posted on April 10, 2003 08:35:01 PM new
I already use paypal very often, but twice this week I've had people email me their credit card number (not a good idea) and say they don't take paypal. I can't force people to sign up for paypal. Does anyone use a service that has good rates and not a huge start-up fee like Versign has? I don't believe I'd use it very often. I'm off to bed, but hopefully will see answers when I wake up .
posted on April 10, 2003 09:42:36 PM new
www.propay.com is another option.a sign up fee of 35 dollars,1000 a month,transaction size is like 200 0r 250??,35 cents and 3.5 % discount fee.
there is also a transfer fee when you move the fund from your propay account to your bank account.
they dont like intl cards.
if you exceed 1000 per month limit,you will need to give them 250 plus to hold on too.
it is not a bad deal if you just want to use it once in a while,all you spend is 35 dollars application fee.
no monthly statement fee,no minimum discount fee.
posted on April 11, 2003 04:16:08 AM new
I was using Propay and losing sales when customers did not want to tell me their number over the phone or in several emails. So I would have $200 worth of inventory sitting in the "closed" section of Post Sale Management that was then unavailable until I was ABSOLUTELY sure that the deadbeat was not going to go through with the sale (storefront). So I signed up for VeriSign and right now they have a promotion with Merchant eSolutions that waives their application fee. I talked to Ryan at Verisign (888-847-2747 ext. 3691) who put me in touch with Joelle at Merchant. Relatively painless except for the pocketbook. But, I think it will be worth it in the long run. Good luck. There was a thread on her about 2 months ago about different merchant accounts but I could not find it. Good luck
posted on April 11, 2003 07:06:51 AM new
Propay is NOT a real merchant account. They are a middleman like Paypal except that they let you pretend you have a merchant account. If there is a charge back, it is made to Propay and if Propay drops the ball - you lose. Propay also has severe limits for sellers of high priced items. You can charge a maximum of $1000 a month and $250 per transaction. I had someone charge an $800 purchase and I had to enter it as 4 transactions.
There are merchant account providers who have recognized that today's small business can become tomorrow's large business. They have created a merchant account just for small businesses. Accounts start with 3.5% but no monthly minimums or gateway fees. As your business increases, you can move up to tiers which have monthly minimums but lower rates.
Yes, it's a little higher than paypal at first. But as your business grows, your rates drop and what you get is a REAL merchant account where you and the customer talk directly. No middle man to confuse the issue when there is a problem. No minimum wage clerk who will let a customer charge something back one day after the purchase. And if there is a problem, at worst you will have the charge back of one transaction - none of those stupid account restrictions where the money goes in but it can't come out.
I have found that many folks consider a merchant with a real merchant account more reliable than someone using a payment service roach motel.
posted on April 11, 2003 07:23:49 AM new
the thread is about asking for a way to accept credit card every now and then,not a full merchant account.
full merchant account usually has fixed monthly fee and you lose chargeback just the same,all cyberspace transactions do not have the signature of the cardholder and the physical card presence,2 big reasons why many of us lose in a chargeback dispute.
posted on April 11, 2003 07:29:55 AM new
I found several services that could help process credit cards from Propay to shop123. I even had some of those companies send me the info necessary to link VD checkout with them. I could never find out from VD what is compatible except for VeriSign. I have some emails under the storefront category. If you want to accept them online, VD has told me that you can put a link in your instruction box for cc. That does not always make the customer feel comfortable and they will have to take their total amount and all info and enter it again at the linked site. YOu can tell the customer to call you or email you with the number, again, not all will do it. Finally you can go with their partner, Verisign. For a few cards, you might go with Propay. I have had no problems with them to date.
posted on April 11, 2003 08:42:39 AM new
If you have a website, I would look at getting a merchant account. I ended up going with PayQuake (http://www.payquake.com) and both number and $ amount of sales have seen a big increase. In fact,when I applied with PayQuake, I listed my average sale as $30. Since signing on with them, my average sale has been $175. Others with websites have reported the same thing. Some people still just don't feel safe with PayPal. 2Checkout is a service similar to PayPal, but I don't know much about it, not having used it myself. Others seem to like it though, as an alternative to a merchant account.
If you're only doing auctions, I don't know that it pays to get a merchant account. You may just have to spell out in your auctions that you only accept CCs if they go through PayPal or C2it or 2Checkout or.... but that they shouldn't send you their cc# through email, as you can't accept it that way and it's not safe.
posted on April 11, 2003 12:00:46 PM new
I used to deal with CCNow and at the time I have mixed feelings and reviews. .
First, when you first sign up, it takes a month before you see the first of your money. They deposit into your account on the first and 15th with a one pay period delay. Once I got beyond that problem, I thought their fees were a little steep ( they have only gone up since then). Beyond that they were pretty easy to work with and their shopping cart is great and very simple to configure.
thre are good points and bad but as I have gotten back into selling and setting up new sites, I have not gone back to CCNow and have no plans to do so.
posted on April 11, 2003 04:45:50 PM new
Propay lets you send the customer an email with link back to their secure server and customers enter their CC info themselves--you never see the info--just get the money.
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