Protx

anyone using this service have comment

[spiky]

With Worldpay service still down, we are going to look at protx seriously as an alternative.

There fees estimator suggests we could save substantially each year, and we were considering spliting an element of our business to feed to a pick and pack service provider anyway. So having a backup processor is looking very attractive, particularly if this lasts as long as the last Worldpay attack.

They (protx)claim to integrate with most of the major off the peg shop models, but we do not know how efficient and what degree of service they offer.

Would also be very interested to hear from anyone using Protx currently.

[IanTurner]

We run protx on one site without any problems. Integration was a cinch, carried out by a junior designer with little technical knowledge.

[pete_m]

We use Protx as well - I can definitely recommend them. We've had no problems so far, they're cheaper than most, and the (recently upgraded) management interface is good.

[PCInk]

Warning with ProTx:

If you are using WorldPay to take the money for you and deposit into your account, ProTx do not do this service. Last time I looked at them, you need a merchant account with a bank. These can be expensive (some banks refuse home based businesses altogether) and can work out more expensive than WorldPay.

Look into both costs.

[jam13]

We've been using Protx for more than a year now and apart from an overnight outage due to server failure they have been pretty reliable.

And you can't beat the price :)

[spiky]

Thanks

Very helpful.

Does any one have any further advice re the need for a seperate bank Merchant account? We thought applying for Protx was applying for a merchant account and the credits would be made to a holding account operated by protx with delayed payment, just like worldpay

Is this not the case?

[Rubylily]

That's not the case, you will need a separate merchant account to use Protx.

[nacho_man]

I use protx for several sites that do not require automatic payment collection. We just use their virtual terminal for collecting payments.

Goods ordered on the sites my not be available due to the nature of the market so we don't take the money right away.

You will require a merchant account number given to you by a bank who will take a percentage of each transaction. Normally about 1.8 - 2.5 % for credit cards and 30p for debit cards. Llyods cardnet will allow you to apply. However you will pay about £350 for the account set up with the bank.

I have run from home and have two merchant accounts accpeted. Protx are the authorising agent and only take the credit card details, check them for validation and contact the "acquring bank" to check the money is available. The money is then dropped into your merchant account and then into a bank account you specify. Charges for the transactions are usually invoiced monthly.

Hope this helps

[holtyboy]

My wife also has a home based business and takes credit cards for her web-sales. It wasn't a problem opening a merchant account and we managed to negotiate our set-up fee to £100. No monthly fees thereafter.

We use Protx too and had no problems integrating it (although we've only gone for the Form method today, not the Direct method which is not currently supported in osCommerce MS2, so would need some bespoke integration).

I think it's easier to get a merchant account if you've got some trading history. We were already doing a monthly card turnover with Paysystems until they pulled the plug, and I think that helped our case.

Also, one other tip, avoid applying for a merchant account straight after Christmas or the summer holidays. Apparently they get swamped at this time with people who have spent the holidays thinking about setting up their own business so get all these crazy applications that use up all their resources to process.

In response to one earlier comment about the online terminal. Yes, Protx do allow you to manually process credit cards, but you need to be a bit careful about using it as a full time replacement for an integrated / automated solution on your web-sales. You may find it contravenes the T's&C's of your merchant bank for their Internet accounts... ie you usually declare that you are using Protx, or SECPay, etc, therefore they have factored into their risk assessment the fact that the credit card data is not being stored on a server / piece of paper, etc but rather is going straight through a trusted gateway. If you are in breach, a routine check could find you being cut-off without notice!

Cheers.... hb.

[bekyed]

Holtyboy.

I am sure this will be covered under the data protection act, which the aquiring bank will be more than happy with.
Everyone trading online should be under the data protection act 1998 if you are keeping sensitive data.

Bek.

[davinci coder]

We use protx as well but didn't find the integration that easy with asp.net. There is a product called dotnetcharge that allows you to do this though.

Our problem was getting a Runtime Callable Wrapper to access the query interface for the protx dll and is still not fixed to be honest.

Would love to chat with another developer who integrated protx using asp.net?