If you want to sell on the internet, your
need to
accept credit cards. To accept credit cards, you need a merchant
account, or access to one. There're two ways of getting this: Get your
own merchant account, or 'pimp' off someone else's.
The latter is the option most new merchants
choose. You use a third-party to process your payments, and they take
percentage. Here are a few popular ones:
PayPal.com (http://www.paypal.com)
I don't recommend them as your main processor. See
http://www.paypalsucks.com.
PayPal is popular because it was 'firstest with the mostest' on auction
sites. For this reason, eBay bought them out. PayPalSucks.com) alleges
that if you have a bad order they freeze your account, and can even dip
into your bank account to make up any shortfalls. Mitigating
circumstances are not taken into account. I've read enough complaints
about PayPal on webmaster forums to heed them.
The usual rejoinder is; "But I've never had any
problems with PayPal". To which is usually retorted "Just wait 'till
you get a chargeback!"
A chargeback occurs when someone asks their
credit-card company for a refund. They say they didn't get the goods,
or they never made the order, or the goods were not as advertised. This
is passed on to the processor, who in turn debits the merchant. Or
drops him entirely. You don't want too many of these.
I've used them for years for small amounts, with
no problem, but on the basis of others' complaints in webmaster forums,
I wouldn't use them for large ones. Don't leave large amounts 'on
deposit' in any internet-based company; they're not banks, and even
banks go bust occasionally.
The best use for PayPal is to entice customers who
already use it. Find another provider to be your main one. One like ...
2Checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com)
This is a factoring service like PayPal. Unlike
them, they have a pretty good reputation with webmasters. Like PayPal,
they don't provide you with a merchant account; they process your
orders through their own.
This is why such sites have to be very stringent;
they are answerable to their own merchant account provider. Too many
bogus orders, and they go out of business.
This is why third-party factoring services like
2Checkout are very useful to a newbie merchant: fraud prevention. They
can screen out suspicious orders.
Most merchants would like to think they can sell
worldwide. The fact is most of the world is poor; MOST countries can't
afford your goods. So some citizens try to get them fraudulently.
A smart merchant would bar most of the world from
accessing his cart, and only accept orders from the USA, Canada,
western Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and his home country. Harsh,
but you'll sleep better at night.
WorldPay (http://www.worldpay.com)
A well-regarded service. I found adding it to the
Oscommerce cart (http://www.oscommerce.com)
a bit of a chore, but it worked. More expensive to join than 2Checkout.
You don't hear many gripes about WorldPay, which is rare in webmaster
circles.
ClickBank.com (http://www.clickbank.com)
Handy if you're selling a few items of inexpensive
software to start off your business. They'll let you up the price once
they're sure of you. I managed to get them to go up to $150 (whoo!). I
was very jealous of their system. It's well designed and extremely
'viral'; they're basically a huge affiliate program. Join ClickBank,
and others will try and sell your product for you.
They allow you to block whole continents from
trying to buy your product, and that is good. The odds are that a $25
order for an ebook, from a third-world country, is fraudulent.
If an order looks dodgy, it probably is. Contact
the customer by 'phone or email. If you don't get a satisfactory reply,
refund the card.
When you're making $1000 a month, get your own
merchant account.
MerchantSeek (http://www.merchantseek.com)
A useful collection of affiliate links to merchant
account and processing providers. Scroll down their front page to their
search tool. You can find an account that suits your needs. This is
most helpful to non-U.S. merchants, or those seeking 'international
merchant accounts'.
In the UK, look for 'merchant services' at:
Barclays bank (http://www.barclaycardmerchantservices.co.uk)
NatWest (http://www.natwest.com)
Bank Of Scotland (http://www.bankofscotland.co.uk)
Royal Bank Of Scotland (http://www.rbs.co.uk)
Streamline (http://www.streamline.com)
UK processing services are:
Secpay (http://www.secpay.com)
Netbanx (http://www.netinvest.co.uk)
Protx (http://www.protx.com)
Having one's own merchant account means paying
less in processing fees.
IMPORTANT: You should specify up-front that you
are looking for an internet merchant account. Internet transactions are
viewed as higher risk than those by bricks-and-mortar businesses. The
technical term is 'card not present'.
Some things you may need, if applying for an
internet merchant account of your own:
Business bank account;
Photocopy of a voided cheque for said account;
Copy of the articles of incorporation of your company;
Photocopy of your return policy information;
Trade references;
Photocopy of your driver's license or passport.
In short, you need to prove that both you and your
company are what you say they are. Your account provider is taking a
chance on you. You might send them a ton of bogus orders. A bank is a
business too, not a community service. Help them to make the right
decision! The more you can establish that you are bona-fide, the lower
the cost of your account.
Things to avoid, if you can:
a) Expensive credit-card processing software
rental or hire-purchase.
b) Monthly fees.
c) High discounts (the % of your sales they keep).
d) Fat fees up front (anything over $500 is a joke).
e) Salesmen calling you up with a spiel.
f) Getting lumbered with hiring their shopping cart as well.
Things to look out for at sites offering merchant
accounts:
If you need to maintain a U.S. presence - full
U.S. incorporation, U.S. server, U.S. offices, U.S. bank account - or
NOT.
Also if they want a deposit, and the size of their
application fee. And the usual monthly minimums, discounts etc.
Avoid getting into any software purchase or
equipment rental. You can sort all that out later, for less money.
There are plenty of good payment gateways, like Authorize.net (http://www.authorize.net)
just itching for your business.
PS: Don't accept a merchant account from an
Eastern European bank. I did, some years ago. The bank went bust. One
guy wailed on Usenet that he'd lost $10,000 dollars. Luckily for me,
business was bad that year!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
T. O' Donnell (http://www.tigertom.com)
is an ecommerce consultant in London, UK. His latest projects are a
mortgage calculator and ebook, available at http://www.tigertom.com/mortgages-uk.shtml
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