Running 2 websites through 1 merchant & PSP account???

[janettenn]

I have searched the forum (honest!) but can't find a definite answer to my query so hoped someone who's been in a similar situation may be able to help.

We are in the process of creating a 2nd website. This 2nd website is in the same business area as our first but far more specialised - the name is similar(ish) too. Our aim is to build up this 2nd site and then gradually wind down and shut the first site.

We currently use Streamline as our merchant and Actinic Payments as our PSP - is it possible to use these with our 2nd site or would we need to set up a new merchant and PSP account for the new website?

The idea I have is to run both websites through the one payment system initially until we get enough orders on the new site to warrant setting up a seperate Merchant/PSP. I know it probably sounds like I'm tight but I don't want to be spending money I don't need to just yet.

If anyone can help I'd be very grateful

Many thanks
Janette

[wesleythorne]

we used protx for 2 sites and one psp

you need both your payment providers and your merchant banks permission first.

protx charged us £50 to set up a 2nd account linked to the first one

to be honest I would go with a separate account altogether, if one goes down you have lost two sites. Thats what we have done now anyway.
Tracking payment is easier on two systems.
Actinic payments basic option is cheapest for a new site until the orders come in then upgrade to a higher package.
wes

[pinbrook]

I've run several sites through one acct with worldpay - their criteria for allowing this is similar products across the sites, but i don't know/think Actinic payments will allow this.

If you don't want to pay out a 2nd set of fees, i'd consider just using paypal for the newer site until sales warrant extra expenditure and then swap over so the old site uses pp and the new one AP.

[janettenn]

Thank you both for your help, it's helped me get things a bit straighter in my head I'm not a fan of paypal but will pop that on the new site as the only payment option until we start getting a few orders and then add Actinic Payments (the basic package initially) as the preferred choice. Luckily I'm with the FSB so should get the 2nd merchant account with streamline for nowt I believe.

Once again, many many thanks

[Goz]

I've run several sites through one acct with worldpay - their criteria for allowing this is similar products across the sites, but i don't know/think Actinic payments will allow this.

I've spoken to Actinic sales about this before and, IIRC, they are happy to do this for similar products - but best check with them directly about what their requirements are.

[janettenn]

I've spoken to Actinic sales about this before and, IIRC, they are happy to do this for similar products - but best check with them directly about what their requirements are.

Really? That's great to hear, I'll have to give them a call next week as the products are very similar on the new site

Ta muchly

[Duncan Rounding]

...do this for similar products...

What does selling similar products have to do with it?

[Golf Tee Warehouse]

In a previous thread post by Chris Barling he stated:

OK, here's an attempt to clarify things:

A single Actinic Payments (AP) account can be set up to take both EC and MOTO (mail order) payments. With some banks you need only a single merchant account for this, for some you need one for ecommerce and one for MOTO. Up to two are included in AP.

If more than one person has to access the Actinic Payments Administration area, then there is a one-off charge of £10 to set up each additional logon. If you need more than two merchant accounts, for instance, you want to take Amex and you need another account supported, there's a one-off £10 additional charge per merchant account. These are all one-off charges, so in the scheme of things very minor.

That covers what the additional charges are for, now for the main question, which I understand to be 'can a single Actinic Payments account be used on more than one web site?' I'm afraid that the answer is a resounding maybe. Here's why, and every other PSP will has the same problem with a straight answer for the same reasons, I believe.

Actinic Payments can technically be run on more than one web site with the same account (obviously only for the same company). However, if you have radically different products selling from these sites, the banks will probably want totally separate processing. Also, if you have 3D Secure, each setup officially works only for a single web site, and there are likely to be problems with adding more.

So to summarise, if you have several web sites selling broadly the same things, you should be able to do this with a single Actinic Payments account, but there may be problems in the future with 3D Secure. In this respect, AP is no different from any other PSP.

I hope that this helps.

Chris

Streamline have also been mentioned previously as offering multi site at no extra cost (Ref: Chris Ashdown)
Related threads:
4 Sites / 1 PSP /1 Merchant account
Multi-site SSL


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