Hello,
Can Someone please tell me if this is a good deal on a merchant account, I copied this text from an email that was sent to me.

Application Fee- $75 ($20 discount off our regular fee)
Discount Rate: 2.29%
Transaction Fee - 30 cents per transaction
Monthly Statement Fee - $10
Monthly Minimum - $20 ($5 off our regular fee) (The minimum is charged if transaction fees and discount rate fees combined for the month are less than $25).
-end

They said the application fee was refundable if I didnt qualify, so is this any good?

Thanks

It sounds decent, but there are a few other things that are helpful to know. Do they provide any software? How is their customer service? Are they reputable? Etc...

They provide a free cart and or a virtual terminal, but with the cart you have to pay $275 for a gateway ID number which you would plug into the cart script (assuming you use thier cart), the transaction isnt complete until it redirects you to thier secure server with all the fields passed from your cart (price, options etc)
Is this good or bad (the fact that whatever you use to collect order data) has to be passed to a redirected URL off your site??

the support seems pretty good, my emails were answered within a day of sending them...

You might want to look at http://www.ezmerchantaccounts.com which has a similar deal, and I can personally vouch for that outfit.

As for the transfering of data, it's perfectly fine if it's done by SSL (you'll have to check with the payment processor to see how they do it). You might also want to check with your hosting provider to make sure they have the right Perl modules installed, if so required.

You can usually bargain away the application fee. Email someone at the company and ask.

Also, find out how much they charge for chargebacks. If you do any type of international business, you WILL get chargebacks - figure this into the cost.

--Tina

Thanks Tina,
I will ask them about that.

Just curious, does it look any less professional to have your order page look different from the rest of your site? Or the fact that the order must be completed on another (secure) server separate from your site?

I guess one of the nice things about going with this system is the money I will save but not having to buy a certificate for my server and the fact that all the transaction are done in real time, rather than having to manually enter it into a virtual termainal, BUT like I was saying it makes for an un-streamlined ordering process..

Comments?

I guess some people might say it looks unprofessional. However, I think that a lot of consumers out there realize that some business must rely on other businesses to function properly therefore they probably won't care too much about a page that looks a bit out of place.

Only concern I can see arising is the possibility of the potential customer thinking they have been taken to the wrong website and they may be a bit weary entering in credit card information. As long as you can customize it a bit with logos or anything you should be fine.

Regards,

Mike

I agree - plus, you can do some creative things with frames. Although, I wouldn't rely on frames for whole-site design.

--Tina

Hmm I dunno about frames, if youre in a frameset the browser is looking at the framset and not the individual frame, so on the browser (the little lock) it wont show the page as being secure unless the whole frameset itself is secure, which would defeat the whole purpose of not having to buy the certificate.

Just curious do all real time transactions have to be redirected or can you keep them on your website with the transaction going on in the background?

What types of carts support this method?

Ok, I'm a bit puzzled... why would you want to do this rather than using Paypal? Paypal is cheaper... what corresponding disadvantage does it have?

With a merchant account if this is a true merchant account, you can do manual entries whereas with paypal it's illegal.

lol mentioned this so much I might as well work for them but a month ago when I did research on merchant accts this was the best place I found:

http://www.creditcardprocessor.com/

-BW

BW,
Have you implemented this system on any websites that I can take a look at?

cperciva,
Same question, (PayPal)

Thanks

Originally posted by ee-o
Have you implemented this system on any websites that I can take a look at?
cperciva,
Same question, (PayPal)


Err, well, I wasn't going to mention this yet, but... yes, I do have code which receives email notifications from Paypal, downloads Paypal's transaction log, parses it, and executes a program to process the received money.

But I don't have this on any publicly accessible websites... yet.

Pay Pal is a good system but like Phiberop said, you cant manually enter payments plus having a big PayPal button my website is not something I want, its also limited with the order collection process, meaning it doesnt work with any shopping carts, also you cant write your own code and just pass fields to the tranaction gateway like you can with other systems.

Originally posted by ee-o
also you cant write your own code and just pass fields to the tranaction gateway like you can with other systems.

Well, money requests sent through Paypal have to be accepted by the payer, yes. But it *is* possible to automagically generate a request in response to a cgi script, and then process the order once the money is sent.

I would NOT recommend PayPal for sites that anticipate alot of sales. We've used them for US transactions for about a year and the result is quite a few frustrations. Their site can be inaccessible during busy periods - making it impossible for your customer to complete an order.

--Tina

ee-o, give http://www.charge.com a look. They have similar price structure but without any application fee. I just applied for it yesterday...

AffordableHost, I have a premier account with paypal. But does not paypal require the payee to be a paypal member too? Somebody who is not paypal member can't pay me, right? I have this difficulty since I have to accept money from a country not yet supported by paypal (hence, I applied for charge.com).

cheers,
:beer:

These sites compare dozens of merchant account providers, tell use which one you decide to go with.

http://www.swipesmart.com
http://www.merchantworkz.com

Yes, that is correct. However, signing up with PayPal is not that difficult. The customer just fills out a one-page form and they're good to go.

BTW - Be careful with Charge.com. I just recently had them send me an application. There were a few things on the application that I was not told about ahead of time...despite asking for specific answers. I phoned their customer service for clarification and got the run-around AND one girl was flat out rude.

At any rate - I ended up going with EMS. So far, so good. Time will tell.

Another company you might consider is ECHOnet. Their fees are VERY VERY reasonable. I've been with them for about a year. The only reason I'm seeking an alternative merchant account solution is because ECHOnet is not compatible with Authorize.net and does not have any type of recurring billing mode.

--Tina

Originally posted by AffordableHost
Yes, that is correct. However, signing up with PayPal is not that difficult. The customer just fills out a one-page form and they're good to go.

For me, that's not really the real issue (though, still an issue) but the fact that paypal has not yet gone international enough that some people just can't use paypal to pay for my service.


Another company you might consider is ECHOnet. Their fees are VERY VERY reasonable. I've been with them for about a year. The only reason I'm seeking an alternative merchant account solution is because ECHOnet is not compatible with Authorize.net and does not have any type of recurring billing mode.

what is the advantages for being compatible with authorize.net?

cheers,
:beer:

PayPal don't do recurrent billing AFAIK, so how do you get your customers to pay every month, for instance?

Tina, I asked them about chargebacks and this is what they told me:
Every merchant account has a charge for chargebacks and if your chargebacks become a significant percentage of your gross sales, the merchant account provider will suspend or shut off the account. I believe 5% and higher is the danger zone. The chargeback fee is $15.

Is this too much to pay for chargebacks? Whats the normal fee for chargebacks?

Thanks

After months of looking around this is best deal I have found. My application is in the mail so I have no idea what type of customer service they offer. I will post a follow up in a few months.

Application fee $0
Statement fee $5.00
Discount rate 2.15%
Transaction fee $0.25

Authorizenet
http://www.Authorizenet.com
Licensing fee $100.00
Monthly gateway fee $10.00

The minimum monthly discount rate volume is $20.
If you cancel the account within 3 years you have to pay $300 (this is the only negative)

This brings your total if you don't make any sales to $35/month including the gateway. This also assumes you will be using authorizenet's online virtual terminal for verification instead of buying software or a terminal. The software or terminal is additional. Optionally you could buy the terminal and not have the gateway fee.

I stumbled accross this deal at DigitalPoint.com when checking for updates on OptiGold ISP. The special is supposedly for OptiGold customers but the sales rep said I could get the same rates for another unrelated business I own.

Here's the contact info:
http://www.visa-master.com

Nassoma Wilson
Account Executive
PayNet Merchant Services Inc.
32800 Franklin Rd., Suite 200
Franklin, MI 48025
(248) 855-8644 ext. 112
(888) 855-8644 ext. 112 toll-free
(248) 855-8646 FAX

email: nwilson@visa-master.com


Good Luck,
Steve

***Moderator - I'm not a rep for them, just wanted to pass on the deal.

Also make sure your rates are guaranteed not to change unless visa/m.c. does a global rate change.

Some places like to offer teaser rates then change them in a few months *much like regular cc companies do*

-BW

Is $15 too much for chargebacks??

Anyone??

That is average. Anything more - too much. ECHOnet has $5 chargebacks.

--Tina

Hey,
I never did mention the company I was talking about, Its
http://www.itransact.com, I think Im going to go with them, good tech support and pretty flexible with how orders can be accepted , check em out..

Check out http://merchantcommerce.net/

I was pretty excited about charge.com's deal until I discovered they wanted to soak me $195 for the honor of real-time transaction processing. ~~ This service doesn't cost them any more money, so why should I let them soak me for it??? I have real-time processing at my gift shop and it doesn't cost a penny more. This fee was flat-out profit for them, a nickel-and-dime exercise (only that's a pretty big pile of nickels).

At the shop I only pay $10/chargeback. It's been this way since '97 when I opened my merchant account there.

I haven't looked at my merch. account company at the shop to see if they do online transactions; after I talk to my rep to ask him about it, I'll post the company & what I find out, here.


:D Bailey

That $195 will buy you the software. Most other merchant charge you $495 for this, so I think $195 is pretty cheap. Also, for your gift shop, aren't you using a swipe terminal? Don't you need to buy it or lease it? I won't believe that somebody will give you a swipe terminal for free.

But anyway, let me know if there is any better deal than to purchase this real-time software.

cheers,
:beer:

What is ECHOnet's web site address?