Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Accepting Credit Cards

[Laci]

Hi,
Ive seen some posts about accepting credit cards via CC Slide ibill and some other places I was wondering,what is a reliable place for a non merchant account that also has rebilling.

Thanks

[UNIXIELHOST]

http://www.instabill.com is the one but they take 10% I think

Otheriwse use PayPal Business Account as backup

Hope it helps

Thanks
Regards,

[MikeA]

I think that most take at least 10%, some take even more.

[Félix C.Courtemanche]

Try contacting your local bank... sometime they have un publicized credit card processing system that you could use... for much less than any companies such as iBill or others.

[alchiba]

I use instabill and paypal business account. instabill takes 10% commission and 10% holdback paid after 6 months. they cut checks twice a month. they serve international (non-U.S.) customers and do recurring billing. their interface is excellent and i've had good results with their tech support.

paypal is a mere 1.9% commission. support is top-notch -- they are *always* by the phone. money is transferred directly to your bank account in 3-5 days. trouble is, no recurring billing and people feel they have to "join" something in order to pay you. they only serve U.S. customers for now.

i recommend both of them.

i have an account with ccslide but don't use it.

[Edited by alchiba on 09-08-2000 at 12:43 AM]

[acid303]

10% seems outrageous.
I am not in the US so I can't recommend anyone there.
But I would imagine that you should be able to get a much better rate than 10%.
We pay 4.5% for our Credit Card transactions (I think that is too much).

[angela]

The credit card companies take 3.5% of what you charge. Anything abovve this is an additional charge by the company providing the interface (e.g. paypal). Of course you have fees to pay but another 6.5% seems like a lot in my opinion. If you can afford the setup fee you can save a lot by getting a merchant account. Most fees are a flat rate so the more you charge the more beneficial they are over places like PayPal.

Just a thought...

[Chicken]

It is a lot, but keep in mind instabill type services aren't for everyone. Where this makes sense is, the person who wants to offer their crafts, or other small merch., and they don't have thousands of orders a month.

Merchant accounts can be a bit more time consuming to set up, often cost much more to setup (more than free, heh), and have various monthly fees that make them unreasonable for the person just starting out.

While 6.5% is quite a bit, it might be more reasonable than $40/mo in fees. Paypal surely gives you something to think about. Their fees are low, with no monthlies. No, it isn't a quite as useful as a merch. account, but it isn't all that bad either.

I know that although I am attempting to set up a merch. account with my bank, they are making it as difficult as possible, and I use instabill for some odd charges until everything gets worked out.

[ODE]

If anyone has a costco wherehouse near them they can take advantage of their merchant account services. They have a deal with NOVA Systems and where you can get a full fledged merchant account at a decent cost.
Total setup cost including CyberCash was $125.. Online transactions are %2.04 and $0.21 per transaction. CyberCash gateway cost $14 a month, or you can rent terminal equipment for $18 a month and run transaction manually.
There are no other hidden fees like chargeback fees or costs for statements, but you do have to have an executive membership which is $99 a year. Of course there are other advantages to having an executive membership like %2 cash back on all purchases. We spend about $800 a month on supplies so the membership pays for its self.
They have a web site you can check out http://costco.com . You can probobly get a membership online, I'm not sure though.

[scottlaw]

I would not recommend Costco/Nova to anyone for credit card processing... They are not willing to expand with your company. We started with a 2,000 a month credit limit, never had a chargeback or any other problems. We expanded our business a year later and asked for a credit limit increase to 5,000 and they would not even do this so we had to get another merchant account. Our new merchant account started our limit at 20,000 a month and soon we needed that expanded to 40,000 and they increased it without a problem. Also, they stopped providing merchant accounts for web hosting companies and if they find out you are doing any type of web hosting they will close down your merchant account. One other thing they are know for doing is increasing their fees without notice.

Scott

[ODE]

Scottlaw,

How long ago was this? When we signed up with them in May 2000 I had to provide a copy of our policies and they had to do a "walk-through" of our web site. They knew our business was web hosting and they have been very responsive to our requests. I know of one other web hosting company that has been with them for quite some time now and I haven't heard anything negative from them. Do you think your case was an isolated incident or do you think it is the norm? Do you know of any other companys that have had similar problems?

[Chicken]

ODE and scottlaw... as I said, I am trying to hook this up as well, and read about your costco suggestion. I have a lower membership with costco that I could convert, but then read scottlaw's problems. We need more users to comment on this!

One thing this enlightened me to regardless of costco being a good solution or not, is the "credit limits" issue. First, I wasn't even aware there was such a set limit. Does this mean that your customers (in total) can only buy up to $2,000 worth of merch/services ???? How does this work or what does this mean exactly?

I have been looking into this, and NEVER have I seen any mention of "credit limits", so I am a bit confused, as this is now a new chapter added to a book I already don't know too much about.

[ODE]

Chicken,

I'm not sure I know what Scott is talking about when he says credit limit. I know they ask you what the estimated transactions will be and about how much the total charges will add up to in a month. I think that is for fraud protection though. I am looking through the merchant agreement right now. I will let you know if I see anything about credit limits. I'll call NOVA as well. More to come . . .

[Chicken]

To me, it almost sounded as though he was talking about a corporate credit line used via a credit card (this I would understand, so need to explain that). But he then goes on to talk about setting up another merchant account, yadda yadda. Hmmmm. Confused. Appreciate you looking into this.

[ODE]

This is from NOVS's website. I didn't see anything in the merchant agreement about "credit limits" and there is nothing on the monthly statement about available credit I did see my business listed as "Web Hosting" on the paperwork though.
I think that he might have been talking about a Corprate credit card as well. We'll just have to wait for him to log on again to find out.

Reading Your Statement

The top left corner of the merchant statement contains the return address. Your name and address are printed directly under this information followed by a bar code for mailing. The following processing information displays in the top right hand corner of your statement.

1. PROCESSING MONTH - The month's processing activity represented on the statement.
2. MERCHANT NUMBER - The number we assign to your company for identification. This number is exclusive to your company.
3. ORG - Internal Organization number assigned by the processor.
4. DDA NUMBER - Your checking account number.
5. TRANSIT ROUNTING - Identification number used to post items to your checking account.
6. CHAIN NUMBER - Optional number assigned by the processor for grouping multiple locations.
7. BANK NUMBER - Internal Bank number assigned by the processor.
8. PROCESSING METHOD - The value displayed in this field identifies how you process merchant transactions.
9. CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER - The number you may call for Customer Service Assistance.
10. SUMMARY SECTION - This section provides a summary by card product of all processed sales and credit items for the statement period. Note: some card products are not settled directly by the processor and are sent directly to American Express, Diners Club and Discover for processing. Only the card products settled will appear in this section:

VS - Visa transactions
MC - MasterCard transactions
DC - Diner Club transactions
AM - American Express transactions
DS - Discover transactions
P1 - Private label transactions
P2 - Private label transactions
DB - Debit Card transactions

The number and dollar amount of all sales and credits are posted. The average ticket for the total transactions during the statement period is also reflected in the summary section.

11. MONTHLY DEPOSIT ACTIVITY - This section displays a breakdown of each transaction made during the statement period. The transactions are separated into two sections: sales and credits. The net deposit appears on the right of the statement for each deposit.

PROCESS DATE - The date the batch was settled.
REF NUMBER - Internal number assigned to each batch by the processor.

12. FEES AND CHARGES - This section displays authorization, discount and miscellaneous fees that may be charged by the processor.

AUTHORIZATIONS - This section displays by card product the number and per item charge for bankcard and non-bankcard transactions.
MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES - This section displays a description of billed items along with the number and dollar amount of each item charged during the statement period.
DISCOUNT - This section displays by card product the interchange level that the transactions qualified duringthe statement period. The minimum discount amount will be charged if the total dollar amount within theinterchange levels does not equal or is less than the minimum discount.

13. TOTAL AMOUNT DEBITED - Total dollar amount deducted from your checking account for the statement period.
STATEMENT MESSAGE - The statement message, if applicable, is printed at the bottom of the statement following the Total Amount Debited. Check this area on important information from your Merchant Processor.