No Term, No Monthly Fees, Not-so-Restrictive Payment Module

[fatbear]

Bottom line first: Which payment module/provider should one choose that has no term committments, no monthly fees, and does not have a long list of things that cannot be sold?

 

While 2Checkout sounded like it would be good for our customers that are just getting started, the list of prohibited and restricted items that can be sold is unacceptable. For example, even selling lingerie is restricted.

 

And, I'm not sure about Paypal: does the payment module require customers to have a Paypal account? The customer wants a checkout process that doesn't require subscriptions. They just want the customer to enter the credit card info, the address, and complete the transaction.

 

This is the profile that I think would appeal to most start-up small or home-based businesses that don't even know if their idea to sell stuff will work. If they sell nothing in a given month, they pay nothing. Once they get to a monthly sales volume that exceeds some threshold, they'll consider moving to another payment module/provider.

 

Thanks for your suggestions!

[kgt]

Customers are not required to have a Paypal account if you sign up for their merchant services. It's a configurable option. I don't know anything about the terms of any of the others.

[fatbear]

Customers are not required to have a Paypal account if you sign up for their merchant services. It's a configurable option. I don't know anything about the terms of any of the others.

Thanks for the info. I'm not sure why 2checkout.com thinks that selling certain products such as lingerie should either require higher rates or be outright banned, but this makes them a lot less appealing. And, even services such as "Hotel, Airfare, Accommodations, Car Rental, Travel Services" are not allowed. I have a number of travel agent clients that, therefore, could not sell their services. And, why would they prohibit the selling of "Study Aids?" I guess my bookstore client couldn't use them. Oh, well. It's their choice as to what their policies are. But, it does raise my sensitivity to checking out the terms associated with any payment module provider.

 

So, given this experience, I'm wondering if anyone has put together a matrix of the characteristics for each payment module to include things such as:

• Discount Rate
  
• Transaction Fees
  
• Monthly Fees
  
• Annual Fees
  
• Recurring Transaction Capable?
  
• Term Committment (e.g., 0, 12, 24 months)
  
• Virtual Terminal Available?
  
• Swipe Terminals Available?
  
• Other
  

These are the things that any user of osCommerce absolutely must know. I'm hoping that it has been done before!

 

Best Regards,

Steve Amerige

Fat Bear

[kgt]

So, given this experience, I'm wondering if anyone has put together a matrix of the characteristics for each payment module to include things such as:

• Discount Rate
  
• Transaction Fees
  
• Monthly Fees
  
• Annual Fees
  
• Recurring Transaction Capable?
  
• Term Committment (e.g., 0, 12, 24 months)
  
• Virtual Terminal Available?
  
• Swipe Terminals Available?
  
• Other
  

These are the things that any user of osCommerce absolutely must know. I'm hoping that it has been done before!

 

One other thing to consider is that most payment gateways have an advertised fee, but will negotiate and compete against other payment gateways for stores with high volume sales. Most OSC store owners won't sell nearly enough for this, but there are some small-medium size businesses that use OSC.