Payment Processors

My team had a lengthy chat about payment processors and we wanted to know why everybody has issues with them and what they like about them.

This is purely for research purposes and I will keep this original post updated with various comments that are mentioned by other users.

So the question is this: What do you like/don't like about the current payment processors out there? If possible, please state which particular payment processor you are referring to in your responses.

If you support an issue already stated, then say so an I'll update this post to show your support of it.

Reason for this posting - we're trying to see what are the big flaws with all the current systems. Maybe a better payment processing system will present itself.

Issues:
Paypal
PRO: Convenience. Everybody accepts Paypal these days, as do many of the big websites like ebay. Their cart solutions are also a viable solution for website owners (Discreet).
CON: Policy. If they don't like your account they will seize it's funds, ban the account, and hold your money for 6 months (Discreet).
CON: Service. They have one of the worst customer services lines. 45-60 mins waiting on hold before you can actually talk to somebody, and most of them are very rude (Discreet).

 

I think that paypal sites look unprofessional. But that's a personal opinion.

I process cards thru emerchant, inc (emerchandiscount.com). Best rates I've found in forever. Used to run thru card service, but their rates have gone too high as of late.

 

I'm going to answer this from my observations and complaints I hear from customers of mine.

As far as generally across the board, fees are definitely a major complaint.

3rd Party Processors:
Paypal
No Virtual Terminal, Poor Support, Funds frozen very easily.

2checkout:
Very High Fees, limited payment integration capabilities.

Merchant Accounts:
Seeing as how this is my industry , I can give way more information about what people complain / have problems with.

Setup Time and Cost: Not all providers are free, and some charge ridiculous amounts to just get setup.

Monthly or Yearly Fees: Most businesses in the US should be able to get a merchant account without any yearly fees. A monthly statement fee and monthly minimum are common. Monthly minimum is negligible if the business processes enough.

International / High Risk Businesses; Really high setup and processing fees for these types of businesses. Unfortunately, international merchant services are controlled by banks, that are really expensive. Fraud and the lack of some security features (AVS mainly) also keep the cost up for non-high-risk international businesses.

Payment Gateways
Since these are normally provided by a different company than the merchant account provider, IE: Verisign, Authorize.net, etc., they have additional setup and monthly fees, and occasionally extra transaction fees.

 

Worldpay
Pro's: Very Easy Integration, never had any problems with them.
Cons: Money held for around 4 weeks before being released to my bank a/c

 

Paypal
Positives:

• Easy to use
• Can accept credit cards if business account
• Relatively fast deposits (compared to 2co, cb and wp)
• Large proportion of internet users use it and therefore trust it

Negatives:

• Worst customer support I've ever experienced from a big company
• Extremely bad service, freezes accounts, refunds money and therefore is easily abused
• Can appear as unprofessional
• Limited in the functions (for subscriptions, can't easily edit amounts or keep track of them)

ClickBank
Positives:

• Easy to make an account
• Can accept credit card transactions right away, and Paypal
• Easily to implement
• Human responses to emails, not templates
• Good affiliate based functions implemented at core, so easy to pick up affiliates if your product/s sell

Negatives:

• Very high fees
• Adds tax automatically to peoples orders, therefore, less conversion
• Not the most flexible payment service in terms of functionality
• Can't do subscriptions
• Only pays via Cheque, which takes a long time to arrive and bank

2Checkout
Positives:

• Easy to make an account
• Can accept credit card transactions right away
• Easily to implement
• Human responses to emails, not templates
• Alot more reporting functions than ClickBank
• Subscription support implemented
• Pays by cheque and bank transfer which makes payouts alot easier (at least for me as an international customer, I don't have to stand in a bank line like I do with ClickBank)

Negatives:

• Very high fees
• Restricted items (ie. I can't sell computer game related products because they don't allow it)
• I found staff not to be as helpful compared to ClickBank
• I don't like their knowledge FAQ database they keep refering to, and their control panel wasn't the easiest to guide around

WorldPay - I've just started using this one
Positives:

• Alot more flexible in regards to payment functions
• Adds a degree of professionalism (in my opinion) - therefore trust
• Human responses to emails, not templates
• I think the ultimate in reporting functions
• Subscription support implemented (at extra cost)
• Pays by bank transfer

Negatives:

• Very high fees (monthly cost too, I'm paying $1100+/year without including the fees from accepting payments)
• Alot more selective. I had to email them my full description of my service, full personal details and company details
• Takes a lot longer to get your account created (took me about 2 weeks), as I had to get things signed by my bank, and then sent in the post to WorldPay to verify. Long process.