PayPal... what else?

Are there any other free merchants?

[TriPixels]

Are there any other free merchant-like accounts like PayPal out there? It may just be me, but I think as a web designer, it is a little unprofessional to use PayPal all the time. I like it more to get the actual checks in the mail, but that isn't exactly what most of the online client-base prefers either...

Do you have any advice?

[Kandevil]

Hi TriPixels and Welcome to WebMasterWorld, I hope our memebers have some pearls of wisom for you on this topic, as unfortunatley I don't :)

[SEO practioner]

Hello tripixels and welcome to webmaster world!

I don't personally have any experience with paypal per se, but I can tell you that I have a read a lot of very nasty comments and issues at paypal....RE:
www.paypalsucks.com.... etc (Am I allowed to put this in here?)

Personally, like you, I feel that paypal has outgrown itself too... it would be nice if a large bank would come and say: OK- we are the new and improved paypal look-alike... etc.

my 2 cents

[percentages]

TriPixels,

An independent merchant account will cost you $20 per month + 2.3% for Visa, MC and Discover. Add $5 if you want to take Amex.

I have over 300 clients, none of them pay by PayPal. They all pay by regular CC's through a relatively cheap merchant account.

You have to make a decision, albeit you may hate that fact. Either you are going to make money on the web or you are not. If you are, do it properly and set up a merchant account to do it. The fees are really insignificant.

[char_paula]

I have set up a couple of clients to use propay...not realtime processing.

I have set the credit card details to be collected via a secure server, the clients than retreive the credit card info-via secure webpage.

The clients log into their propay account and manually process the credit cards. Unlike paypal, the clients propay username is posted to the credit card statement. Helps to avoid some chargebacks.

Propay seems to be good for clients just starting out that are doing $1000.00 or less a month...for higher amounts of business they require a hold account...at that point I believe it might be cheaper to get a merchant account.

No monthly fees, $35.00 annual fee.

QuickBooks and Costco have similar processing. It has been awhile since I've had a client going that route, so I don't know the current costs. With QuickBooks - the order details are downloaded into QuickBooks...than can be inputted online..no need to re-enter credit card info for processing.

None of these are realtime processing - but in cases where paypal is discounted as not providing a professional image, they can give the illusion of a merchant account.

[mifi601]

I have used paysystems.com as a user. have not developed with them since my needs are covered by paypal, which i happen to like (my customers are all pretty small businesses).
paysystems seems to have a 'reasonable' pricing structure for the 'professional' look you are looking for ..

my 2c

[Mikeman]

The route I have pointed many of my customers to is www.2checkout.com and I haven't heard a single complaint yet. Once the one time set-up fee is settled your in business. Much simpler that paypal. Hope that helps.

[react]

www.worldpay.com / co.uk / others

is great!

[sharbel]

I just got finished programming an IPN module for my website to allow instant payments through PayPal. I hope I didnt make a mistake choosing them :(

[Napoleon]

Well, I've been around the houses a few times, and have looked at most solutions and use a number of them.

The one that always impresses me is actually ShareIT, which used to be for software only, but isn't now.

Although a bit more expensive than PayPal (which I also use) they give you some control over the look and feel of your pages and you certainly don't need to be a techie to set it up. For the extra money you also get their support team there checking up dodgy orders/etc.

I'm not too keen on Worldpay, although I did shell out the dosh for an account. I found it very hard to set up and wouldn't want to repeat the exercise. I also get more frauds on there than I would like. Not sure why really, but it is far higher than the ShareIT, who obviously conduct rigorous checks.

One I checked out recently was 2checkout. They didn't even bother responding to my email, so that didn't exactly impress me.

[Mikeman]

Napoleon, not that I have anything to gain by recommending www.2checkout.com, but the reason I have recommended them so highly to my clients is in a large part due to their customer service. I actually have customers that have gone out of their way to get back to me with a note of thanks for pointing them to such a customer service friendly merchant. Just my 2 cents also:) Incidentally, many of my clients offer both 2checkout and paypal as options.