Accept Credit Cards for Non-US

Dont want to use Paypal

[creztor]

Ok basically I am looking for a way to accept credit cards and I live in Taiwan. Dont own a business as I sell on ebay and other auction sites and looking for a way to accept credit cards. I am looking for non-Paypal alternatives and would prefer some kind of merchant account or something similar to that. So far most sites offering this service etiher require you to be a registered business or be in the USA. If anyone has any other alternatives please let me know, thanks.

[globalissa]

In general having a "merchant account" means applying to a financial institution for credit. These organizations will vet your application based on their interpretation of your merit. And that typically is based on the business case presented in your merchant account application.

It may be that if there is no business case presented in your application then it is perceived there is no merit. IMO banks and financial institutions are least likely to help you - there is little financial merit in helping a small guy, or at least that may be the impression perceived based on customer service.

If you want a merchant account then you'll need to build a business case to present when applying for that account. No case = no merchant account.

I understand exactly what your circumstance is - at least based on your description - but my experience in the payment gateway field on the web since 1995 is that nobody offers the solution you seek.

It's possible to create software that fits the bill, but still you need somebody to actually accept the credit card payment and that's either the bank or the payment gateway and therefore all of the above remarks still apply. Wish it was different, but it is not.

Globalissa

[creztor]

Ok so apart from Paypal, are there any other 3rd party processors or something similar that will accept international clients (as I am not US based) and are reliable? Many thx for the info so far :D

[globalissa]

http://www.2checkout.com

These guys are the best available option other than Paypal, but I'm not sure if they accept a Taiwan account, you'll have to check it out or ask them ;)

[edited by: lorax at 12:20 pm (utc) on June 18, 2005]
[edit reason] delinked [/edit]

[Habtom]

Was that 2checkout I saw posted? I have been using them . . . I am wondering if at all they exist physically.

[creztor]

They arent reliable? I really dont want any money I have being held by one of these providers to not be released to me etc :¦

[OlRedEye]

There are quite a few options, for instance worldpay and ccavenue. 2CO, I don't think you'll find many who will recommend them.

[creztor]

There isnt that many, most mentioned above are for registered businesses only. I am not a business as I sell on various aution sites both locally and overseas and just need some way to take payment by CC.

[globalissa]

Paypal is number one and after that everybody else are 'also rans'. Obviously, this is a derived thought that not everybody shares. My experience with Worldpay was, well, I can't write that here ... 2checkout at least has better communication with its site owners. But if you ask 10 people you could get 10 different answers. I base my opinion on 9 years of ecommerce programming and supplying payment gateway solutions for our corporate software to mate to the likes of authorizenet, worldpay, 2checkout, stormpay, paypal, linkpoint (cardservice international), beanstream, and other gateways our customers come to us with already.

Bottom line is you won't find a good way to accept credit cards if 'all you do' (yeah sure its a lot to us but not to the merchant account supplier) is use auctions and you don't run a business other than the auction.

I wish somebody would say I'm wrong and name names who can fit the bill to provide inexpensive, timely, well supported, well documented, accurate same day payments with real time credit card acceptance, easy account signup and no hassle. Other than Paypal, there's nobody that delivers this type of financial product.

Anyone?

[creztor]

I fully agree paypal is widely accepted and its what most auction sellers etc use because everyone uses it. I do realize I am not a big fish, but Id still like to find another way to take payment for a non-business entity and someone who isnt in the USA :) The problem is the only way I can find out if a 3rd party merchant is any good to me is to use it, and just hope all goes well :) As you can see there are positive and negative feedback from people about the same provider. I appreciate all info everyone has pasted here it has at least provided one alternative to paypal.