Best way to accept credit cards?(advice?)

[apex]

I'm starting to rollout my nutritional site and am looking for the best way to go on this route. Powweb is advirtising this Cardservice International a lot, anyone use them? All feedback is welcome, THANKS!

-Eric

[(jj)]

There is always PayPal as well.

[imagesheaven]

I keep it simple and use both PayPal and Google Checkout - I use their emailed invoice method and it has worked extremely well, funds directly deposited to bank account, customers very satisfied, no fees/percentages at all taken by GC until 2008 (free through rest of 2007), and no code or API to fumble with. If any specific questions based on experience, please ask.

[entrecon]

I haven't used the Google check-out, but I have used and recommended the PayPal payment option for years. It may not be the greatest look/option, but if you are starting a small online business there is no contract to sign and no monthly fees to pay. You only pay transaction fees on actual sales.

[YvetteKuhns]

Cardservice International is NOT recommended! I have spent years dealing with various payment processors. They remind me of those guys in trench coats that want to sell a watch to you.

PayPal is okay for new businesses. There are no monthly gateway fees and no application fee. And PayPal pays you, so if your customer bounces a check, it is PayPal's problem and not yours.

ECHO is good for US businesses. VeriSign is expensive and can be complicated. Authorize.net is popular, but a bit expensive also. Many shopping carts support them. Be sure that the payment processor you choose works with YOUR bank/merchant account.

I haven't tried Google Checkout yet, but it is scary how much Google is trying to control. They already like to track our search habits. They are like Big Brother watching every move on the Internet. Soon they will integrate with a keylogger to know what we do offline! (That last sentence is not true. I shouldn't give them any ideas. Oh, wait. There are plenty of spyware programs out there. Someone may already be reporting this.)

[dmacminn]

It will also depend on which shopping cart you wish to use to certain extent ... anecdotally we seem to see more problems with GoogleCheckout, then Authorize.net; very few issues with Paypal or CSI -- as with anything else, your milage will vary....

[Hostalot]

http://www.2checkout.com/community/

is also an option.

[rok0808]

Originally Posted by YvetteKuhns

Cardservice International is NOT recommended! I have spent years dealing with various payment processors. They remind me of those guys in trench coats that want to sell a watch to you.

PayPal is okay for new businesses. There are no monthly gateway fees and no application fee. And PayPal pays you, so if your customer bounces a check, it is PayPal's problem and not yours.

ECHO is good for US businesses. VeriSign is expensive and can be complicated. Authorize.net is popular, but a bit expensive also. Many shopping carts support them. Be sure that the payment processor you choose works with YOUR bank/merchant account.

I haven't tried Google Checkout yet, but it is scary how much Google is trying to control. They already like to track our search habits. They are like Big Brother watching every move on the Internet. Soon they will integrate with a keylogger to know what we do offline! (That last sentence is not true. I shouldn't give them any ideas. Oh, wait. There are plenty of spyware programs out there. Someone may already be reporting this.)

Agreed! Agreed! Agreed! Look at CardService International and then run in the oppostie direction. These guys are bad news. I am speaking from personal experience.

I haven't tried Google Checkout yet, either, and I won't until they accept payments from Korea where most of my customers are. For now, I use PayPal. It is not my first choice but it works for the most part.

I am going to check out ECHO thanks for the tip. I am having some concerns raised because my sales are genrated via the internet (e-commerence) (no physical store), I am a service company, and I deal only with international customers.

[imagesheaven]

Originally Posted by rok0808

I haven't tried Google Checkout yet, either, and I won't until they accept payments from Korea where most of my customers are. For now, I use PayPal. It is not my first choice but it works for the most part.

I am going to check out ECHO thanks for the tip. I am having some concerns raised because my sales are genrated via the internet (e-commerence) (no physical store), I am a service company, and I deal only with international customers.

I've been using Google Checkout now for another month - many transactions, all go very smoothly (and no fees or percentages taken - 100% of sale goes to my account (for rest of 2007)). I deal about 35% with international customers - it's not the transactions that give me angst, it's the shipping (preparation, tracking, follow-up if something goes wrong/takes too long, irate customers when they have to pay unexpected customs duties on their end) - sounds like you must have it down pat.

[YvetteKuhns]

I am going to check out ECHO thanks for the tip.

ECHO is the original Electronic Clearing HOuse that processed online payments. You can have secure checkout on their host or your own. I helped them develop the Perl version to add to your own shopping cart, since they didn't have it a few years ago when I created a shopping cart in Perl. They have php, Cold Fusion and others. I never had problems with them.

It doesn't matter where your customers live. They only require your business to be from the United States, unless they have changed it since I last looked. They are more trustworthy than many of the others and I have dealt with many on behalf of my clients.

Google Checkout makes me nervous, not because it is new but since Google seems to track EVERYTHING and get their noses into every online experience. This seems scary like Big Brother. Maybe I am just paranoid. If someone hacked Google for this data, what a hassle that would be for those whose information could be exploited.

[Fuzzytek]

I've seen numerous posts around the internet that give warning of using PayPal for accepting payment of services. Why - because your customer can dispute the received goods and Paypal has been known to side with the consumer quite often. Sadly this is a reflection on the number of shady business operations on the web.

I'm using Paypal and plan to be using them. I know my customers, so I haven't had any concern in my transactions with them. Paypal does slice off a chunk for their service though that competitors could feasibly offer comparable service at a better rate.

There are a lot of hooks that have been built for Paypal integration as well. So it isn't much different than Microsoft... market leader gets the most community support and continues their domination (even if the product isn't the best around). I won't knock Paypal - they are successful for a number of reasons. Aligning with success is usually a smart move, just don't blindly go with the flow.

[YvetteKuhns]

Paypal has been known to side with the consumer quite often.

Untrue. I recently got ripped off by someone on eBay. The seller got my money and I got nothing! PayPal is owned by eBay and they make money twice every time the seller cheats someone. eBay pulled the listing, so they know this seller is bad. They said PayPal would refund my money, but they didn't.

For years, I have done fine with my web design business and buying and selling on and off eBay. When there was a problem as a customer, I got cheated. I never had a problem as a seller. I am still upset over this, because I know this guy has done this before and will continue to do it. He admitted it by email.

[btrials]

Yvette,

Do you know the rates for Echo? I looked through their site but didn't find any info. Right now PayPal and Google checkout is my option although most customers have used PayPal. I won't be using PayPal forever but their rates are pretty good compared to others...

[YvetteKuhns]

Google checkout has not been around long and some people have reported problems with it. ECHO is the first and best solution for U.S. businesses. I don't have the latest numbers for ECHO, but they only charge for months you have a sale instead of monthly gateways. At least, that was the case for one of my clients.

Ah ha. Sorry, but I haven't reviewed their website in a while. They changed it and hid the info! See this page.

Enjoy the benefits of our competitive rates and low $19.95 monthly fee (no charge for no activity) while eliminating the Secure Payment Gateway fees that the other gateway companies charge! Most processors rely on an outside gateway company to provide Secure Payment Gateway service for them, but at ECHO we own the gateway!

[imagesheaven]

Why not let customers help you decide. On my website I offer the option of paying by credit card via either PayPal or Google Checkout. I figured GC was fairly new and not as many people would already have accounts as would with PP which has been around forever. They would be more likely to use an account that was already opened (PP) versus one they had to open from scratch (GC) - or so I thought. I am continually amazed that 7 out of 10 customers choose to pay with GC, 2 in 10 with PP and 1 in 10 by check or money order - and this is for single items ranging from $1,000 to $2,500 each. This is over the course of 8 months. Maybe there is just a higher 'trust factor' in peoples minds with the Google name - I don't know. If I ever due a customer survey on the issue I will let you know the results.

[YvetteKuhns]

Why not let customers help you decide.

We did this on one of my client's websites. This was BEFORE Google checkout, but with a choice of PayPal or ECHO, people chose PayPal! I was surprised. I figured we should have an option for those who did not use or trust PayPal. Her home decor website had products ranging from $20 to several thousand dollars in price.

Her target audience happened to be people with Yahoo, Hotmail and MSN email addresses. Most of them bought on eBay or elsewhere using PayPal. Most of them were in the United States, though a few were in Canada. I truly think that the target audience is a big factor.

I personally don't trust Google checkout, because every time I search Google (and I don't use the toolbar), spam soon appears in my Inbox that is related, even if I didn't click anything in the search! Yes, I search without clicking when I am checking page ranking for websites. Google is like Big Brother watching everything you do on the Internet. I don't like that.

[imagesheaven]

I agree - Google can be like big brother. There is, however a place in your general Google account where you can turn off all tracking items (browsing history, click history, etc.). Besides turning off all that tracking stuff, I use as few of their other services as possible (i.e. custom home page, custom news page, etc.). I suppose when I see one of their camera cars driving slowly down my street photographing each household for Google Earth, I will probably quit all their stuff. However, I don't yet feel harassed in anyway from using Checkout - it works fine, no extra spam and is saving a bundle with no fees or percentages taken. Even when they DO end the free use come January 1st, their per-transaction fee will be substantially lower the PayPal as will the percentage of transaction they will take (i.e. 2.9% vs. 3.9%).

[YvetteKuhns]

I suppose when I see one of their camera cars driving slowly down my street photographing each household for Google Earth, I will probably quit all their stuff.

We saw an airplane fly over my sister's new home recently. It made a few passes just above the trees. We were outside, so I guess we may be in those pictures! We were joking that it was Google map photographers.

However, I don't yet feel harassed in anyway from using Checkout - it works fine, no extra spam and is saving a bundle with no fees or percentages taken. Even when they DO end the free use come January 1st, their per-transaction fee will be substantially lower the PayPal as will the percentage of transaction they will take (i.e. 2.9% vs. 3.9%).

I agree that PayPal fees are more than accepting (major) credit cards directly. I do both. I am not PayPal's biggest fan, but I do get payments from them and I still use them for eBay buying and selling. Unless Google competes with eBay auctions or accepts Google checkout, PayPal will still have an audience.

[imagesheaven]

Oh yeah, I agree - PayPal does a fine job. I've never had a problem with them and all my transaction with them (when my customers choose to pay through them) go smoothly and cleanly. It's just that GC is a good alternative and at a better price. Since Ebay owns PayPal I double you will ever see GC as an option offered by Ebay. I too have had a PayPal account for years and use it when purchasing from Ebay.

[YvetteKuhns]

Since Ebay owns PayPal I double you will ever see GC as an option offered by Ebay.

I know. That is why I think Google would need to create their own auction or shopping network to create a reason for people to not need PayPal.

[bwhite]

I use paypal at my shop and also their Virtual Terminal so I can take cards over the phone. Many people prefer to pay in a phone call, don't trust the internet. Also if people have a problem for one reason or the other, I can usually put the order through for them. It is working very well for me. I also download the daily transaction and import into a database. So I can see sales in any form I want.