Payment System Reviews

Discussion in 'Payment Systems' started by webguy22, Oct 1, 2008.

  1. webguy22

    webguy22 aMember Pro Customer

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    Can anyone share their experiences with the payment systems that work with aMember? Looking for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thanks
  2. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

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    I use PayPal and Authorize.NET exclusively with no problems. Had Google Checkout a while back but found them to restrictive on their site requirements (what / how you can use it) and pulled them off..
  3. webguy22

    webguy22 aMember Pro Customer

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    Thanks Skippy.

    How do people feel about having the payment system hold the credit card info vs aMember? If I read it right, aMember can. But from a secure perspective, which is the "safer" approach?

    My requirements will be free and paid membership signups, sending weekly newsletters, and selling a small range of products. Potentially 10K worth of customers. What product suite (aMember and what payment system) works best for these requirements? Like everyone, I want the functionality and security at the right price.

    Thanks
  4. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

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    I don't do reoccurring so I never hold credit cards.

    Personally speaking, I would not want the burden of responsibility of having them on my servers.
  5. webguy22

    webguy22 aMember Pro Customer

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    After further review, we are not going to do reoccurring. The use of PayPal and Authorize.NET looks to be clean, simple, and affective.

    Next step is to deal with a shopping cart. I know it's not a "payment systems" topic, but I would be interested to know what others use that don't require reoccurring payment system functionality like what resides in
    1ShoppingCart (which would be an overkill for what we need).
  6. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

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    x-cart and oscommerce are the two big ones that I know of folks using with good aMember integration depending on what you are looking to do.
  7. alexander_st

    alexander_st New Member

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    [noob question: ]

    If you use paypal, why do you need authorize.net? What does authorize.net do?
  8. skippybosco

    skippybosco CGI-Central Partner Staff Member

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    First let me respond to the shopping cart question, I'm on a path for providing full integration between aMember and Magento to allow Magento to be the front end and aMember to be the back end.

    As far as why I use both PayPal and Authorize:

    Authorize lets me accept credit card payments directly on my site without having to redirect to a third party site.

    I accept PayPal as a secondary choice by request of my customers.. it makes up 30% of my payments.
  9. tpubcom

    tpubcom New Member

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    I use Paypal, but found it to be annoying when it comes to canceling the billing process. 1/3rd of our subscribers just don't read and then yell at us when they get billed again the next month.

    If the staff at CGI Central would like to start a pool to push production on the Authorize.net CIM I'm all for it. Authorize.net is the only way we found to fully automate our subscription service through amember. I'll put in the first $100 to get that development going.

    A little birdie told me that the sites that are not PCI compliant after a certain date will simply be shut down in the near future. So this either has to be fixed or we're off to find an alternative subscription software. Wouldn't be fun either since amember is the best we've used so far.
  10. kirkward

    kirkward New Member

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    I subscribe to authorize.net's recurring billing service. It seems to me that with their recurring billing service it would not be necessary to store card information on my server. Does aMember handle that feature of Authorize.net's services?

    Kirk
  11. CrackBaby

    CrackBaby Member

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    I just typed up a huge reply because I accept 6 different payment options. I submitted the reply and I got Invalid thread so if you are really interested PM me
  12. ukshops

    ukshops New Member

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    feedback on the 6 payment providers......

    Crackbaby, I just tried to PM you but my system would not enable me to.

    I would really appreciate receiving a copy of your reply about the 6 payment providers that you use. We are launching a new site very shortly and your comments and advice would be gratefully accepted.

    Please feel free to email me on: nick at zponlinepublishing dot com

    Thanks!
  13. CrackBaby

    CrackBaby Member

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    I use the following and my thoughts on each will be right after.

    Free - Always a good thing never failed.

    Multi-cards - Fee set up free $49.00 + 3.9% to 5.9% +.49cents per transaction. Requires a rollover reserve account without telling you and will invoke it when they want to not from the beginning. Takes 5 to 6 weeks to get your money back, withdrawal fee $25.00 and still takes 2 weeks. If you ever use them NEVER close your account with money in there. I got mad and I closed my account because they were not releasing the money fast enough, they said becaus eof chargeback's but I had not used it for over 2 months and they still had my rollover reserve account for that. HUGE MISTAKE That put a freeze on all my funds for 6 months from the date of closing. After 6 months I submitted a ticket to get the funds released, they told me it was waiting of 6 months from the date of closing and I will get paid out on next scheduled payout for NON-Members. I missed it by 2 days. so they paid me out in two payments and charged me the fee $25.00 twice instead of just one payment. Worst in the world, never use again Unless I had no other choice!

    Google Checkout - Fee 2% + .20 cents - Hard to fight chargeback’s, hard to get it to work, in most cases the amember team will have to help you out, but once you are set up it works almost flawlessly. One thing I do not like about Google Checkout is if you are doing a lot of business they keep 10% of each sale until you reach $3000.00. They will hold the $3,000.00 until 6 months after your last sale. Also Google Checkout takes 15 minutes to attempt to charge the credit card and there is nothing you can do to speed this up. Make sure you have a FAQ section and explain to your customers otherwise you get a lot of people cancelling their purchase, great on the fees though. In the USA, Mexico and Canada I pick up the phone and call every new member

    Authorize.net (AIM) / Merchant account / MaxMind - Fee Depends on your merchant account, how many transactions you do etc, I charge 10% processing fee to help make up most of the fees. - Depending on your merchant account this is EASY to fight a chargeback and WIN. Very low rate of chargeback’s, maybe 4 a month. Even though you win you have actually lost because your merchant account charges you for the customer filing the chargeback in the first place even though you have no control over it. Honestly I feel the merchant accounts should kick back all chargeback’s right away and tell them to contact the merchant first. I just don’t make the rules.

    Money bookers - Fee 3.9% + .20 cents Withdraw fee is % of how much you take out normally around $2.50 to with draw to bank - THE BEST, everyone that is verified is done by snail mail, this could be a pain in the azz and some people will not sign up. I do NOT accept credit cards through Money bookers only from verified Money Bookers accounts.

    Wallie - Fee 20%, I charge 10% processing fee for this payment - Custom plug-in - Pre Paid No Chargebacks. Down side is Wallies Account interface needs major improvement. Right now you have to download excel file to see your monthly charges and they never give you a total. I hope you like excel and adding it up. Not very popular but gaining.

    AlertPay - Fee 2.9% + .20 cents Fees for withdrawing to your bank - Very good but not popular. It was modeled after Paypal and money bookers. Paypal features PLUS you have settings to only accept from verified Members. Like Money bookers to get verified after sign up you must do so by Snail Mail

    Paypal - Fee 2.9% + .20 cents - the most popular, the biggest pain in the azz! Anyone can send you payments. They do not have to be verified only confirmed. To confirm you have to add a credit card to your Paypal account. Now hold it here if someone steals your credit card and your billing information they can get a confirmed Paypal Account. It is only safe to accept payments from Verified Paypal accounts and even then it is very risky. You have to have some way to check the sign up IP to the country / city of sign up. If the country does not match it is 99.99% that is it fraud. In the USA, Mexico and Canada I pick up the phone and call every new member.

    Paypal Chargebacks and Disputes.
    A dispute is good they are at least willing to talk to you and in most cases you can work it out, but Paypal should really have a waiting period that you can file a dispute. I get people that pay and if it is delayed even 10 minutes they file a dispute then they won’t close it until you give them access or their digital good(s).

    Chargebacks - Forget about it unless you have tracking information to the package you shipped to them. If they do not have an address on file (The customer needs to be confirmed and verified) with Paypal you are not covered. All the logs in the world will not help you with Paypal, BUT if they file a chargeback through their credit card through Paypal you can fight that with your logs. The difference is once they do a chargeback through their bank they are no longer covered by Paypal Policy. The reason they are not covered by Paypal's policy is because Paypal's first and foremost policy is IF you file a chargeback through your bank your account is limited / suspended. Therefore you are no longer a Paypal customer in good standing.

    Paypal Account Limited Status
    Paypal will put your account into limited status for several reasons so it is best to just get a business account with Paypal and give them all the information up front. If your account goes limited they will require you to send it all anyways.

    Too many payments too fast - Yes if you are successful business right out the gate you get screwed by Paypal, unless you don't touch 20% of the money for 6 months.

    Not keeping enough money in your Paypal account - 10% of your daily sales if you use your paypal account to buy things through Paypal. You will reach a limit (in your head) where you want to take that money out, DON'T. I never let my balance drop below $3000.00, but I am high risk high volume website now. I was told by a Paypal Rep "Paypal considers any transaction of the internet High-Risk" Later they went on to say "Paypal reserves the right to limit and or suspend a Paypal account if they are engaging in High-Risk activitity, as per the Terms Of Service set forth by Paypal" Seems a little like a catch 22!

    Withdrawing money from Paypal to your bank account. - try never to do this, remember Paypal has a Credit Card Plugin so you get a credit card number for one time use from Paypal that is linked to your Paypal account, great for paying bills. Also try to use your Paypal account for things you need around the office / home. Make sure they have a Paypal account and let them take the risk of withdrawin it. Ebay is Awesome when it comes to things like this. Paypal loves a paper trail, just give to ti them, don't hide it from them or make it look like you trying to hide it, they will limit your account

    What I did was read this website here and learned from their mistakes
    http://www.paypalsucks.com

    PS. I wrote this in MS Word this time then posted it so I would not lose it again
  14. tomfra

    tomfra Member

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    Re: PayPal

    For verified accounts, isn't it actually necessary to confirm the bank account too? I remember PP sent $1 (or €1 was it?) to my bank account and I had to confirm it by telling the "secret code" they sent in the transfer memo. Similar with MoneyBookers I believe, as far as I remember.

    Tomas
  15. davidm1

    davidm1 aMember User & Partner

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    Why not?

    David
  16. movoxo

    movoxo New Member

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    Crackbaby I really appreciate this info... kudos mate
  17. movoxo

    movoxo New Member

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    BTW I'm using Paypal Pro - been with them for years and no problems, but i'm only doing a few grand a month and have very few issues or chargebacks and mostly recurring revenue. Paypal pro rocks for a small fish like me.

    That said, I know a few big fish, and none of them will ever use paypal due to issues described by crackbaby..also, for anyone doing real volume (like I should be and will be) i.e. 100k+/mo, I think some of the other players are a definite must.

    Has anyone here (CB?) done merchant throttling i.e. once your balance reaches $90k switch to another merchant account? A friend of a friend had his account frozen w/ $400k in it and I could hear him yelling all the way across los angeles..chargebacks were like 10% on a forced continuity prog.

    I just added clickbank today and it's smooth and simple, adding google and a few others this week.
  18. tarfos

    tarfos New Member

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    Wow, CrackBaby, this is great information! Thanks!
  19. tarfos

    tarfos New Member

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    Can you explain why you'd use aMember with Magento? Are you making a closed store that only members can shop in?
  20. claybrick

    claybrick New Member

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    hi all,
    has anyone tried global collect? this is attractive to me as they seem to accept bank transfers and payments at convenience stores in japan. I have scoured their site but cannot find out the price of their accounts which i find a little odd as worldpay etc are pretty up front about all that...also can it work with amember...it seems to be a big player so i was suprised that it wasnt on thee 3rd party payment systems page....is there a specific reason for this.
    thanks in advance
    (i asked world pay whether they do bank transfers but they said that they only accepted cards...but that seems odd, as ive read elsewhere that they do accept transfers...any experiences?).

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