Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : Merchant Accounts

[Hotspeed]

Hi , Any one know of any other merchant accounts like 2checkout.com ?

[blue27]

paysystems
worldpay
paypal
authorize.net

[hostpath.com]

2CO is a third-party biller.

[adland]

2CO is a third-party biller.

In other words, they are not a true merchant account. There is a distinction.

[zoobie]

It's probably best just to use a service (NOT 2checkout!) that simply processes the credit card without making the user sign up for their service. Some flat-rate ones are out there...'bout $10 a month.

[cinbja1]

Who do you recommend then besides 2co?

I'm looking for one of these too..need a merchant account soon.

[jasontd101]

Merchant accounts come in all different types. The type of merchant accounts you want to find are the ones that do not make you sign a long term contract. Most merchant accounts that only cost a small fee to setup and have low rates will make you sign a 2 or 3 year contract and if you break it there will be major penalties to pay. Also you need to find a merchant account that uses a gateway that will work with most software scripts. Authorize.net is always a safe one to use.

Paypal and 2checkout are good to have but if you want to look like a serious hosting company you need to also offer your clients the ability to pay by Visa and MasterCard. If you went to a hosting site or any other site that offers services and the only way you could pay was by PayPal would you think this is a large hosting company or a one or two man operation?

Two new companies I have come across lately that look promising are usaepay.com and online-merchantaccount.net

humboldtbank.com has also been around a while and has no long term contracts

Good Luck!

[MeToo]

I have been to the websites for authorize.net, CDGCommerce, and USAePay among others. How is it possible to get enough information to evaluate the issues mentioned here as well as pricing. Most if not all are very obscure and usually end with an email address rather than detailing their product and price variables. Not even a sign up process or form in most cases. In the case of CDGCommerce it would be difficult to even determine the busines they are in without the reference from a site such as this.

I did get through the multi-level marketting at authorize.net and found a reseller with a signup process and basic pricing with a promise to provide full disclosure after the signup.

What am I missing? How do you evaluate these offerings.

I realize after the posting that I resurrected an old thread but my question stands.

[DJKiller]

Dont use FirstData, i have been dealing with hell with those people.

Non stop arguments, excuses, etc.... horrible... and to think, they are cardservice international. They pretty much treat you like crack if your an online company. 7 day hold on funds, and limits.

[Akash]

moved to e-commerce

I did get through the multi-level marketting at authorize.net and found a reseller with a signup process and basic pricing with a promise to provide full disclosure after the signup.

Full pricing and rates should be given to you up front - requiring zero information from you.

Look for merchatn account providers that give you the rates up front - then compare them with others - the monthly fees will be about the same across the board ($10 for merchant account, $15 for auth.net gateway), so pay attention to your discount rate, per-transaction fees (for both merchant account + gateway), setup fees and application fees - the latter two which are sometimes hidden from you in the fine print.

[74s3]

try

www.avpsolutions.com and www.process54.com

Thanks

G

[thetopguy]

We use Cardservice ourselves. We do not have any reserves and they do not hold any money. It just sounds like you might have spoken to a bad agent which can and does happen with any company.

Corey set me up with one and he actually told me because of my processing volume that I would have a rolling reserve but that was not the case. The gateway is a lot better I think than Authorizenet.com. Corey even called me Friday because LinkPoint added Verified by Visa, and wanted to know if I needed that and to also let me know. He told me that there would not be any downtime and the upgrade would be seamless. He was right.

DJKiller, I suggest you talk to your agent that sold you the account or post more information. They do not hold money for just for fun. If you agent does not help you get another one.

I would also recommend that you look into a merchant account if you want to add some legitmacy to your business. These days more consumers are looking at that.

James

[cdgcommerce]

Since agents don't handle or make decisions regarding risk issues. If funds are being held, it would be the result of the risk dept. at your processor.

You will want to get in touch with the risk management department at the company that you have your merchant account with to find out why the funds are held and what they are looking for (perhaps, documentation on the order(s) in question?) in order to release funds back to you.

There are a lot of reasons why risk depts. hold funds. Usually it starts with an automated risk management system "flagging" certain types of batches to call it to the attention of the risk management team.

Some risk management systems and teams are more aggressive (they'd call it "vigilent") than others. And sometimes it even comes down to the individual risk manager and their particular disposition.

Ideally, if you can work with a company that has a track record of NOT hassling their merchants and NOT holding funds a lot or turning off switches at the first hint of any issue, you stand a lower risk of running into those kinds of problems as a merchant.

And last but not least... read any merchant contract/agreement before signing up. All fees and pricing should be clearly disclosed upfront as well as things like any monthly minimums, annual terms and termination fees.

[MeToo]

Originally posted by cdgcommerce
And last but not least... read any merchant contract/agreement before signing up. All fees and pricing should be clearly disclosed upfront as well as things like any monthly minimums, annual terms and termination fees.

Where can that information be found on the cdgcommerce website. Can you point to even a hint at the information or the enrollment process that gets to it?

[cdgcommerce]

CDG works primarily through our channel of independent resellers so our public Web site purposely does not have any pricing information on it to avoid any possibility of unintentionally competing with any of our resellers if any of their merchants were to visit our site.

In fact, our new Web site which we will be launching in April will have more service-related details but it will still not have any pricing information on it for the same reasons stated above.