UK Merchant Account

[Knowit]

Hi

Can anyone recommend a good UK merchant account, and if so, the prices that you have managed to negotiate with the bank.

Cheers

Knowit

[Paul]

Have you considered using ProtX? They do quite a good package for small businesses, they offer a flat rate of £20/month and included in this is upto 1000 transactions per quarter - 333/month, I think this is quite a good deal in comparison with most highstreet banks fees.

Paul

[Knowit]

But I will still need to open an internet merchant account with a bank though? If so, what bank would you recommend to go with, and have you got any idea on the prices I can expect to pay?

Thanks for your help.

Knowit

[Paul]

Sorry, mis-read your question. Depending on your setup, you may need an internet merchant account and an internet payment processing service.

If you want to go down the route of getting your own internet merchant account (you don't have to use the same bank) typically they will charge you a setup fee from about £150 up to £350, a monthly charge ranging from £0 (at Aliance and Leicester adn possibly Streamline) upto £25 and on top of that you will receive transaction charges for credit cards ranging from 2.5% (Alliance and Leceister) to 5.5% and flat rate debit card charges from 20p (Alliance and Leceister) to 60p (Streamline).

I have known a user to have serious problems with Streamline payments arriving in their accounts, so may be worth avoiding these? Could have just been an unfortunate case though.

Probably worth seeing whether any one else can recommend one to you.

Also, generally these fees are negotiable on an individual basis, so get along to a few banks and start haggling and playing them off one another.

Paul

[techie]

What sort of number of transactions do you expect to process, and at what value? Do you think your customers are more likely to use their credit cards or debit cards? Do you need to verify addresses? Will you be taking offline as well as online card payments etc.

All these answers will affect the payment solution that would suit you best.

Techie

[techie]

Another important questin to ask...will you be accepting payments in multiple currencies, if so what ones?

Techie

[Knowit]

Thanks for your help, at least now I knwo it is worth going around a lot of the banks to get quotes. I will definitely haggle with them as the fees vary so much.

Techie - I only need to accept £'s, no other currencies at the moment. Not quite sure what the split between credit and debit cards will be, if my customers are anything like me, then I always try to use my credit card when buying things on the internet as it provides more protection. As I am jsut starting out I have projected figues that I hope I will meet, but don't know really what my average transaction will be. i don't need to accept offline payments though, just through my website. Address verification would be somehting that would improve delivery accuracy, but would depend on cost.

Thanks again.

[Will]

I need to get some form of online payments provider sorted soon. Trouble is there is so much choice and web reviews of internet merchant accounts are just about always negative. Unfortunately, the customers who have a good experience aren't as vocal as the ones that have a bad experience.

Will

[PrivateInvestigator]

are you able to charge client's cards a second time throught hese accoutns without input from them?

I operate on a start-up fee and a successfull completion basis. If i could charge the card immediately when the work is done it'd really help me out with slow paying clients.

[Will]

You might be able to, but it sounds like you would need a normal merchant account from a high street bank. Also, I think you would need to put something about taking the second payment automatically (upon completion) in your terms.

Will