Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : Online cc processing for an existing ground level merchant

[vito]

OK, once and for all, I need to wrap my head around the various options for an ecommerce site. I'm hoping you can help me do that.

This month I will be building a site for a local client. We're in Canada, BTW. He wants to sell online with real time transactions. He has been a ground level retailer for many years, and he has his own merchant account for (until now) strictly off-line credit card transactions. And he has a very good relationship with his bank.

So here's where I need advice. I would think it's obvious that this person should not be looking at options like 2CO or Paysystems. After all, he's already got his own merchant account. So what is the next step? Does he approach his bank and ask to be allowed to use his existing account for online transactions? And then what? Once I set up a shopping cart solution for him, what's next? Does he buy his own SSL certificate? Or should I put a shared certificate on my server for him? And which gateway do I use? Is this dictated by his bank if he's using his current merchant account?

Questions, questions, questions...

Vito

[macdonaldp]

Originally posted by vito
Does he approach his bank and ask to be allowed to use his existing account for online transactions?

May help to say here what bank he is using. Some banks are a lot more flexible than others.

[vito]

Hmm. I would have to find that out. Not sure at this point.

Vito

[Corey Bryant]

It is not recommended to mix his brick & mortar account with an internet account. One is a qualified swiped account & one woud be a qualified keyed account. The keyed account would have a higher discount rate because of more risks involved. He needs to check with his bank to see what type on keyed merchant account they offer. And then check around.

2CO & Paysystems are primarily a third party merchant account. Keep that in mind as well.

[vito]

OK, I'll get him to ask him bank about his options. After he does, I might come back to the thread and ask some more questions based on the answers he gets.

Vito

[mrzippy]

Originally posted by vito
I might come back to the thread and ask some more questions based on the answers he gets.

Vito

Please do. I'm also interested in what happens as I have a few clients about ready to look into the same options.. (also in Canada)

[thaphantom]

you cant actually mix the accounts, but he may try and get a second account from his bank.

[cartika-andrew]

Hi Vito,

Heres the scoop in Canada...

Any of the major banks will issue your client an Internet Merchant Account, but they ALL require a deposit (which is usually VERY large).

Your customer should not and cannot combine their Point of Sale (POS) Merchant Account with an Internet Merchant Account. Whether they get an Internet Merchant Account from their bank or from another provider, it will be a separate account. If they got an account from their bank, they would still require a gateway.

The best provider in Canada for an Internet Merchant Account and Gateway is PSIGate. They have some interesting conditions you should make your customer aware of. Feel free to contact me and we can review in greater detail.

Hope this helps...

[mrzippy]

Originally posted by Gargoyle
The best provider in Canada for an Internet Merchant Account and Gateway is PSIGate.

Why? What makes them the best?

[Corey Bryant]

To expand a little bit - being based in the US here, you can combine a brick & mortar (swiped) with an internet / telephone (keyed) if you did check that on your merchant account application. The biggest problm is that on your brick & mortar account you might be paying about 1.55%. But when you key in a credit card number, your discount rate might jump 1.82% - making that 3.37% instead of something like 2.30% for an internet account.

We are still waiting on one company actually to help bring us into Canada. Dealing though with Visa/Mastercard is not easy - you have ti jump through about 100 hoops - only 50 more left.

Hopefully though since you have been processing with your bank - they can waive that deposit.

[cartika-andrew]

Originally posted by mrzippy
Why? What makes them the best?

PSIgate

Pro's

- 2 major banks on the backend (BMO for Visa & Citibak for MC)
- Offer Direct, live connection to Amex
- Very competitive rates for Canadian merchants
- Thorough and complete control panel
- excellent fraud filter
- First Canadian Internet Merchant Account provider (most experienced)
- Publicly traded company
- above average support


Con's

- no consolidated reports (1 for Visa, 1 for MC and 1 for Amex)
- 2 different control panels (very inclusive, but would be nice to have on a single consolidated panel)

[vito]

Boy, I'm sure glad I started this thread. I have a feeling I'm going to learn quite a bit by the time it's over. And I have a suspicion there will be several others clicking the "subscribe" link, as a lot of this stuff is fairly elusive, and many of us do want/need the knowledge.

Vito

[Best Buy Business]

In Canada I would stay away from the chartered banks for an online merchant account, the reason being that as far as I know they have exclusive contracts with either Visa or MC. Royal Bank and TD for instance only offer Visa. RBC and BMO have created Moneris to get around this problem.

Another problem is that many of the banks will only process in $CDN, which could be a problem for a merchant retailing to the States. This has been a major headache for a number of my clients as the rates change from day to day.

Also, many of the banks that do process in $USD will automatically exchange the money into $CDN at a 1.31% brokering rate. Any Canadiaan companies accepting $USD would be wise not to exchange it for a little while- at least until the exchange rate starts to dip.

From what I have been told Moneris is one of the more complete solutions, however the application process can be fairly lengthy and involved, and from personal experience the Canadian banks are heavy on the backend rates.

With Moneris you will also need to setup your own gateway and SSL.

I would suggest looking into a service provider like Moneris, PSIGate or Internetsecure.com.

Paul
Paysystems

[mrzippy]

Originally posted by pablo514
Any Canadiaan companies accepting $USD would be wise not to exchange it for a little while- at least until the exchange rate starts to dip.

Ugh. Tell me about it.. there's nothing like getting a 15% increase in "expenese just from the exchange rate.

I'm thinking about opening up another paysystems account just for my canadian clients, but I have some concerns:

1) Inability to have everything in one control panel. The MCC is hard enough to use (like tracking deleted orders is almost impossible), etc.. and having to log into TWO panels would double my waste of time.

2) Paysystems wants to charge me another setup fee to open the "second" account. I am against this, by principle, because I already have an account with them so I don't see why I should have to pay again.

3) I'm considering just opening a merchant account and getting rid of paysystems altogether. I'm tired of the many "little" problems that pop up, as well as the many problems (IMHO) with the MCC that are never fixed. Even simple features such as the ability to list transactions by a different column (like expired date for example in the deleted order listing) are totally ignored by the dev staff when I make the suggestion... Or how about that I have 1 "pending" order that has been stuck in this status for about 2 months now, despite 5 tickets to their helpdesk to get it either resolved or removed. I have many examples, but this isn't the place to complain. It is just adding up to enough problems/concerns that I'm not certain I want to stake my business on paysystems any longer.

[cartika-andrew]

Originally posted by mrzippy
Ugh. Tell me about it.. there's nothing like getting a 15% increase in "expenese just from the exchange rate.

Not to mention the 15% decrease in profit from each American Customer - Also, Canadian pricing isnt quite as attractive to US customers with the current exchange rate (though its still pretty nice)

3) It is just adding up to enough problems/concerns that I'm not certain I want to stake my business on paysystems any longer.

Eventually you need to switch to a true merchant account. The benefits are just too many to list - 3rd party payment processors have their place, but IMHO they are not appropriate for running a business - the costs (particularly the indirect costs) are just too high.