Actinic Payments & Barclaycard Merchant Services

[GBS]

Hi all,

We are seriously considering using Actinic Payments with Catalog V9 and wondered if anyone has had any luck migrating from an existing PDQ Chip and Pin Terminal Barclays Merchant Account over to accept Actinic Payments.

Ideally we would like to leave the current merchant account as is (i.e continue using the PDQ for retail chip and pin) and just link in Actinic Payments to that existing account. Has anyone got any experience of using AP with Barclays Merchant Services they would be kind enough to share?

Many thanks in advance.

[parklifeclothes]

Hi,

We operate in the same way, you first need to request Barclays Merchant Services issue a new account in addition to your retail pdq account, and once set up you'll get a monthly statement for your shop machine and another for the transactions coming through Actinic.

The initial setting up was, for us a nightmare as BMS were unaware of both Actinic and CreditCall and then insisted on placing dummy orders over a 2 week period to check things like SSL and our terms and conditions. Once they were happy with this they sent us forms only to enclose the wrong return envelope so in all we spent months chasing different departments and filling replacement forms.

Once sorted its a breeze and I would happily recommend AP to everyone

[GBS]

Hello,

Many thanks for replying to my post. This is very helpful to know, sounds like you had a bit of fun and games initially - I have a feeling we might have the same experience, but good to know that everything is working for you now. Probably better that BMS send a separate statement for PDQ and AP. Just out of interest, if you don't mind me asking do BMS charge for creating an additional account to use with AP (I guess there are obviously the usual BMS cost per transaction charges as well)? Also I noticed that there appears to be a bit of messing around in order to accept AMEX - we accept AMEX via the PQD at the moment, do you bother with AMEX on AP?

Many thanks for your kind advice, it is much appreciated!

GBS

[parklifeclothes]

if you don't mind me asking do BMS charge for creating an additional account to use with AP

No, as far as I remember no charge was made

I guess there are obviously the usual BMS cost per transaction charges as well

Oh Yes, don't think they would let that slip by

Also I noticed that there appears to be a bit of messing around in order to accept AMEX - we accept AMEX via the PQD at the moment, do you bother with AMEX on AP?

We accept both in our shop but at the moment not Amex thru' AP

The one grip I have and its only a little niggle is that AP clears at something like 9.15am everyday whereas the pdq clears at 5pm so there is always a problem if we're being keen and putting transactions thru before 9.15 as it then shows up on the wrong day if you get it.

[GBS]

Hi again,

Thanks for replying. Re AMEX - apparently it says you may need to contact AMEX directly about accpeting AMEX online (sounds a bit tricky). We'll probably end up doing the same as you and just get going with the most common cards until we get sorted.

I can see how the 9.15 would be a bit strange when compared to clearing on the PDQ at the end of the day.

Really appreciate your help and wish you the best of luck with your site as well!

GBS

[cbarling]

Out of interest I thought you might like to know that Actinic ourselves use BMS and obviously Actinic Payments.

So we take all card payments through this route - one off payments through the sales team, web site purchases and automated billing for Express, Hosting and Payments itself.

So you wouldn't be able to buy Actinic Payments if it wasn't working with BMS

Chris

[GBS]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your input on this as well. Are you able to shed any light on my questions regarding AMEX?

Thanks

[cbarling]

Neil Bayton in our Admin department might be able to answer definitely, but I'll try to do so here first.

Here is an extract from our internal document on payments:

"To take Amex you must have an Amex merchant account. Amex Merchant accounts can be obtained directly from Amex and in some cases through the primary acquiring bank although this tends to be more expensive. In either case, a direct connection to Amex is established by Actinic Payments and a separate Actinic Payments account must be set up for which there is the normal charge. "

Hope that helps.

Chris

[lessharma]

Hi,

Regarding Barclays Merchant services and Actinic Payment I'm Just waiting for BMS to send me some new merchant numbers to work with AP / Credit call.

My questions is on the last page before you submit the Application form for AP you get this question asking for sort code / account number 'You need to fill in these fields only if you have chosen Barclays as your acquirer on the previous pages.'.

Are they asking for my business banking sort code / account number (the one BMS pay funds into - Abbey in my case) or is it a sort code / account number relating to my BMS merchant number, like a Barclays sort code / account number?

I called BMS and AP and didn't get any help.