Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : Inexpensive Credit Card Process/Merchant Account Provider ?

[DR4296]

Greetings again, everybody !

Here's the deal...

I've got this freeware Perl shopping cart that I'm currently setting up for two customers (and plan to set up for more).

The payment options it allows for credit card processing... in the sense that the merchant can receive the card info and use a terminal to log it in. Or, if I/they spend a little extra, they can get a module that sends the info using some sort of Authorize.net standard protocol.

There are other payment options, of course... and I've coded it in so they can use PayPal.

However, I'm thinking long-term here.:

I need to locate a provider of both Merchant Accounts and Credit Card Processing (preferrably somebody who can utilize this Authorize net WebLink 3.0 payment Gateway
interface). And, preferably, somebody whom I can get some sort of Reseller's bonus from.

I don't need credit card processing TOO much for myself yet, as most of my business is currently coming from friends and by word-of-mouth. But, of course, I forsee it down the road.

And I've been thinking of getting two of my business friends together to help me put on a free seminar here locally for small business owners and wannabes. Being able to offer a full-fledged E-commerce set of solutions, in addition to using PayPal, COD, etc... would probably be a very smart thing for me to do.

However, one thing I've learned so far in this business... HONEST referrals and the relationships they generate are very valuable, which is why I'm asking everybody here instead of going over the tons of E-commerce Solution Provider web-pages I've already encountered.

I should mention that I'd like to find a provider who can offer a decent solution for an E-merchant at less than $40 per month (which is what I've been seeing online for monthly statement fees plus "rental" of processing software). The folks I serve are small-timers who are very price-conscious and probably already view this whole e-commerce thing as a risky venture on their part. Which is why I'm currently referring them to Paypal (but, of course, would like to find something better long-term).

Thank you for your time and any help you all may provide !

-= David Raasch =-
FrontierBlazers

[SpiralWebs]

try http://2checkout.com
it works great for me, and they also have free shoppingcart scripts that work great aswell

[BF-Gary]

You can also checkout http://mypaysystems.com, if you want to waive the set-up fee let me know I can help you with that.

[DR4296]

Ummm.... I made that post about three years ago! <grin!>


-= Dave =-

[Scout]

This is what they call slow response... hehe

[Indy4]

If you're interested in Authorize.Net, check out Wells Fargo. They have the best rates I've seen for new accounts.

As far as the costs go, the cost for ANY real merchant account will depend on your personal credit, how long you've been in business, etc. Someone with no merchant account history is probably going to pay 15 - 30 cents per transaction, and 2.5 - 2.9% for MC/VISA transactions. If you have good credit, as your business grows and you build a reputation with whoever your merchant bank is, you can have those rates lowered. I am currently paying 1.8% for MC/VISA and 15 cents per transaction, and there might be people out there paying less than that.

Of course that's the "optimal" rate - corporate cards are a higher percentage, Address Verification and CVV2 also plays a roll in the percentage you'll pay so I recommend turning those on whenever you accept a card, and automatically reject transactions where the address doesn't match or where AVS isn't supported by the card-issuing bank - you'll cut out a lot of fraud that way.

By the way - if you already own the Authorize.Net gateway (buy it for a one-time fee from Authorize.Net instead of leasing it from the merchant provider or Leasecomm) you will have a lower per-transaction fee with Wells Fargo. You can start at the 15 cent rate instead of 20 or 30.