<quoted from abender DeleteThis @post.com (Agata)>
>
>I use Ikobo to accept credit card payments, they are similar to
>payPal, but better, they give you Visa Debit card to withdraw your
>money on any ATM machine in the world.
I have a PayPal merchant account, and have a Mastercard that I use to spend the
money in that account, or use in any ATM. I just use it as a credit card, cuz I
don't remember my PIN lol. So PayPal offers the same thing, PLUS, I get a
percentage return when I use the card. Every time I spend my PayPal money, I
get cashback.
>Everything works, funds
>transfer is instant. I am using it for a few months and so far they
>are grait! You can also send money to anyone in the world. It is the
>most inespensive method I have found. They offers easy integration
>into any website, auction, or email.
>
Costs:
Ikobo 2.99%+.29 and 5% cash back on all buyer's purchases
Paypal 2.2% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD plus 1% if from another country
plus Cashback when using your Paypal card.
Otherwise looks about the same, but there is another consideration. There are
so many people that already have Paypal, that it is easy for them to pay. If
you ask people to sign up with Ikobo, if they haven't heard of them before,
they might balk.
I'm not saying Paypal is better, but it's just like Walmart... people complain,
but they still shop there lol. It's the biggest gorilla, so its just easier to
use it.
<snipped from peiius DeleteThis @yahoo.com (Nice Guy)>...
>> We have tried a number of 3rd party billing companies, they all closed
>> down after some time. The reasons they all gave us was that - certain
>> merchant had excessive chargebacks - thus the banks held up all the
>> funds!
Not only that, but when you are head to head with someone established in the
field, like Paypal, most upstarts won't make it. Even CitiBank (yes, one of the
biggest corporations in the world) failed at their attempt with
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.c2it.com" target="_blank">http://www.c2it.com</a> for online purchases.
>>
>> So we decided to get our own merchant account (that is right, with our
>> own billing descriptor), the rate is a good 3.5%, we got it from
>> paymentconsulting.biz, so far, we don't have any problems.
The question on merchant accounts is how much do they charge you monthly? At
3.5 a $100 purchase would be 3.50 fee, with ikobo it would be 3.28 less 5%
(3.12) and with paypal it would be 2.50 to 3.20, so it isn't high finance lol.
Now, if they charge you monthly (many merchant processors charge as much as
$10-15) then there is a difference. Of course, if you are paying monthly
charges, they usually give you lower rates. So if you have a high volume, that
works great. Did you have to pay for the script to be able to use your merchant
account? If so, how much did it cost?
The other consideration, is what do they charge you for chargebacks? Most
merchant accounts charge $10-20 for administrative charge if someone causes a
chargeback, and that is even if you defend yourself successfully or the
chargeback is wrong! You might want to look at the fine print to see what they
charge you. Also, they usually require a contract for a year. If you end your
service before the year is up, you still pay for the amount of the contract.
If you are not a successful site yet, it may not pay to get a merchant account
right away. Maybe use a service like paypal or ikobo, and when you make it
good, look around at merchant accounts. This isn't a startup option IMHO.
Lastly, if you do set up a merchant account, I suggest setting up a special
bank account to have the funds deposited into away from your regular business
funds. If you get a purchase of, say, $250, and the purchase gets charged
back, the credit card processor will take that money out of your account plus
the administrative fee. It is conceivable that they will dig into your regular
account to take back the chargeback and fees, until the transaction is cleared.
Otherwise, the money is gone.
It is just safer to do it with a special account, and only take out enough
money to leave the last 30 days' purchases covered for charge backs. Also, if
there is any dispute with your merchant account, they can take whatever they
are entitled to out of your account without you knowing. The chargeback is
automatic, and they don't tell you until after it has happened. If you counted
on that money in your checking account, you could bounce a check that way.
<minimally stated by Thaddeus Cowan Thompson <newsgroups DeleteThis @REMOVE-THIS-tgct.net>
>...
>> > When I was looking for a service like this I remember 2checkout.com
>> > being a good deal
>> >
<begun by abracad>
>> > > I am planning a small internet business and would like to accept
>> > > credit card payments through my site.
>> > >
>> > > I am considering using PayPal in this respect because it is a well
>> > > known and trudted brand which gives reassurance to the buyer. However,
>> > > I believe that to pay by PayPal buyers must first set up an account
>> > > with PayPal.
>> > >
>> > > Is this likely to be a deterrent?
>> > >
>> > > And if so are there any alternative credit card acceptance services
>> > > that are wll-known and trusted and charge on a percentage of
>> > > transaction (not fixed-fee) basis?
>> > >
>> > > Thanks for any advice on this
Again, it looks like it comes down to personal preference. How about polling?
If you have other sites, you can use an exit script to put up a question to ask
people if they prefer to use paypal, or if it would deter them from buying.
Don't use a "poll" or make it complicated. Just a question like "Do you have a
preference in payment methods? if so, please let me know which you prefer", and
three buttons, Paypal, Other, No preference. I am sure you will find it would
be no more of a deterrent than using an unknown service. I have links to other
services, also. If you want them, you can contact me. I also use Paypal at my
site <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.howtofreelance.com" target="_blank">http://www.howtofreelance.com</a> and have no problems.
I still think it's better to err on the side of familiarity. Surf around and
find other sites that sell items similar to what you are going to offer, and
see how they do it. Probably half of them use paypal, im sure. Don't try
anything risky in the beginning. It's not worth the headaches.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
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