Payment Gateways - Online Sales

[Mooze]

In the midst of setting up a new business. Know there's a few on here who have gone before in doing online sales, just wondering if anyone can point out what has or hasn't worked for them

For other business we're currently running an open source site (more information than shopping cart) with eway as gateway and the dragon as bank/merchant

This time as I need more shopping cart than information looking at running volusion with securepay (comparatively better pricing than eway for the size transactions I'd be seeing) and merchant through bank (moving away from dragon but may need to use them temporarily)

I've considered shopify, bigcommerce, and some of the smaller domestic sites for shopping cart, like what volusion has to offer. Any pitfalls that others have found that may not be readily apparent?

Thanks in advance

 

[DaveM]

If you are doing low value goods, then paypal can be relatively cost effective. For higher value, a proper gateway with API's like eway are the best bet.

 

[Mooze]

Thanks Dave - considered PayPal but TBH a lot of people have a low end perception of paypal, and whilst most of the total transactions will be between $25 and $50, the products themselves are often purchased as gifts or display/homewares so I need it to feel more "professional".

Currently use Eway - considering SecurePay this time (pricing, and also more supported when using Volusion).

Thanks for the feedback though I like it when people pick holes in what I've got planned - makes me view it in a different way. Usually would ask the other half but I'd end up with a custom joomla jobbie that he spends ages on which is completely against the point.

 

[Anon_]

I'm using SecurePay atm and also some of their other related businesses and their customer service as a whole is really bad - borderline unacceptable. An example, for the past 6 months our invoice dates have been coming up in USA format - month/day/year. I asked them to take a look at it and help fix it, and they flat out replied with saying they would not look at it because they had more important work to focus on.
So just a word of warning. I'm planning on moving to eWay when my site is redesigned in a couple of months.

I've also looked at hosted sites and found volusion to have the least features compared to bigcommerce and shopify. BigCommerce has big Australian backing also and have an office in Sydney or Melbourne. Shopify charge for transactions through their shopping cart which is wack, and that's between 1-2%.

Depending on how advanced the site is going to be, hosted solutions do have limitations in terms of designs and options.

 

[D_One]

I personally love PayPal and I don't have a low end perception of it. I actually believe it is good for me to use PayPal as I have the buyer protection in case the goods doesn't arrive or what not. More also, I hate entering my credit card info on just any website. I have actually not bought things on some sites because they do not accept Paypal.

 

[mattnz]

I personally love PayPal and I don't have a low end perception of it. I actually believe it is good for me to use PayPal as I have the buyer protection in case the goods doesn't arrive or what not. More also, I hate entering my credit card info on just any website. I have actually not bought things on some sites because they do not accept Paypal.

I'm with you, to me it is the most trusted and best known payment gateway. I am setting up my website using it.

 

[Sim]

While some people don't trust PayPal, others quite like some of the benefits and convenience it offers.

Solution? Offer both.

Nobody said you can't use both PayPal and your own direct payment gateway.

It might be more work to set up and maintain ... but, really - give customers a choice.

 

[Ausprop]

paypal is so horribly skewed in favour of the customer that personally I refuse offers for payment by paypal. In fact it is getting such a bad name as a scamming opportunity that I am surprised it isn't damaging their business materially

 

[Anon_]

The above is correct, buyers can very easily screw over any seller with PayPal even if the seller has done nothing wrong. But you need to accept with running an online store that you are going to get unethical and borderline criminal customers.

 

[Dan_NextPlace]

Bitcoin
https://bitpay.com/bitcoin-shopping-cart-plugins

I should add that I would not use a store/online cart you must subscribe too.
Plenty of free alternatives with millions of developers, plugins, and generally helpful people.

 

[Ojm]

I'd consider pin.net.au - it is an API service which takes care of everything.

More costly than PayPal (3% plus $0.30 per transaction, as well as monthly fee), but no hassle compare to your own facility and gateway, and more cost effective for smaller sites.

 

[hematite]

Like pin payments, look at braintree. They are pretty similar but may suit your business better or worse than pin (as their fees are of a different structure).

 

[Melbournian]

really depends how large your sales are 1K, 10K, 100K, 10000K per month?
and what kind of purchasers are they?
paypal is basically pretty safe for buyers as they can raise disputes or non-delivery and their phone support is good too.

 

[wylie]

I agree with those who trust Paypal. I also wonder how safe a payment system is that I've not heard of, and would prefer Paypal. I suppose it has its downside for the business owner, but I guess your clients are different to the millions who use Paypal for ebay purchases and the level of scammers you will have "try one one" would be less?

I like Sim's option of offering two methods. Give the customer a choice.

 

[bbmick]

Thanks Dave - considered PayPal but TBH a lot of people have a low end perception of paypal, and whilst most of the total transactions will be between $25 and $50, the products themselves are often purchased as gifts or display/homewares so I need it to feel more "professional".

Not that I want to sing the praises of PayPal - mainly when used with eBay where most of the scamming goes on with it (incl. when I got burnt)..........but I used PayPal for about 6 years on my site until 2 years ago when I closed it down with no problems at all.

As far as how "professional" it looks to a buyer will depend on how it's been intergrated into the site. Payflo Pro lets you have full customisation from what I remember - no mention of PayPal, logo's buttons etc if you don't want it (except in your sites t & c's perhaps). When I was using PP, I'd worked out it was cheaper to use PP but if volume of $$ went up, then it would be better to use things such as eWay.

 

[wylie]

Another thing to consider... when I buy through sites I love that I can just click through and choose my method of payment. If I'm wavering and have to get up from my computer, find my purse, get out my card etc, there have been times I've thought "how much to I really want this item?" and a few times have thought "not enough".

If the Paypal button is there to choose, I don't put it off until later or think too much about it. I just click through.

Having Paypal could mean a few sales that might not happen for those too lazy to get off their chairs and find their wallets...

 

[Ojm]

Agree that using PayPal is often easier than credit card... username, password, done - and safe..