I'm looking to set up a site soon to see how well a new product sells. Obviously want to be able to take card payments but as it's only a small test at the moment I don't really need the hassle/cost of setting up a merchant account, payment provider etc. Basically is there a low cost temporary alternative that anyone has experience of? Don't really want to go down the route of having to use PayPal to take payments but there you go :)

Have you tried looking at egg pay...I use that for my ebay payments!!



:P

Originally posted by fnkysknky
I'm looking to set up a site soon to see how well a new product sells. Obviously want to be able to take card payments but as it's only a small test at the moment I don't really need the hassle/cost of setting up a merchant account, payment provider etc. Basically is there a low cost temporary alternative that anyone has experience of? Don't really want to go down the route of having to use PayPal to take payments but there you go :)
Will the payments be from all over the world or UK based?
Will the prices be set or will a shopping cart be required for multiple items to be purchased at once?

Why not Paypal? I know you mentioned you didn't want to go there but I'm just interested... :)

You can integrate them quite closely in to your own site if you want to, and I've had few issues over the years.

You could look at companies like Worldpay and such, but they can be quite expensive for low numbers of transactions or low value transactions. And without a merchant account you should watch your cashflow because you will, I believe, have a period of time between the transaction being dealt with by teh payment servics provider and it showing up in the bank.

Joe

Try these http://www.protx.com/ they charge a fixed monthly fee, or a per transaction charge. Depending on volume.

K.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Will the payments be from all over the world or UK based?
Will the prices be set or will a shopping cart be required for multiple items to be purchased at once?

Mainly UK based at least to start with.

Shopping cart will be used so each purchase could be for a different amount.

Joe - wasn't wanting to go down the PayPal route as I was under the impression you needed to be a member of PayPal to make a payment - just had a quick peek at site again after gf mentioned that you can take payments straight from cards and it seems she's right. In which case PayPal may be the way to go....

Paypal can work out expensive, but its well set up and most people on ebay are members of paypal.

Bidpay and nochex come to mind.

Remember people may not be willing to sign up to a new payment system to make one purchase. Nochex you can make a one off and I think paypal is changing.

Paypal has changed - you know longer need to sign up to make a payment as I found out yesterday :)

Originally posted by fnkysknky
Paypal has changed - you know longer need to sign up to make a payment as I found out yesterday :)
No, but they sign you up for an account when you make payment (if you dont have one).

Nochex is a good idea, but they can only take payment from UK cards.

www.glpayment.co.uk are good because you can take payment via credit/debit card (worldwide), text message ;) & premium rate call :D
However they have no shopping cart facility (yet) so payment is limited to single amounts.

Drop them an email and explain your requirements, if the numbers look worthwhile they'll sort you a bespoke shopping cart facility. However the numbers would need to be worth they're while.

i avoid sites where i'm forced to use paypal. (just a personal perspective).

I think that people have already pointed out the companies that do the cc processing for you. They obviously take a cut though.

Getting independantly certified is a huge cost and certainly not something a small business would want to undertake.
The hoops that barclays merchant services make you jump through are unreal.

Yeah that's the problem Cyclone - far too much messing about setting up a merchant account etc for something that might not come off. The reason I didn't want to use Paypal is as you say - it puts me off if that's the only choice - makes it look like a tin pot outfit.

I know this is an old thread but I am interested in taking payments on my website to enable clients to book and pay for therapy sessions, maybe mp3 downloads and subscriptions to a new weight loss programme I am starting up.
Has anyone used paypal for similar uses or have any advice on how easy/difficult this would be to set up?

thanks

I don't think using PayPal makes you look a tin-pot outfit.

It's one of the biggest online companies in the world.

You don't have to be a member to pay via PayPal, I use it all the time to accept payments from clients and i've never had any complaints from them about having to set up an account or anything.

I once made a payment on the net using Nochex and my credit card.
The credit card company treated the payment as a cash withdrawal, which resulted in an additional charge which was a large % of the low cost of the article.
Never again.

I don't think using PayPal makes you look a tin-pot outfit.

It's one of the biggest online companies in the world.

You don't have to be a member to pay via PayPal, I use it all the time to accept payments from clients and i've never had any complaints from them about having to set up an account or anything.

My comment was made 4 years ago, times move on, although I still avoid using PP whenever I can.