Bumpy started this topic @ 15:15 on 01/04/2003
OK, here's the deal. I've been writing some software in my spare time, and I want to set up a VERY low overhead business to sell it on-line. I can get a cheap website host, but I'll need a credit card/debit card processing partner, with very low (no?) monthly/startup fees. Ideally I don't want to have a merchant account with a bank either.
Nochex - does debit cards, buyers have to register first - seems like a hassle, don't do credit cards.
Paypal - does credit cards, doesn't do debit cards.
Are there any alternatives I don't know about which cover everything I want?
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Phil Royall
http://www.beardedfrog.com
RE: Bootstrapping and credit card payments
Bumpy | 01/04/2003 04:31 PM
Cheers Jamie,
Like I say, I'm going to be bootstrapping, I'd rather avoid set up fees/annual charges if possible. Also worlpay's per-transaction fees are relatively large compared to paypal.
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Phil Royall
http://www.beardedfrog.com
RE: Bootstrapping and credit card payments
gary | 02/04/2003 11:43 AM
Bumpy, one thing you should be aware of is why PayPal may be cheaper than say, Worldpay. It's usually because they don't offer the range of facilities that other processors might. PayPal doesn't accept debit cards as you pointed out, and IIRC you also need to register to use PayPal. That's a pain for most consumers - they are shopping online because it's supposed to be less hassle.
Worldpay, on the other hand, accepts debit and credit cards, including Switch and Solo, users don't have to register - they just enter their card details, and there are virtually no problems with Worldpay compared to the hassle many people have had with PayPal (do a search on Google Groups and you'll see what I mean!).
So you may go the cheap route to start with, but if you want to actually sell through your website, bootstrapping is unlikely to be the best way of approaching it. That said, Worldpay is not cheap to set up and I think that's their biggest drawback. PayPal will probably suffice for a short while but you will lose sales, especially from debit card holders.
Gary
Managed Web
Website Maintenance and Updating
http://www.managedweb.com
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