"Paysystems" in UK

[Perplexed]

Do we have anyone on the boards who is UK based abd has experience of using "Paysytems"? I am particularly interested in whether you have checques posted to you or use the wire service. If you do use the wire service, what type of bank account do you have it paid into?

[Perplexed]

Anyone?

I am setting up a membership section of my site and am thinking of using "A-Member pro" for the lock down and possibly paysytems for the CC acceptance ( maybe paypal as well ) but I am concerned about how to get the money from Paysytems in USA to my bank account in the UK. I am not sure what type of bank account I will need.

Many thenks.
( ps. members will come mostly from UK, USA and Austalasia but also a few from many other countries )

[Essex_boy]

I would imagine that you will require a current account for payments direct to your account. Some building society's allow it but it will take around another 3 days for the funds to clear.

However, its dead simple to open a building society acccount and can be completed while you wait, as opposed to a current account. depends how desperate you are to receive the money.

[Perplexed]

Hi
Seems like any current account will do then but I'm not sure about having them send cheques from the USA ( could take forever ) or if UK banks and Building Societys can accept wire transfers.

[steve]

We take foreign cheques in euros, US dollars and UK sterling. We use HSBC and have had no problems. They do charge a fee to convert other currencies to sterling, this can be avoided by having current accounts in these currencies.

We also accept electronic transfer (wire) this is much quicker! again we have had no problems. From the USA it takes 4 - 7 working days. (Americans are used to wiring funds - so they don't see it as a problem) For UK payments it can take between 1 and 10 days, depending whether the other party are with one of the 'big four banks', another bank or a building society.

I'm not sure who your customers will be, but ours are businesses and the amounts are quite large. Private individuals, and businesses dealing in small amounts might prefer credit or debit card facilities?

We chose not to take credit cards because of the wide spread fraud problems. We do get asked from time to time, and accept we may be losing some business, but this we accept.

Hope this helps.

[Perplexed]

Thanks for that Steve. What I was really getting at was this.... If I use a company called "Paysystems" ( a U S company ) to process my customers ( members) credit card payments then I then have to have them send the money to my UK bank account. They will either send a cheque by snail mail or "wire" the money into my UK account. I just wasn't sure about wiring overseas and whether the UK banks would accept it ( I have more or less decided to use Cahoot as my UK bank and they are telling me it is not a problem.

[Belinda]

We use paysytems and have funds wired weekly.

The figure is always exactly as it should be into our account and it takes about 3 working days using this method.

You can wire money into any account you choose (but if its millions you may want to explain the source to your bank manager).

I would never use the cheque system as it would take ages to clear let alone actually receive it.

Ask the bank for its SWIFT code which is the international sort code (sort of) that every bank has, and use it just to be safe.

[pandabear]

Don't know if this is too late

I use Paysytems in the UK and have done high volumes of transactions over last 6 months.

Positives
1. Prompt Payer
2. Quite competitive rates
3. Good web interface with reporting
4.

Negatives

1. If you can get over the time difference problem. Not being able to speak to support until 2pm uk time can be annoying
2.They offer two types of accounts...an IBA and am IMA. If you can get an IBA great..if not each transaction gets a human review and i have known this to go slow on some occasions

Overall...you pays your money and makes your choice. I for one do not regret my choice of using paysystems.

[pandabear]

oh and sorry forgot to mention i use bank wire service with no problems

[Perplexed]

Thanks for that everyone. Looks like wire transfer is the way to go, I just hadn't ever used itbefore.

[Fighting Falcon]

Slight problem with wire transfers for international payments is that it can be quite expensive...typically around £20 per transaction...not sure whether both sender and buyer each pay. But I guess for large amounts its not a problem but if transferring a small amount it could be a shocker :)

I personally would not advise international cheques for larger payments.

cheers

[hidesmith]

I am about to start using Paysystems as well. We will see!

K

[Mikey in Australia]

I was surprised at how simple it was to get an account with paysystems, since it's like pulling teeth with pliers to get an Australian or British merchant account. It makes me suspicious, since paysystems is listed as a private company and there's no reference to how (or where) the business is regulated. It's hq'd in Montreal, according to press releases. Is it regulated by Canadian banking legislation?

On another subject, why are there no white papers on the site for technical interface issues? Why is the only tech support by phone? Seems odd. When the system is live is there on-line tech support as part of the merchant management system on their web?

[Johnny_b]

I was thinking of using these guys, do you know if they accept debit cards as well as credit card?

I have to admit the choices in the UK are completely lame and overpriced, then again i don't want to limit myself by not accepting debit cards.

Will we have to pay VAT on our transactions as well now if we choose a US company?

[Shak]

NO uk debit cards accepted.

lost you on the VAT issue, and they are a canadian outfit, not US.

but all they will charge is the following:

set up fee
% of transaction + $0.50 (or similar)

VAT is your thing, and does NOT affect Paysytems...

Shak

[Johnny_b]

Don't all non EU based companies have to pay VAT now on all electronic services?

See here [internetnews.com...] and here [brusselsteaparty.com...]

Will this include credit card processing fees i wonder?