Forum Moderators: buckworks
To the customer, it seems like your website accepts credit cards the usual way. They just add to cart, enter address, CC info, click okay and then their order is paid.
I used ProPay a long time ago. Money could be taken out about 2 business days after the transaction. They had fairly low initial limits (something like $500 or $1000 per month) until you established a history with them. But even then I think they had upper limits of just a few thousand a month. Other than the limit issue, I don't remember that we had any problems with them. I have no idea what they're like today.
As a rule of thumb, the less formality in sign up and/or the cheaper they are then the more restrictive the service will be. I used a UK company cheaper than PP, with chargeback protection, BUT the transaction limits were very low and they only accepted UK cards.
I mean using a 3rd party service, put the code on your website, it sends the CC info to the 3rd party, they process the payment, charge you a ridiculous fee, and send you the money.
If you're going to pay a ridiculous fee, why wouldn't you just set up a merchant account? The benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. If you set it up correctly, the customer comes to your site and you do a silent post to the processor gateway, retrieve the response, and the impression is that the customer never leaves your site. This also relieves to of the weight of higher levels of PCI compliance as well - you don't store CC info on your site, just pass it to the processor.
This is because I am a Canadian living in Asia. It's pretty tricky registering a business here. I am looking into registering in Canada or the US, but I want to do that later on if possible.
In the mean time, I'd like to accept credit cards without the customer leaving my site or seeing any 3rd party logos and such.
@LifeinAsia: I just did a quick browse on ProPay. Still not sure if they offer what I need, but I will have a deeper look later.
@Piatkow: you are right about exchange rates. They suck and I hate them and it is an ugly expense I might have to deal with, being in Asia
@MrHard: Looks like Tradenable and iEscrow are the same company and both gone.
@rocknbil: I think you are right, I should get a merchant account, but I don't think I can until I register a business. Didn't know that about 3rd parties and PCI tho. Good to know.
"customers stay on your site throughout checkout"
* $30.00 USD monthly
* No set-up fees
* No cancellation fees
Transaction fees 1.9% to 2.9% + $0.30 USD
Sounds like that could work.
