online payment systems

[Nawty]

What are the main online payment companies and their associated charges.

I only know of Paypal, but do not know their fees.

Also, if anyone has one of these online accounts associated with their business....can you launder some cash for me....only kidding...but really can you.....no really....What are the income rules for such if the payment for whatever you are selling goes through any of these online companies and they are located in say the US....is the income perceived as being within the US or from wherever you and your website are based ??

[Muadib]

PayPal is about the easiest to implement... PP charges a 3% transaction fee to receive funds from another party...

Another service of the same nature is CCBill with similar rates...

To setup a direct payment account to accept Visa, MC, Amex, you need a Merchant Account setup to route the transactions... There is a setup fee, monthly service charge and they take a percentage of your transactions too... More complicated to implement & maintain... Unless you are doing large volume, it's not worth it...

If you have a website hosted in the US and are receiving funds funneled through PP or another US banking service, the income is taxable... If you choose to report it...

This is of course for US operations... I don't know of any offshore payment services...

[FlyFree]

If you are American you have a wide variety of options. If I'm not mistaken you're an Ozzie, so probably Paypal, World Pay and CCAvenue. Worldpay is the most expensive of the three to set up.

[Thetyim]

Moneybookers.com - Send Money - Receive Money - Online Payments - Money Transfers

[Nawty]

Thanks for the info


When you say....

Merchant Account setup to route the transactions...

....I know a bank issues a business with a merchant account for direct sales and charges their usual fees. I have not had one for a long time know, so not sure what these fees are today.

But I had assumed that an online system basically held that position as the merchant, they accepted the customer c/c's and then once a month or every 2 weeks or whatever their policy is, they sent the payments direct to your account.

Correct me if this is wrong, but why would my account at any particular bank branch need another merchant facility on top of this ??

[Muadib]

^ Many websites that process transactions use a CC service to handle the online bit... Technically, the CC services are acting as a pseudo bank and require you to setup a merchant account with them to clear your funds... Cleared funds are then sent to your regular business account via direct deposit, minus fees...

Trust me, the above is much easier than trying to whittle out the program code to do CC authorizations directly from your website, handling the transactions and routing yourself... Even if you do get it working reliably, the major CC companies are going to whack you for a percentage too, just like when you swipe a card in a brick & mortar business... I know 3% sounds high for clearing transactions, but overall it's the best bet...

[FlyFree]

Unless you want an expensive solution, if you do not have an American banking account, merchant accounts are not readily available. It is possible but not really viable for a non-American small business.

You are right, online payment processors basically hold the merchant account. Depends a great deal on the type of product/service you are intending to sell, most online payment processors have limitations on some products/services (p/s). Adult-type p/s have an extra problem finding payment processors - there are a few that specialise in that market though - who will handle their business, and you will pay a high % on transactions.

Very much depends on whether you are American, what your p/s is, as well as projected volume.

Best is to have a read at a forum like webmasterworld.com or to a lesser degree Digitalpoint and a few others. These questions are well-covered on these forums, they come up constantly.

There are Thai processors, but I'd certainly stay away from them. Not being judgemental about Thai, just experince. They cruise along nicely for awhile then all of a sardine they crash, running into problems with Visa or Mastercard, and you're money is gone.

[Nawty]

Thanks.

I have no problem with 3%.

I do have a problem if that is charged twice, by the online system and then my Bank credited to.

I have no intention to require my own c/c authorizations.

[FlyFree]

Again, a lot depends whether you have an American bank account. For other accounts for instance Paypal doesn't charge for transferring the money to your Thai bank account, and the bank doesn't charge, but you have to first convert your $ to Baht at Paypal before transfer, they won't transfer the $ to Thai account, and the conversion rate they give you stinks, obviously.

[klongmaster]

There are Thai processors, but I'd certainly stay away from them. Not being judgemental about Thai, just experince. They cruise along nicely for awhile then all of a sardine they crash, running into problems with Visa or Mastercard, and you're money is gone.

you got anything to back this statement up...or is it just more internet disinformation...

[FlyFree]

There are Thai processors, but I'd certainly stay away from them. Not being judgemental about Thai, just experince. They cruise along nicely for awhile then all of a sardine they crash, running into problems with Visa or Mastercard, and you're money is gone.

you got anything to back this statement up...or is it just more internet disinformation...

Read my post, it's says experience.

[Nawty]

Do not have a US bank account, but will have a US$ account elsewhere.

If there is no foreign exchange conversion I presume they will charge something for T/T's to a foreign account

[FlyFree]

^That'd be expensive. Not sure it's possible with Paypal. Research CCAvenue, haven't looked at them for a long time, but when I last looked they were OK, and a lot cheaper than Worldpay in setup. If you're starting small, Paypal would probably the easiest, you can always change later. Just make sure your p/s is not in their excluded list. I've heard a lot of people complain about PP freezing their accounts through the years, but I've never had a problem with them. If you try and duck under their TOS you'll eventually run into problems.