Payments method... I need advice...

First of all the main problem with HSBC ePayments API is that you can't sign up for it unless you have held a merchant account with them for over a year. This means that it is limited to the number of people that can use it.

Secondly it costs something like £200 start up and then £50 a month + 2.39% of each transaction. Don't quote me on that because it was 4 months since I last was told the cost. It's different for each person who wants to sign up as well.

I know osCommerce is one supported gateway but if you have a look at the oscommerce forums you'll see that the thread regarding HSBC epayments runs for over 400 posts full of problems and severely stressed out people. There are 2 oscommerce MODS and people still find problems with both of them. i think the main problem is that their system isn't fully compatible with every server and you need to have SSL certificates installed.

If you want to have a look at how it works go to www.thepresentshop.co.uk and make a purchase by credit card. You can go to cancel the order once you're inside the hsbc pages.

If some pages don't load up this afternoon it's probably because I'm working on them.

 

Actually HSBC it seems outsources it processing to Global Payments who actually also might use Authorizenet.com it seems from their website. Sometimes, some of these smaller processors like to push their own proprietary gateway which has not been built up as needed. But as long as it is CISP-compliant, that should be fine

 

Ok, my two cents on this. I live in Portugal and recently paypal added the option to withdraw funds to a Portuguese bank account. Great...but, I have tried to do this several times and the process is always suspended. Now, I have a lot of cash stuck inside paypal and they say they cannot do anything to get it out ....yeah....
As to ikobo, is it really out of business? I do not think they are, I just signed up for an account and they really seem the best choice for us, Europeans. I like the ikard option but I will have to try to raise that sending/receiving limit; I think it is pathetically low.

 

We aren't talking about their Paypal type service....The shut down their merchant services.

 

I know it's not the best option but could you not buy some items with your Paypal account and then sell them on? If you're totally stuck with trying to get your money out of Paypal then this could be 1 way of quickly getting it out. Not a great long term option though.

 

I accept Paypal on all my sites but since only about 2-4% of people use it, I just spend that money for necesary expenses. In all my years I have never requested a check.

 

I try to offer as many different methods of payment as possible as it isn't that much extra effort in the long run if it means more sales. I've even got postal orders stuck in there just in case although most orders have come by cheque or Paypal so far.

 

Weirfire, yes that could be an option, I will give it a try!Anyway, I am closing my paypal account as soon as they even allow me to !

 

You could always pay for your web hosting with Paypal although I dont know which web hosting providers accept Paypal.

 

GoDaddy does if you're into that kind of thing.

 

I do not pay for web hosting. I barter for my services
I have been reading the ikobo post, man! Now that I have found someone who would operate in Portugal they go down! I guess I will have to keep looking. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Thank you

 

You should be able to use Worldpay or 2checkout. They're a little more expensive but you can use them for any country in the World. I think Worldpay is the most popular out of those 2 though.

What hosting do you use that's free? I'm paying next to nothing for my hosting but I'm very happy with the service that they give me!

 

Oh, my wehbosting provider is not free, he only does not charge me because I provide him with 3 free articles a month. We made a deal

Will check on worldpay and 2checkout. Thank you so much!

 

You're welcome

There are plenty of others mentioned on the other payment methods thread which is longer than this 1.

 

If you are going to think about Worldpay...be sure to ask for a better price no matter what they quote you. They cut most of my fees in half just for asking!

They are probably one of the better ones but you pay for that!

(It also depends on your volume)

 

As far as I know, the new ikobo investors changed their strategy and stopped offering merchant services. If you just want to use their send/receive money transfer service then you won't have any problems. I still use it and it works exactly the same ...

 

That's a good bit of information Sonia. What's the reason for your wee red square? You seem like a normal person

 

I thought the Ikobo removal of merchant services was because of new requirements of card associations. And I think that's also why they don't take Mastercards. For example, take 2checkout - they had what I believe was the same problem, yet they solved it by clearly pronouncing being just a reseller of their customers goods and services, and changing the visual appearance and legal texts to not to misguide anyone to think otherwise.

Though this is just my thinking along the topic, no facts or insider info to backup.

 

This is one of the dangers of these type of companies though. You all share the same "merchant account". This is also why myPaysystems went bust. They had just a few customers that got a load of chargebacks and that meant "everybody" had a load of chargebacks. There is a reason the major processors using this only accept certain countries. They are hedging their bets that their merchant account won't be closed.

Ikobo it seems could no longer mantain the balancing act.

There is a huge difference between their two divisions and merchant accoutns is by far the more difficult and risky one.

 

Maybe because posting or answering questions about a specific service is nowadays considered spamming. I don't really know the reason ... Anyway, I am always happy to help so I won't stop posting just because someone gave me a red flag ...