SitePoint Sponsor

User Tag List

Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: Merchant Account without a fixed transaction fee

  1. #1
    SitePoint Enthusiast ScubaDvr2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    81
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)

    Merchant Account without a fixed transaction fee

    Hello,
    I'm finishing up with a website that will charge 99% of the users around $1 a month for service. If I use a merchant account that has a fixed fee for every transaction like 30 cents (example: paypal), i'll be losing 30% of my revenue. Does anybody know of one that just charges a percentage? I'm willing to accept double what paypal charges (2.9%) I just need to find one that won't take a significant portion of my revenue.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    SitePoint Enthusiast ScubaDvr2's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Posts
    81
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Does nobody know of one?

  3. #3
    SitePoint Zealot
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    128
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I'm in search for one too, for one dollar micro transactions myself. In my case PayPal takes more than 3.9% + 0.30 + 2.55% (Currency exchange).

    The only one I was able to find (http://www.noca.com) did not allow credit card transactions, and not very instant but has incredibly low fees like 0.25% of every transaction. The disappointing part is that its currently U.S only I think.

    If you do find one kindly let me know? Thanks.

  4. #4
    Follow Me On Twitter: @djg gold trophysilver trophybronze trophy Dan Grossman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Philadephia, PA
    Posts
    20,580
    Mentioned
    1 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    PayPal has a micropayment fee option. They'll take 5% + $0.05 of each payment, which would be $0.10 for your $1 payments. The choice of the micropayment fee versus normal fee table is per-account, so you'll be charge this fee even if you also accept larger payments.

    https://www.paypal.com/IntegrationCe...opayments.html
    17-29% of paid ad clicks are fraudulent. Get protected with Improvely, your online marketing dashboard.
    Conversion tracking, click fraud detection, A/B testing and more.

  5. #5
    SitePoint Zealot
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Posts
    128
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Grossman View Post
    PayPal has a micropayment fee option. They'll take 5% + $0.05 of each payment, which would be $0.10 for your $1 payments. The choice of the micropayment fee versus normal fee table is per-account, so you'll be charge this fee even if you also accept larger payments.

    https://www.paypal.com/IntegrationCe...opayments.html
    It is only available for US, UK, and Australia right?

  6. #6
    SitePoint Zealot
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Posts
    134
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I think most merchant accounts will charge you a percentage for each transaction, while the payment processor charges a fixed monthly fee / charge per transaction. So for each transaction there are in effect 2 fees.
    This link may be of use. http://eprofitnews.com/payment-processors.html

  7. #7
    Programming Since 1978 silver trophybronze trophy felgall's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Sydney, NSW, Australia
    Posts
    15,815
    Mentioned
    8 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Most merchants not only charge a flat fee plus percentage of each transaction but also charge a flat monthly fee as well. Of all the options I looked at a couple of years ago Paypal was the cheapest because it had a similar fee structure to all the others but without the $30 monthly charge.
    Stephen J Chapman

    javascriptexample.net, Book Reviews, follow me on Twitter
    HTML Help, CSS Help, JavaScript Help, PHP/mySQL Help, blog
    <input name="html5" type="text" required pattern="^$">

  8. #8
    SitePoint Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    10
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I think merchant account charges on transaction. And the per transaction fee and percentage of order fee - but I am getting charged multiple fees For every order I am being the charged the $0.30 fee when the order is placed.

  9. #9
    SitePoint Wizard silver trophy
    beley's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    LaGrange, Georgia
    Posts
    6,116
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    There are a lot of different fees to consider...

    • Gateway fee (monthly fee)
    • Authorization fee (per authorization, whether it's successful or not)
    • Batch fee/settlement fee
    • Statement fee (monthly fee)
    • Discount Rate (&#37; of each transaction)
    • Surcharge for business cards, non-qualified transactions, and rewards cards (% of each transaction, usually +1-2%)
    • Other miscellaneous fees



    It's a pretty complicated game they play and I have never seen any merchants that didn't charge some combination of those fees. Visa/MC charges them discount rate (% transaction) fees and maybe some transaction fees as well. They don't usually mark them up very much (although you could just be with a bad merchant)

  10. #10
    SitePoint Zealot izaak's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2001
    Location
    Maine
    Posts
    131
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Look up "Interchange Plus" under your country it is the least expensive way for small ticket merchants. Now had said that most providers would want a minimum monthly processing fee of $25 or greater, but as long as your processing fees are equal or more than the minimum it won't cost youy anything.
    GetchaName
    Domain Name Ideas
    www.getchaname.com
    sales@getchaname.com

  11. #11
    Non-Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Bulgaria
    Posts
    25
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    Those rates seem to be in line with most merchant accounts but I can see you point with the corporate cards and such. I think rather than cost you should look for merchants that will allow those types of cards. The extra money you make being able to use those cards may make up for the extra fee.

  12. #12
    SitePoint Addict
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Nashville
    Posts
    333
    Mentioned
    0 Post(s)
    Tagged
    0 Thread(s)
    I have the same issue. I was going to charge .99 for something and .30 is high.

    With a high volume of transactions I would be willing to pay a high monthly fee. I will do about 50,000 to 100,000 transactions per month.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •