Basic (dumb) payment questions;

[Air-Tech]

I am not set up or online yet, but in the process of trying to get there & have a pretty poor understanding of the whole online payment process.

I am hoping my site will have Sagepay or Actinic Payments & basic Pay-Pal.

I have done a bit of research, mainly at www.electronic-payments.co.uk (usefull place) & my understanding is that I require a merchant account & a PSP?

So on this (possibly incorrect) basis I was considering using Bank of Scotland as my merchant, as this is my regular business bank & Actinic Payments as my PSP & adding Pay-Pal.

Have I got the right end of the stick here & does anyone have anything good / bad to say about the suggested companies / solutions?


Thanks.

[Rich Brady]

Are you a member of the FSB? Membership was getting free Merchant Accounts with Streamline, usually about 80 quid a pop.

You'll need a merchant account for your online payments, one for your MOTO transactions and another for a hand held terminal if you have a B&M shop, so you could be saving £240...

There's lots of info on PSPs in the for, so do a few searches and have a long read. As Lee would say grab a coffee and write the afternoon off.

Actinic Payments works incredibly well with the current Actinic Software, but some users do find the reporting an issue so try and take everything into account.

[Air-Tech]

I'm not in the FSB yet, although it looks like that may be changing.

Is there any benefit in using my own banks merchant services, & do I need another merchant number for pay-pal?



Thanks.

[pinbrook]

Is there any benefit in using my own banks merchant services, & do I need another merchant number for pay-pal?

Thanks.

Get a quote from your bank and get a quote from FSB/Streamline.

No need for merchant acct for Paypal.

[cbarling]

Your ideas sound right to me.

Yes, you do need a merchant account with a PSP.

The advantage of your own merchant account is that the cost of mercahnt account + PSP is generally less than the cost of putting all transactions through the Payal service. However, at low volumes and if you can't get a merchant account, then putting everything through Paypal is the answer.

Chris

[Air-Tech]

Thanks again for your advice guys.

[chris ashdown]

Worldpay used to offer an alternative where you did not need a merchant account they acted as both, very good for start-ups, the drawback was they had quite a high % charge and also held your money for about three weeks untill they got to know you, after about six months trading they would bring down the delayed payment time dependin on sales and chargebacks

I say all this in the past as its been a long time since I have used them, but imagine they still run something simula. saves on cashflow at the start and you can always change at a latter date