cheaper alternative to paypal??

**treacle0996** · Oct 29, 2009 06:50

I have an ecommerce site in the UK and use paypal website standard to process credit cards.

I thought if I shopped around there would be a cheaper alternative, but I can't find one!

I don't have my own merchant account, so I want a system that provides that, and I don't want to have to worry about PCI/DSS, so I want something that handles all processing remotely (preferably with an HTTPS post).

Could anyone recommend an alternative??

Thanks

**mirrorsreflect** · Oct 29, 2009 07:16

Sagepay are good

Alternatively, check with your bank. Natwest for example can do a lot to set it up for you

**treacle0996** · Oct 29, 2009 08:08

I nearly signed up for sagepay (that's who Lloyds recommend). But then found out, Lloyds charge £350 merchant acct setup + 2.8% credit cards, 55p debit & 3p authorisation.

Are natwest similar?

**mirrorsreflect** · Oct 29, 2009 10:18

Well so far they have set up a business account for me, which was done online and over the phone due to having a personal account with them, and now they are in the process of contacting world pay with the details of that account so world pay can then ring me to take me through set up. Not sure of the exact pricing, but I don't think its as steep as that

**treacle0996** · Oct 29, 2009 11:27

I looked at worldpay, but their charges are about the same as paypal's starting rates (without the discount for larger volumes) + £75 setup + £15/month.

I am waiting for these people to call me back - http://www1.netbanx.com/.

**AlexDawson** · Oct 30, 2009 15:27

treacle0996, the problem is that most banks and enterprise level systems like Worldpay have monthly fees associated with them. The reason so many people use PayPal is because it's one of the cheapest merchant services out there, you could look at Amazon or Google Checkout though as their on the same level of e-merchant style services. Honestly I don't know what you are expecting, all merchants have a percentage they take from you for their services.

**vasyapupkin** · Oct 30, 2009 17:35

From the short research I did, Paypal is probably one of the cheapest options...

**felgall** · Oct 30, 2009 17:44

Every other option I have ever looked at is either way more expensive than Paypal, can't do a fraction of what Paypal can do, is something few people would trust to make a purchase, or possibly all three.

**treacle0996** · Oct 31, 2009 05:26

Thanks for all the advice.

After looking around, i agree, paypal's rates are among the best. Only problem with the web standard account is you can't take card payments over about £500 (limit varies according to card holder's status). Wll probably go with sagepay, or maybe paypal web pro.

**AlexDawson** · Nov 2, 2009 23:58

Who says you can't take payments over £500? I've never seen any such clause in PayPal's website, there are limits on unverified accounts, but those get lifted when you validate your the correct account holder. Can you link to the page where you quoted that information? or did you just assume there was an imposed limit on verified accounts? Because as far as I am aware using PayPal Payments Standard you could receive a payment without any kind of limit on receiving money.

**treacle0996** · Nov 3, 2009 03:37

No i can't give you a link to that information, a friend told me about it, and I couldn't find it anywhere on their site. Closest i could find were some questions in the forum - things like : http://www.pdncommunity.com/pdn/boar...2797974#M12217

I rang my paypal account manager who comfirmed it. Card payments are almost always accepted up to £ 500, and very unlikely to be accepted over £600. It depends on the purchaser's card, recent spending and also on your own account status. Same for payments via an unverified accounts.

**Musicbox** · Nov 3, 2009 08:26

http://www.alertpay.com http://www.moneybookers.com there are many just search online on google

**feketegy** · Nov 3, 2009 08:38

I use Moneybookers, it's a UK based company and a very strong PayPal competitor.

**felgall** · Nov 3, 2009 15:18

Just remember that there are lots of people who will not use a payment processor they have never heard of and so few people will consider using a processor that isn't owned by a bank or is one of the very few that are big enough for them to know about (such as Paypal).

**Allison2009** · Nov 3, 2009 23:44

For withdrawing more than $500 from PayPal, you need to verify the Credit Card details - not just the bank account. Is it safe to do so. For safety reasons, I am not able to do this till now.

**BillyParadise** · Nov 4, 2009 00:13

Also consider that with a real merchant account you just look "more legitimate". That should translate to additional sales.

**AlexDawson** · Nov 4, 2009 04:40

Originally Posted by treacle0996

I rang my paypal account manager who comfirmed it. Card payments are almost always accepted up to £ 500, and very unlikely to be accepted over £600. It depends on the purchaser's card, recent spending and also on your own account status. Same for payments via an unverified accounts.

I found an article on it, the amount you can receive is much higher than £500...

https://www.paypal.com/helpcenter/ma...637&isSrch=Yes

**treacle0996** · Nov 4, 2009 05:46

But that is for paypal members - presumably verified account holders.

note the last line:

If you live outside of the U.S. and do not have a PayPal account, your transaction limit may vary.

**AlexDawson** · Nov 4, 2009 12:06

True but if you do the math and apply the approximate same reduction as the US rates got, it's probably closer to £2,500

User Tag List

Thread: cheaper alternative to paypal??

Thread Tools

Display

cheaper alternative to paypal??

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions