Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Ecommerce Hosting & Discussion : Alertpay, need your opinion

[AstroNyu]

I'm recently adding Alertpay as one of my payment processor and wondering something about it. It has 3 types of account which are Personal Starter, Personal Pro and Business Accounts. Which is the best type for me as a webhosting company?

[AstroNyu]

I received email from Alertpay rep saying that due to the nature of this business which they categorized as "High Risk", the fee structures were changed to reflect that.

Based on your industry type, your business may be considered “High Risk” and our restricted fee structure will be applied as follows:
a) All AlertPay balance payments are subject to a fee of 3.9% + $0.59 per transaction.
b) All credit card payments are subject to a fee of 6.4% + $0.59 per transaction.

Isn't these fees kind of high??

[gpl24]

I was an avid Alertpay user for over a year.

All I can say is "Don't" ..

The moment you get your first chargeback (unwarrented or not) you get slapped with a $38+ FINE. (It's in their TOS, read it. I did, I understood it. I took it as a threat, didn't think they'd actually charge that much, based on what their nearest competitor does for CB's)
..that same "fine" with PayPal is usually $20.
That's a difference of $18. When you sell small / cheap products... ouch.

Let's face it: Chargebacks are a fact of life if you sell online. Fining the seller for over $38 is nonsense!

[AstroNyu]

Yeah, I wonder the same thing. That is kinda high.
Anyone else have something to say about this?

[energizedit]

Wow I didn't read that in their TOS I am reconsidering them now. I've not received anything from them stating the business is high risk though.

[linuxfan]

Interesting,how they think to compete with paypal since they have higher rates per transaction and high chargeback rate.

[HostColor]

Some merchant providers define adult and proxy hosting as high risk and I shall say they've got the point. A very large percent of online fraud comes from proxies. I understand that in your business people are looking for privacy, but that's the way it is.

[Disrelation]

I would go for Personal Pro, if you run the company yourself, but if you work with other people, get a Business

[linuxfan]

Also i noticed one security hole-you can easily remove old mail and put new,so if someone hack your alertpay mail you can say bye bye to your account.Does paypal have that hole too?

[Hosting50]

That fees are too high. As I know Alertpay it is not very popular. I don't know what to say, used it in the past, nothing incredible and again, not very popular. But if you want diversity, you can go ahead with it.

[linuxfan]

Well,it does have advantage over paypal since is available for more countries worldwide.Also,when it comes to chargeback protection,seems epassporte and moneybookers have it,but they also have insane fees and problematic user registration.

[MattS]

They have yet to answer me in a ticket when I tried to get my account verified.

Definitely not worth it.

[ggstorms]

Alertpay is a joke. I signed up for an account with them months ago and sent in verification documents to get verified. It's been 3 months now and the status is still "submitted". I sent in numerous support tickets asking about it and still no reply, also noone ever answers their phone number. What kind of mickey mouse operation are they running over there? I would definetly NOT trust them with my business. What happens if there is a problem with my money and I need to speak to someone?

[MattS]

Originally Posted by ggstorms

Alertpay is a joke. I signed up for an account with them months ago and sent in verification documents to get verified. It's been 3 months now and the status is still "submitted". I sent in numerous support tickets asking about it and still no reply, also noone ever answers their phone number. What kind of mickey mouse operation are they running over there? I would definetly NOT trust them with my business. What happens if there is a problem with my money and I need to speak to someone?

I just went through that. Submit yoru ticket to another department like general. They responded and fixed it.

[magehoster]

We have a business account with Alertpay. Only 5% of our customers are using it and up until now we did not have any problems with them.