Merchant Services

[codnaway]

I know this must have been asked before...maybe the site could add a reference section for this type of thing (maybe they have it and I just don't know about it :0(

But I 'm shopping for a merchant card service and would like advice on the various companies. I have heard some pay slowly, some are unavailable frequently, some are expensive, (PayPal advertises they fight to prevent charge backs).

A table that covers all these issues and others (including summaries of people's experiences with them would be nice) for most of the providers would be very useful.

I am especially interested in feedback on the first 5 in this list. Thanks to all...

Verisign
Authorize.Net,
Paymentech,
PayPal,
MerchantAnywhere,

Worldpay Junior,
EFSNet,
IonGate,
LinkPoint,
NetBilling,
PayFuse,

[hfwd]

We've used both paypal and authorize - our two cents:

PayPal

Pro:
easy to integrate to an existing website selling a few items or subscriptions.

Con:
Doesn't seem too professional (just my opinion - no hard facts whether this deters sale). You don't control the entire checkout process. Can only have 2 optional fields per item.

Authorize:

Pro: integrates well with many shopping carts. You control the entire checkout process.

Con: Lately, many outages (ddos attack and regular plain vanilla outages) and technical glitches (timed out while waiting for the gateway, order emails not being sent).

We're considering Verisign's payflow pro, but it's expensive compared to these two. I suppose we have to weigh that cost vs. the cost of not being able to take orders because of authorize's glitches.

[Corey Bryant]

The LinkPoint payment gateway is probably one of the strongest out there. It is owned by the First Data Corporation. First Data has been doing electronic money transfers since 1871 and they were the first processor of both VISAŽ and MasterCardŽ bank-issued credit cards in 1976. First Data processed 12.2 billion transactions in North America alone in 2003. LinkPoint when bundled with a merchant account provider (MAP) thru Cardservice is only about $15-30 with no extra transaction fees

Authorize.net is probably the most advertised electronic gateway. A lot of people think they can sign up with them and immediately start to accept credit cards. They do not release you need a merchant account as well. Authorize.net even uses the First Data platform to help facilitate transaction processing. Authorizenet.com is usually about $15-30 a month with an extra $.10 transaction charge on top of what the MAP charges. Authorizenet.com has been down about seven times since November 2003

Verisign also has a payment gateway. Verisign is probably the most recognized name because they also offer other services and products for the internet (i.e. SSL certificates, domain registration, hosting, etc). You do not need to purchase everything from Verisign to have a successful e-commerce business. Verisign actually gives away 1,000 transactions for free. This might not be that bad of a choice.

-Corey

[Consulting4thefuture]

I disagree

I've used them all. I have rated over 140 of them, Hell I was on the ground floor of Cybercash.....dinonsour for those of you that don't know.

the best in the business is really between two companies

TrustCommerce and CyberSource.....I prefer TC, but both are the best hands down. Can't lose

Cheers.

Michael

[akmac]

Consulting4thefuture,

Do you know if it's possible (easy) to configure either of these two you've recommended with Oscommerce?

[Consulting4thefuture]

Yes...TrustCommerce has already integrated with Oscommerce. I have several of my clients using it currently and all has gone well. In fact, OS told me about Trustcommerce as they both share the open source philosophy. I don't think CS integrates with them?

[oscommerce.com...]

[4crests]

I wouldn't use PAYMENTECH

They charge $15 for chargeback fees (should be a class-action lawsuit against all chargeback fees, but that's another story).

Also, Paymentech holds onto your money for nearly 2 weeks before it ends up in your bank account. So, they get to earn interest on your money all that time.

[stevenmusumeche]

I have found Paymentech to be very reliable for high volume sites over the last few years. I don't know what you mean about them holding money. Once I mark a transaction for capture, I get the money in my account a few days later. I get a deposit every night.

[Consulting4thefuture]

Some Merchant providers do place a hold or a reserve on your funds. With most merchant account providers this is usually industry specific,ie what you are sellinf, risk, $amount, however, some do enact this as a rule of thumb.

Card services is notorious for this. This is especially true when it comes to new businesses.

[Corey Bryant]

Card services is notorious for this. This is especially true when it comes to new businesses.

I would tend to disagree. I have seena lot of our hosting clients sign up with CSI with no reserves. The only time there is a reserve was for a high risk client (psychic) but he understood.

Chargebacks are something that we all have to deal with. I will say that at least CSI does not charge for a retrieval request which has saved a lot of our clients a tremendous amount of money

-Corey

[4crests]

I have 3 different stores using Paymentech, and my Sister also has one. They take anywhere from 10 days to 14 days from the time the charge occurs, until the money is deposited into my bank. I have also talked to others on Paymentech who all say the same thing. So, if you are getting your money in 2-3 days, count yourself LUCKY!... And $15 for chargeback fees is a bit much. We have another merchant service account through Costco. They charge $10 for chargebacks, which I still think is too much, but at least my money is in the bank after 2-3 days. We are in the process of dropping our Paymentech and switching to something else, but want to wait until after Xmas to switch over. We process about $60,000.00 a month through Paymentech and have been with them for about 3 years. We sell what most people would call "normal merchandise".

[Consulting4thefuture]

I Mis-type...I didn't mean the Card services holds a reserve as much as I meant that new businesses tend to get a reserve attached to their accounts because they are a new business and the risk. Unless they use a financial institution that they already has a relationship with.

Despite what Corey recommends, there is no way that I'd ever recommend Card Services, to many horrid stories from customer, (check the FFC records) unless your interested in paying more. Card Services targets high-risk or new businesses. That's their bread and butter. Contact your bank

[Consulting4thefuture]

This is all U.S. Corey is, I think, in the UK and it might be a different. Perhaps Card Services operates differently in the UK?

My old cube mate was the 6th employee of Card Services, so I ended up learning a lot.

[Corey Bryant]

A lot of our hosting clients are not high risk & they use CardService. So it might be different in the UK. I would not say that that is their bread and butter. They actually transferred all their adult merchants to other processors a long time ago

-Corey

[axiswwinc]

Quote]
I am especially interested in feedback on the first 5 in this list. Thanks to all...

Verisign
Authorize.Net,
Paymentech,
PayPal,
MerchantAnywhere,] End Quote

None of the above are merchant account providers.
If you want your own merchant account, you need to contact an ISO.

<snip>

[edited by: engine at 8:36 pm (utc) on Nov. 26, 2004]
[edit reason] See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[benevolent001]

i would like to suggest
[world.ccavenue.com...]