Looking for an online payment system that takes credit cards

[AlexM]

Hi!

I'm designing a web site for a travel company, and they would like to add an online payment system that takes credit cards. I am open to suggestions on what's available, keeping in mind these requirements:

- must be written in PHP
- reasonable price (I assume there's no freeware option, is there?)
- secure & reliable performance, I won't recommend something to them just because it's affordable
- can handle credit card transactions
- one-time license payment to use it, I don't want them to have to deal with yearly subscriptions or other such complications
- mature software, something that's unlikely to need upgrades in the near future

I respectfully thank you in advance for any input!

[BadRad]

Hello

Such a setup highly depends on where the customer is located, and you will need to make a choice between cheap contra secure and reliable.

I believe most reliable and secure systems have monthly fee's associated with them. But you may be able to negotiate something.
Some recommendations could be: Worldpay, Pago and Wirecard AG

If you're looking for "freeware" it would probably be something like PayPal and Alertpay.

Hopes this helps a bit.

[Rohit123]

Well you can use PayPal or 2Checkout. You have also option of Google Checkout too. All accept Credit card payments.

[Edwardg]

If were to use Paypal does the customer need to sign in all the time?

How is google checkout?

Eddie

[stymiee]

If were to use Paypal does the customer need to sign in all the time?

No.

How is google checkout?

It's ok. It doesn't offer anything special and usually is best used as an alternative payment option which means it gives your users a second, or third, choice about how to pay. Usually it is offered with a merchant account or Paypal as the other two options.

[nuttakorn]

There are number of Payment Gateway Service, Is that your business based in US? There are number of great provider in US such as Authorized.net that you can implement the system as you wish by API as well.

[stymiee]

There are number of Payment Gateway Service, Is that your business based in US? There are number of great provider in US such as Authorized.net that you can implement the system as you wish by API as well.

Authorize.Net is NOT a Payment Processor! They are only a payment gateway. Without a merchant account tied to them they're useless for processing credit cards.

[msl]

One option that has not gotten much coverage in the other replies is the merchant account. What you will need is to integrate a shopping cart (there are a number of options, including free, available out there) into your website and contact a high-risk merchant account provider, as travel agencies are considered very high risk. You will need a gateway to connect the shopping cart to your processing bank and your processor should provide it for you. The gateway should be installed for free and will have a monthly service fee which should not be higher than $15.

[ladyjerusalem]

You can use PayPal, but I don't advise Google Checkout. I had one really bad problem once where someone somehow managed to create a duplicate account for my business and charge a whole bunch of people's cards for stuff they never got and I never knew about. Talk about a bad deal. Google is not secure enough, in my opinion, to handle credit card transactions.

PayPal's fees are rather bogus, and the payment gateway can be really confusing to customers that aren't used to paying with PayPal. I use http://www.expresspaymentgateway.com to process cards on my site. They have the lowest monthly fee I could find, no set up fee, a free shopping cart, and a virtual terminal. The rates are a lot better than PayPal's too, which I find kind of bogus.

Hope that helps!

Jessica Martin
JJ Martin Clothing

[stymiee]

You can use PayPal, but I don't advise Google Checkout. I had one really bad problem once where someone somehow managed to create a duplicate account for my business and charge a whole bunch of people's cards for stuff they never got and I never knew about. Talk about a bad deal. Google is not secure enough, in my opinion, to handle credit card transactions.

PayPal's fees are rather bogus, and the payment gateway can be really confusing to customers that aren't used to paying with PayPal. I use <snip> to process cards on my site. They have the lowest monthly fee I could find, no set up fee, a free shopping cart, and a virtual terminal. The rates are a lot better than PayPal's too, which I find kind of bogus.

Hope that helps!

Jessica Martin
JJ Martin Clothing

Paypal's rates are very, very competitive. You can verify that by checking out the Merchant Account Comparison article (also published here at sitepoint: Solve the Payment Processing Problem) which compares Paypal to other third party providers and a ture merchant account w/ payment gateway. The built in calculator clearly shows Paypal is tough to beat for most businesses. It's the other non-monetary factors that usually factor into the decision on whether to use Paypal or not.

Also, comparing Paypal to a payment gateway is not a fair or accurate comparison as they are two very different things. Paypal is all inclusive (they handle all aspects of accepting payments) whereas that payment gateway (or any payment gateway) requires a merchant account to function otherwise it is useless. And of course the merchant account has even more fees on top of what the payment gateway offers.

I checked out that site you linked to. I don't recommend them. Their merchant account and gateway rates and fees are average at best. Definitely not more competitive then Paypal. I'd rather seek a different merchant account with better rates and then use a proven and more popular gateway like Authorize.Net. That way I know I'm with a company that will be around for a while and is support by any processor I choose.

[AlexM]

Hi,

Thank you for your replies everyone! I now have a new question for you, since things changed a tad:

I'm looking for a remotely-hosted credit card payment system. This is for a Canadian business that does not ship any goods but simply accepts credit card payments (it's a travel agency). PayPal and 2Checkout are unacceptable because the client prefers to pay a monthly fee rather than have a tax taken on every payment. I looked at some sites that offer e-stores, but that seems like overkill, unless you know of a simple, light one.

Thanks for helping me everyone! Oh, and I did read the pinned thread that lists such services, but that was made all the way back in 2002 and things are bound to have changed a bit since then

[EC Suite_Russell]

PayPal and 2Checkout are unacceptable because the client prefers to pay a monthly fee rather than have a tax taken on every payment.

As far as I am aware every processor either has a per transaction fee or takes a percent of your over all volume. Third party processors are basically aggregating a merchant account, and thats how merchant account fees work. If there are any that don't work this way I'd be interested in seeing them as well.

[bluestartech]

PayPal is the most univerally avaialable and accessable payment platform there is at the moment. Google Checkout only available in certain countries.

[stymiee]

As far as I am aware every processor either has a per transaction fee or takes a percent of your over all volume. Third party processors are basically aggregating a merchant account, and thats how merchant account fees work. If there are any that don't work this way I'd be interested in seeing them as well.

Exactly. If you want to accept credit card payments a small portion of the total will be taken a fee for accepting that transaction. There's no way around it.

[selfhelpebooks]

I definitely like PayPal.
They are quite big since Ebay owns them.

[mybaseballcards]

Paypal and Google Checkout are the big ones I have heard of and know that are reputable. Not that the others aren't, but I would go with one of those two.

[AnandC]

From my research it seems that PayPal is not all that cheap when you consider the Payflow Pro option. I don't want my users to leave our site, so the Express/Payflow Link options are out for me.

When comparing prices, it seems that a "true merchant account" is not that much more expensive than PayPal Payflow Pro. But there is one point that I am confused on...if I go with Payflow Pro, there is no need for a merchant account? Correct? I think all the payments will go directly into my PayPal account.

[AnandC]

All, I found the answer to the question I just posted....https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/we...#Why_do_I_need

Looks like you still need a merchant account