
Overall, I'd give them thumbs up. The only thing I wish that they would provide is a virtual terminal and Debit cards. However, the way I look at it they will definitely be offering these seeing as Hostcharge has already started offering this


Thanks :)
The Debit card solution will have to interface with the Merchant Bank(s) we choose. We have certainly been researching this, it is a case of getting the right fit. One of the key problems with funded debit cards is that the Bank issuing them don't want to indemnify us against any 'overdrafts' by our merchants. Their only offered solution has been to register a US Bank account against the card. **UMMM** if the Seller had a US Bank Account, we wouldn't need the card... as you can see, it's been a 'tail wagging the dog' situation.

*****

The Admin panel and search features are being upgraded on a daily basis. The coders have a list a mile long..and really are making progress.

I hope you all understand that the focus has been aimed more at making the service easier and more reliable for your customer first, before adding bells and whistles for the Sellers. Our staff has doubled this year. Additionally, we added 2 more employees late this week to work with billing & verifications.

Now this post is a "book" and probably too boring for me to proofread :)

I have just signed up with 2checkout yesterday. The setup seemed quite easy. I did submit a support ticket yesterday, and still havent heard back yet :(

I have been with 2checkout for around 6 months, and in that time, I have been very, very happy with them. The only problem that I have found is that some things are very limited. It is a royal PITA if a customer upgrades their account, and we have to change the billing. For those clients that have multiple hosting accounts with us are even worse. If a client has 5 accounts with us, they are billed (recurring) on their anniversary of their set-up. Essentially this client would be billed 5 times a month...its harder on them, an we are charged the fees for each one. Other than that, 2checkout has been great. From what TomD has posted, it seems that those few problems I've had will soon be fixed. Tom...any timeframe on some of these changes. I was in the process of shopping around for a merchant account because of the growth we've seen, but I'd be happy waiting it out until your features are released.

I've been pretty happy with 2C. When it comes down to it , I have never had any problem or dispute in billing my customers, order placement or bank transactions - and that is the most important stuff. I do agree that they could use some spiffing up: combine recurring and non-recurring sales, combining multiple billings into one for the same client, and (perhaps most curiously) edit-able links for recurring sales...

Originally posted by TomD

There will be a number of different plans offering different rate structures dependant on the features you wish. This includes (to my limited knowledge) plans where you are responsible for fraud checking, virt. terminals, names on CC statements etc.



Hi,

Any ETA of those new feature?

:cool:

Originally posted by WebSun


Hi,

Any ETA of those new feature?

:cool:

Yes, I am also very interested in this.

-Lamar:)