martini started this topic @ 21:01 on 30/09/2006
Hi All,
First day on this forum so bear with me.
I'm in the process of setting up a small eCommerce site for selling jewellery, we have the basic design done and just getting the webdesigner to build it but we're not sure which would be the best payment service to use. Our hosts provide a payment service but it seems pretty pricey (£20 a month + £100 set up fee + 3.5% on each transaction) so we were thinking of just going with PayPal. Paypal only charge 3.4% on each transaction without all the other fees but you get diverted to their site and I think that they may require quite a lot of information. I ahve heard that some people get annoyed at these extra steps.
Has anyone else done some research into Payment services and got some good ideas on which would be the best?
Any advice would be very helpful.
Many thanks in advance
Dan
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Dan
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RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
awebapart | 02/10/2006 10:45 AM
"but you get diverted to their site"
I dont see this as a problem, in a lot of ways it is an advantage, and many payment processing providers work this way. If you are an established and trustworthy brand like amazon then it is better to take the credit card details on your own secure domain. But if you are a small company with some myjewellerystore website, then customers are more likely to feel safer entering their credit card details on your paypal site, barclays (ePDQ) site, worldpay site, etc rather than your myjewellerystore website.
Here's a site which details most of the payment processing providers:
www.electronic-payments.co.uk
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Paul - www.awebapart.com - 'a web apart'
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RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
AlivewithTechnology | 02/10/2006 06:40 PM
You'll find alot of web users already have a paypal account, so when they have to pay for your product it's a simple case of entering their email address and password.
Paypal is a trustworthy brand, which can only help a small company.
Theres also the IPN that Paypal offer. "Instant Payment Notification" which is handy when you are managing your own shopping basket and orders. I've just put together a shopping cart for a client which uses this, and it's very good. When someone places an order and pays via Paypal, paypal visits an url on your site telling it the item number and payment status, your site can then use that information to update it's order database, so you can see when someone has paid.
I can't see any problem with using Paypal, use it, and if you ever outgrow it, you can move to a online merchant account.
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RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
fastfences | 03/10/2006 04:41 PM
Hi Martini
I'm very shortly commencing an on-line shop (a few days late actually) and I researched a great deal. I found Protx to offer the best deal and as an offer at the moment, they even include acceptance of American express. The total fee is £150 for the first year. Added to that though is the need to have a merchant account through your own bank. This will vary from £250 - £300, though if you're a member of the FSB (Federation of Small Business) the fee is waived.
Cheers, nigel
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RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
sanya | 03/10/2006 07:39 PM
We have been using Protx for several months and would recommend them on that basis. Setup with a non-standard shopping cart was a small challenge but easier than I expected.
They recently announced an offer on JCB cards and the Amex deal has been available for a while. I'm not sure about the merits of accepting additional cards, the standard credit and debit cards have been adequate so far.
RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
ushopit uk | 04/10/2006 11:23 AM
Hi there my site uses the Protx system too you can get more details
http://www.ushopit.co.uk/information.php?osCsid=3285c29c4fd63096818cd38e0c6f5c15&info_id=18
My company that I work for also uses Protx for its clients too.
they are one of the cheapest around but using paypay shouldn't be a problem and I have heard from a friend that their website uses it and if the customer enters their details the system searches to see if it has a paypal account other than that the registration process is quite harmless.
www.doushala.com (Friend website)
I would say though check out Protx at least to have a look at whats out there
Regards
Peter S
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www.Ushopit.co.uk
RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
safenet | 04/10/2006 02:54 PM
Hi Peter,
I would be VERY interested to hear how your friend managed to link these customer details up with paypal to check if they already had an account as that would help my store an awful lot.
If you wouldn't mind putting me in touch with them I'd be very grateful - my contact details are below.
Many thanks in advance,
Chris
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RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
vengavenga | 05/10/2006 09:48 AM
Hi Chris,
If you are using a shopping cart system that automatically takes the customer to the Paypal site, then the process is automatic.
Paypal uses cookies and/or the email address given by the customer (not sure which actually - never bothered trying to find out as it just works) to determine whether or not the customer is a Paypal user.
If they do have a Paypal account then they are taken to a login page.
If they don't have a Paypal account then they are taken straight to a page that allows them to enter credit/debit card details without the need to open an account.
Hope that helps,
Ali.
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RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
safenet | 05/10/2006 12:24 PM
Hi Ali,
Thanks very much for that - I can't say I'd ever noticed the difference but I think it calls for a bit more testing as that does make sense!
Cheers,
Chris
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Safenet Systems - A Microsoft and Sophos partner
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RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
awebapart | 05/10/2006 03:25 PM
Some other things to be aware of with PayPal:
1. If the vendor only has a PayPal personal account, the customers will not be able to pay direct with credit/debit cards without a PayPal account, they will be prompted to create a PayPal account first, before the payment is accepted. The easy way around this problem is for the vendor to upgrade to a PayPal business account, which doesn't cost anything.
2. If the customer has previously used their card with their PayPal account (perhaps on an ebay purchase or a purchase from another vendor), they cannot directly make a credit/debit card purchase using that card, they must log on to PayPal first, which may be an annoyance if they've forgotten their password.
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Paul - www.awebapart.com - 'a web apart'
create, update your website today - the online professional site builder
RE: RE: eCommerce Payment services - Advice please
safenet | 07/10/2006 09:47 AM
Originally posted by: pulsarsoft
Hello,Google Checkout:
https://checkout.google.com
Try this one.
You can't use Google Checkout unless you're based in the US with a US Social Security number.
Cheers,
Chris
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Safenet Systems - A Microsoft and Sophos partner
Secure, Reliable Networks for your Business
08450 580 582 info@safenet-systems.co.uk
Safenet Systems - Small Business IT Support - Support contracts & more - Call Safenet for details!