Payments for On line shops in Ireland

[MickW]

Afternoon to everyone,

Could someone confirm the following to me as I'm getting different information from various sources (elsewhere) and I'm getting confused !!!

Re.setting up ecommerce sites for Irish merchants

1.Is it still the case that Paypal will not accept laser cards?
2.Are there any Payment Bureaus ie 2Checkout,Nochex,Worldpay who WILL accept Laser cards?
3.Anyone got any ideas how much they chrage if accept Laser?
4.Understand that Realex accept Laser.Any other Payment Service Providers accepting laser cards?
5.Am I right in assuming that the seller will have to set up a Merchant Agreemenet with their bank prior to using a Payment Service Provider ie Realex?
6.General question - what have other webmasters done when client asks for site to accept laser cards and client cannot/will not get Merchant agreemnet for Payment service provider.Any ways around this/suggestions etc?

Thanks in advance !!! (tearing hair out at the moment!!!)

Mick W

 

[bucks]

Correct, PayPal will NOT accept laser..

RBS do however, more info below;

Merchant Services & Payment Processing | Help & Support | RBS WorldPay

 

[louie]

Also SagePay.ie

 

[davedave]

1.Is it still the case that Paypal will not accept laser cards?

Yes Paypal do not accept Laser cards.

2.Are there any Payment Bureaus ie 2Checkout,Nochex,Worldpay who WILL accept Laser cards?

RBS WorldPay are the only Payment Bureau who will accept Laser cards.

3.Anyone got any ideas how much they chrage if accept Laser?

You can find details of their Business Gateway Plus offering for Irish Merchants on their provider profile on my site webpayments.ie. They charge a setup fee of €145, monthly fee of €20 and a transaction charge of 3.95% on the value of all transactions.

4.Understand that Realex accept Laser.Any other Payment Service Providers accepting laser cards?

All of the Payment Service Providers listed on the webpayments.ie comparison table will allow you to accept laser once you have a Merchant Service Agreement that allows it also. All of the providers listed work with AIB-MS and most work with Elavon and Streamline. These would be the most popular acquiring banks for Irish Merchants.

5.Am I right in assuming that the seller will have to set up a Merchant Agreemenet with their bank prior to using a Payment Service Provider ie Realex?

Yes this is correct. Some of the Payment Service Providers such as SagePay may have partnered with an acquiring bank so that you can get your Merchant Service Agreement through them.

6.General question - what have other webmasters done when client asks for site to accept laser cards and client cannot/will not get Merchant agreemnet for Payment service provider.Any ways around this/suggestions etc?

Realistically RBS WorldPay are your only option. They are expensive compared to the Payment Service Provider and Merchant Service Agreement route but you are paying the premium for not having a Merchant Service Agreement. If anyone of the other posters there know of an alternative solution I will be interested to hear of it.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[MickW]

Thanks

DaveDave,Louie,Bucks

Many thanks for your quick and informative responses - much appreciated.At least I've got some hair left now!!!!

 

[MickW]

Online Payments

BTW Dave/Dave - great site (webpayments.ie)

 

[MOH]

Hijacking this thread slightly, looking at possible setting up an online shop, costs probably mean I'd just be looking at Paypal initially so no Laser.

Was half considering offering a pay by cheque option to facilitate people who don't have credit cards. It's not something I've commonly seen offered, although most sites I'd buy off would probably be operating on a larger scale. Is this practical on a small scale?

If the business took off and volume grew I'd probably phase it out in favour of laser once I upgrade my payment processor.

 

[davedave]

Hi MOH,

I have not heard come across any sites that allow you to pay by cheque. These days I think most people have access to a credit card or else they can buy a disposable card such as 3V. I suppose there is no harm in having it as an option as it won't cost you to offer it as a payment method.

In terms of collecting payments via cheque, it is an expensive form of payment. When you consider the time and costs involved for the customer to post you a cheque - example: stamp and cheque. Then the time and costs associated with you having to lodge the cheque to your account.

An post were offering a service called "Go & Pay" but when I enquired about it a few months back they said that they were not continuing it. I asked why not and they said due to network issues but they would not expand further on this statement.

What is the nature of your business? Are you selling something that would appeal to a demographic who would not have access to a credit card or would be reluctant to use one online? If not then I think you should proceed with using PayPal.

Dave

 

[MOH]

To be honest, I'd expect most customers to have a credit card or at least a 3v, but you do see a lot of complaints on Irish forums about websites that don't take laser so I was looking at an alternative.

That Go & Pay thing might have been useful if the were continuting it, depending on what the fees were like - they still have it up on their website

Just to be clear, Paypal will be the main option, the cheque thing was just to offer another option in case it was needed. To be honest I wouldn't see many people using it, and I'm not sure if it would do more harm than good.

 

[davedave]

Just to be clear, Paypal will be the main option, the cheque thing was just to offer another option in case it was needed. To be honest I wouldn't see many people using it, and I'm not sure if it would do more harm than good.

I agree no harm in providing it as an option. Perhaps you could have it in your FAQ section - "Is it possible to order from the site if you do not have a credit card?". And your answer could explain that you will take payment via cheque and for them to telephone you to confirm that order. That way you will not have to spend time customising your checkout process to deal with payment by cheque and also it might help reduce the amount of people you get trying a bank draft scam.

Dave

 

[MOH]

Cheers, might go that route actually. Tbh, for the likely transaction sizes, a bounced cheque isn't going to cost us a fortune. But putting it in the FAQ would let us offer it as an option without encouraging people to use it.

 

[MickW]

Online Payments - Contd

Another quick question please

I'm a little unsure about SSL certificates.Appreciate that SSL will not be needed where Payment Bureau involved (I assume Paypal,Worldpay take care of this when transaction goes through on their site)

However,if a Payment Service Provider was to be used,would SSL have to be set up for client and how much would this cost/where would I get one from?

Alternatively,I am correct in assuming that a PSP will provide SSL for client as part of their service?

Thanks again

Mike

 

[MickW]

Contd...

Sorry just one more question on security..

I'm now reading about something called PCI compliance.Realex say that this takes the form of an assessment on their site but thats the point where I'm gettin confused.Something to do with whether credit card numbers are store on the site(?)

Does PCI always kick in when PSPs used?

Can anyone shed light on what this assessmnet is and who completes it?

Just to let you know where I am at this stage.Would be using Virtuemart with a paymnets plug in for WorldNet TPS and osCommerce plug in for Realex

Thanks again

MickW

 

[ashburner]

We offer the option to pay by cheque. Though in theory we wait for clearance before sending out goods, in practice we send them out as soon as the cheque arrives, especially as its normally 2-3 days before we can be bothered to go to the bank.. Its never caused any problems.
Its used by about 2-3% of our customers and has the advantage of no fees.

The option that we keep getting asked for is Bank Transfers, apparently they use them a lot in Europe. We have done it a few times with no hassle (and again no fees), but can't get a definitive answer from AIB about any risks of giving out bank account no.

 

[davedave]

but can't get a definitive answer from AIB about any risks of giving out bank account no.

Jeremy Clarkson published his bank account details in his newspaper column to prove that the story about the loss of 25 million people's personal details was a fuss about nothing.

The following Saturday he saw on his bank statement that someone had setup a direct debit to automatically take £500 from his account


MickW - lots of questions there I don't have time to reply in detail right now but will do so later.


Dave

 

[MickW]

Online Payments - contd...

Dave - thanks very much - really appreciate your help.

Hopefully it will also help other members who may have same queries.

no urgency in coming back - appreciate we've all got busy lives!!!

Thanks again

MickW

 

[MOH]

We offer the option to pay by cheque. Though in theory we wait for clearance before sending out goods, in practice we send them out as soon as the cheque arrives, especially as its normally 2-3 days before we can be bothered to go to the bank.. Its never caused any problems.
Its used by about 2-3% of our customers and has the advantage of no fees.

Thanks for that, good to know someone else is doing it.

The option that we keep getting asked for is Bank Transfers, apparently they use them a lot in Europe. We have done it a few times with no hassle (and again no fees), but can't get a definitive answer from AIB about any risks of giving out bank account no.

That's another option I was considering. If I was going that way, I'd probably set up a separate account just for that and transfer the money out regularly, so even if someone came up with a way to misuse the account there wouldn't be much to get.