Online payment processing is the basis for doing business online. Whether you are selling digital good, physical goods or services, in order for your business to conduct transactions over the Internet, you need to implement an online payment processor, also known as an online merchant account.
Today, there are 100s of solutions literally, some common and others not so common. Some solutions like PayPal are almost universal, and others like cashU are region specific. Businesses today can opt for a direct online merchant account from your financial institution, or go through a 3rd party payment processor. You can accept payments via credit cards like VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, JCB. Also Debit Cards, Western Union, PayPal, etc.
Here is a list we have compiled on the most used/trusted online payment processing merchants you can use for your online payment processing.
Please read the important footnote at the bottom of this article.
| 2CheckOut | One of the leading alternative 3PP (3rd Party Payment Processor). Very widely used by businesses, especially those in foreign (high-risk) countries. They keep their transactions cleans (no porn, warez, lottery, ponzi schemes, etc.). There is a $50 setup fee applicable, and a 10% rolling reserve is held.
Trusted and recommended processor. Caution Note: Transaction costs are almost double of what regular merchant account processors will charge you, but they are a rock-solid choice for tens of thousands of businesses. |
| AlertPay | Account based payment processor, just like PayPal. Anyone with an email account can send/receive money. Account opening is free, and there are no monthly fees. Receiving money has a charge attached to it – which is 4.9% + $0.25 if received via Credit Card, and otherwise 2.5% + $0.25. Has all the requisite credentials for a safe online money transaction company.
Caution Note: Not used as widely accepted as PayPal, but AlertPay is catching up. It is one of those few companies many people don’t know about. Outside the PayPal realm, a newbie might think of AlertPay as a new entrant, which they clearly are not. Fees are reasonable, except when receiving funds via credit card. |
| Authorize.net | One of the most trusted and seasoned provider for merchant accounts on the Internet. Authorize.net is the perhaps the leading provider for online merchant accounts. They don’t sell directly, but through a vast established base of resellers, who add their own markup to the base rates of Authorize.net. Setup fees of $99 is applicable (this is the base fee, it may be higher). Monthly recurring is US$ 20 (again, base fees, it may be higher). Charges charged by your bank card or the acquiring bank will be applicable as per actual.
Caution Note: Be careful of the resellers. Some of them have literally captured the front pages of Google, and in doing so it seems you have no economical reseller selling to you. The good resellers are hidden away on the forward pages. Also, search around. In times like this, negotiate, nothing is written in stone. You can actually bargain here. Customer service is a huge issue with Authorize.net – dealing with reseller, your bank, acquiring bank and Authorize.net themselves. Getting approved requires your credit history to be good. Businesses outside of US usually do not qualify. |
| Bank of America | The 800 lbs Gorilla of the merchant world. BoA is huge in this business. Their charges are low (but fixed), it all depends on your credit history and how long you have been banking with BoA.
Despite being a goliath, their customer service is excellent. They bend over backwards to take care of you. However, with an organization as large as this, you need to learn the ropes of getting your customer related issues dealt with and getting them escalated, which can be a maze for new comers. Caution Note: Requires good credit history. Businesses outside of US usually do not qualify. Requires substantial investment in online setup. You would require external help in helping you get setup with your online merchant account/payments. |
| BluePay | Bluepay is another legit operation based out of the suburbs of Chicago (in Naperville) and essentially runs their own system using Wells-Fargo’s financial network. They provide all the services online and offline. Just like Authorize.net and BoA, they too require that you be qualify for the account, once you have filled out a form. They have a telephone number that someone actually answers and multiple US locations. The company is solid though!
Caution Note: Requires that your credit history meet their terms, else the rate charged is higher. Their website uses the cliché words “rates as low as 1.13%” which basically means you will probably never qualify for that low of a rate. Website does not mention the transaction fees, setup fees or any recurring fees. These are disclosed to you only once you have filled out an application and then they get back to you with the relevant information. |
| CCBill | CCBill is a company that has been around for a while. They offer online payment solution for Merchants (including international clients). The company is based out of the US and has a valid telephone number / customer service. Their comparison matrix looks tempting, as they have no recurring charges, no setup fees, they don’t even have a charge back fees. They
Caution Note: While they provide an array of legit services for merchants, they do not display their rates online. Their model is flat rate pricing based on transactional volume. You will need to contact them to get more information about their rates. |
| CCnow | CCnow is a Digital River company, which means you are dealing with a legit and a seasoned company for online payments processing. They are an American company with valid telephone number / customer service. They have a one-time setup fees of US$ 39.95, and a monthly recurring of US$ 9.95 (if your monthly sales are below US$ 100.00). If your monthly sales are above US$ 100.00 then the monthly fees is waived. The transaction charges are 4.99% of gross sales value plus a transaction charge of US$ 0.50. CCnow processes credit card payments as well as PayPal payments, which is always an added plus. They even provide their own shopping cart system for you to embed / implement. Multiple currencies accepted and payments offered in 27 currencies back to the Merchant.
Caution Note: Their customer service is okay. Chargebacks are an issue and having them sort this out takes longer than usual. However, this company is really great. |
| CDGCommerce | CDGCommerce is front line processor offering online payment, via First National Bank of Omaha. The company has a valid telephone number and customer services. No setup fees, monthly merchant fees of US$ 10.00, “qualified” cards charge rate 2.25% + US$ 0.30, and “non-qualified” surcharge (added to the fees above) is 1.50% + US$ 0.10 per transaction. They also offer Cardholder authentication for free.
Caution Note: The websites does not clearly distinguish how cards are classified as “qualified” vs. “non-qualified”. So do ask for clarification on this matter. |
| Cyberbit | Cyberbit is Danish company that provide online payment solutions. Other than the part that they do payment processing, accept all sorts of cards, and currencies, they have not mentioned anything else. No fees structure, no types of payments they can process, etc. Company has a legit phone number and customer / sales service.
Caution Note: No fees structure, pricing, etc. details given. Applying is free, presumably only then you will find out the details of the company. Pretty shallow information with regards to the online merchant account details. |
| DaoPay | This is a new company and a very good one at what they do. They don’t offer you online credit card / PayPal acceptance, but their target market are people who do not trust your site well enough to charge their credit card on it. Instead, they target the market segment who are not comfortable with your payment system and whom you do not cater to. Enter DaoPay which makes payment possible by phone. Simply put, your customers can now charge the sale to their phone bill. Couldn’t be any more simpler. Lots of telephone numbers to call on their hotline. UK based company. Detailed Fees and Payout rates page.
Caution Note: Not widely accepted as would like it to be, but a very unique option. |
| Failsafe Payments | Provides merchant accounts and Internet payment processing called Certo Payment Gateway. Provides fraud protection services and scrubbing along with Geo lookup. No setup fees and No monthly recurring costs. Certified by VISA and MasterCard. Seems to have linkages to all financial products. Seems sound and legit.
Caution Note: $30 monthly fees. Slab pricing based on the number of transactions. The minimum transactions you can buy for North America merchants is 250 and per transactions cost is $0.20 for all USD based transactions. Costs are higher for other countries and currency denominations. Did not mention if there is a transactions charge which is percentage of the total invoice value, something that all payment gateways charge – need to get clarification on this. |
| Fast Spring | This is a company that specializes in the merchant services for digital content. California based, legit company, valid telephone numbers. They don’t do physical goods – only digital goods. Very good customer service. They don’t mention on their FAQ page if they accept international merchants, but we would assume as much since they do international wire transfer of funds accumulated in your account. Their fees/rates are on the high side but that is because there is no material costs per se in digital products, hence you are a seller can afford to give in as well, but the risks associated with digital sales are high, hence the higher rate for transaction. Pricing is 8.9% flat or 5.9% plus $.95 per transaction, whichever you prefer.
Caution Note: Only for digital goods. Transaction rates are high. |
| FirstData | World’s largest payment processor. Has a lot of options. You need to contact them regarding your specific requirement so that they can match a product to your liking. They are very good and secure at what they do. Exemplary customer service.
Caution Note: Need to fill out information to get rates, etc. |
| Gate2Shop | G2S is UK based online payment processor that specializes in the selling of digital goods/services. They offer two different payment plans: Standard is € 49 setup fees, 5.5% transaction charge and € 0.25 for transaction cost. Charge back handling fees is € 25. The advance plan is called “Chargeback Guarantee” is has € 0 setup, transaction start at 6.95% and no other transaction fees or chargeback handling fees. They accept almost all the payment cards including PayPal.
For both plans, minimum of € 500 in sales are required every month. Caution Note: The pricing page states “rates start from” – Obtain clarification as to what you will be charged. |
| Google Checkout | Google’s online merchant services. Available internationally as well. Monthly sales under $3,000 are2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, between $3,000 – $9,999.99 are 2.5% + $0.30, between $10,000 – $99,999.99 are2.2% + $0.30 and $100,000 or more are 1.9% + $0.30. Transaction fee for all Android apps are 30% and Transaction fee for all Chrome Web Store apps are at 5% + $0.30 per transaction.
Caution Note: Customer service is an issue. You will have to open a support ticket to address any claims. No phone support as best as we could gauge. |
| Nochex | UK based company that provides an Internet Merchant Account. One-time setup fees of £50 applicable, and no monthly recurring fees. Transaction fees is 2.9% plus 20p per transaction but is higher for high risk industries (if you happen to be operating in one).
Caution Note: Could not find that ‘higher’ rates and what the high-risk industries are on their site. Best to call and ask. No telephone number listed. |
| Miva Merchant | Miva, the company that makes shopping cart systems, also provides online merchant accounts for payments processing. There is no setup fees, and discount rate charged is 2.39%, Transaction Fee (including AVS) is$0.25 and monthly recurring fees is US$ 20.00 while the Secure Payment Gateway fees is US$ 5.00 per month. Valid company with legit operations. Telephone numbers for customer services and support. Legit company, registered in the UK.
Caution Note: You will have to call them up and qualify as an online reseller. |
| Moneybookers | Fast growing and now becoming widely accepted (even on Ebay). Supports over 100 payment systems. Need to get a Moneybookers ewallet – you will have to sign up to be able to find out about rates.
Caution Note: Need to sign-up for rates, etc. |
| NetBilling | Online Merchant account provider. Legit company, US based, BBB registered. Valid telephone numbers and customer service. Merchant account rates start at only 2.25% and 25¢ per transaction (which is good pricing). |
| PayPal | The online giant for person-to-person, person-to-business and business-to-business payments. Merchant services are available in all countries. Where ever PayPal is accepted you can accept payments. Safe, widely used in the word today, nearly 90 million users.
Caution Point: Horrible customer support. Notorious for freezing accounts and chargebacks. Not available everywhere. International transactions prone / susceptible to chargebacks. |
| Payoneer | A rapidly rising payment solution provider. Used to be used exclusive at one time amongst freelancers for small payments exchange, as it had the ability to load payments on to a Euro/MasterCard/Visa ready card. You will need to sign up to obtain more information about rates. Legit. Valid phone number and customer services. |
| Plimus | A very reputable online payment processor for digital goods/services. Based in US, valid telephone numbers and customer support. Accepts all times of payments (see payment methods). You can calculate your fees by using their online fees calculator. |
| RBS WorldPay | Legit online payment provider – part of RBS Banking Group. Provides merchant services in about 37 countries for accepting online payments for your website. Rates differ for each county, but well within the limits (under 4.0% in most cases). |
| RegNow | A Digital River company. Regnow specializes in the sale of software and processes payments for that industry vertical. Discount rate is 6.9% and US$ 1.00 for transaction processing fees. As legit as they come.
Caution Note: Customer service is frustrating at times. |
Other viable payment providers worth considering are:
- Barclay Card (A Barclays Bank service. Very legit. Need to qualify)
- BeanStream (Canadia based online payments processor. Legit. Valid phone numbers and customer service)
- Boku (Mobile payment specialist, legit)
- Camtech (Australian online payments processor)
- cashU (based out of the Middle East, having their own payment system)
- cGold* (an e-wallet/e-gold based system – possible HYIP)
- Card Service International (very large, legit reseller for online payments processing. Processes through FirstData)
- Charge.com (great rates, superb domain, but no telephone on site, seems legit)
- Chase Payment ECH (Payment processing and merchant services wing of banking giant Chase)
- ChronoPay (Dutch online payments processor. Legit. Does high risk accounts as well)
- Concorde efsnet (whose website seems to be always down)
- Durango Merchant Services (an online reseller)
- E-LS (Latvian online payment systems provider)
- E-Way (A New Zealand based payment processor)
- EBS (India based online payment services provider)
- EC-Suite (a hosting provider also offering payment solutions)
- ECH Online (an Intuit company)
- E-Gold* (like all the other eGold companies. Read the Wiki – you be the judge)
- Evalon (American company, seems legit, has valid telephone numbers)
- ElectraCash (American company, ACH processor)
- EntroPay (Legit, while not a online payment processor, it does supply you with pre-paid virtual VISA card, you can direct your customers to this)
- Facebook Payment App: Coin Jars (An online Facebook payment application – payments as low as 1 cent can be made)
- First Pay (online payment processor. Site seems legit, but for the life of us, we could not find any fees/pricing page, nor a signup page)
- Global Collect (worldwide payment processor and e-payment online service provider)
- GoBill (another online reseller – valid contact details, IM options)
- GoRealTime (online reseller)
- iKobo – Money Transfer Service
- InsaBill (High Risk Merchant processor for online payments for sites like online pharmacy, etc.)
- InstaBill (different from the one above. Legit offshore merchant account provider. Telephone, US based, Certified)
- InternetSecure (Reputed Canadian online payment processor. Legit)
- iTransact (American payment processor. Legit. Valid telephone numbers. Good options)
- Landmark (online payments gateway and payments clearing house)
- Liberty Reserve (E-wallet company, used widely now, especially amongst developing countries)
- MoneyGram (Send money online, like Western Union)
- OboPay (a very legit and fast expanding company that specializes in mobile payments processing)
- oGone (Belgium based online payments processor)
- Pay by Cash (alternative payment system provider)
- PaymentOnline (online payment provider)
- Pay Point (UK based online payments provider)
- PaySimple (online payments receivable service provider)
- Pecunix* (e-gold/ewallet based company)
- Pivitol Payments (US based online payments processor. Legit)
- PlanetPayment (good reputed online payment provider/processor)
- PlugnPay (another online payments processor, US based, valid telephone)
- PSiBill (reputed payment processor. Legit)
- PSI Gate (reputed payment processor. Legit)
- Revolution Money Exchange? (a Revolution investment in this company)
- RoboExchange* (online currency exchange to convert money between different types of payment systems – very limited coverage of payment alternatives)
- RTWare? (online payments processor)
- SafeCharge? (online payments processor – possibly processes transactions that are linked to Gate2Shop)
- SafePay Card (virtual VISA Card)
- Safe Pay Solutions (online payments processor)
- SagePay (UK based online payments provider. Legit)
- SWReg (A Digital River company, specializing in Software sales/delivery, Legit, low rates).
- TagPay (a French provider specializing in mobile phone payments)
- TransFirst (online payments processor)
- TwitPay (payments via Twitter – social networking payment solutions)
- ViaKlix? (online payments processor – site is showing minimal information)
- Western Union (person-to-person money transfer service – very legit)
- WebMoney (online payments processor)
- W-Pay (online payments processor, specializes in high-risk merchant accounts)
- Xcoin (online payments processor)
- Xoom (online payments transfer system – person to person in 31 countries)
* denotes companies of ill repute or ambiguous services. Be careful.
? denotes – not much is known about the company from the website or dubious information.
A website we usually reference is called E-Commerce Journal. This website has pretty decent information regarding the online payments / investments industry. Sections noteworthy of visiting are:
- Payment Systems
- Payment Systems (Listing)
- Fraud in the E-Commerce World (includes investment schemes as well)
It is always a good idea to run the following checks through Google, when searching on a payment processor. Let’s take the example of AlterGold (which is a fraudulent payment processor), here are some of the searches we would run for the company “altergold” to get a better idea of what Google is saying:
- wiki altergold
- altergold scam
- altergold fraud
- altergold beware
- altergold scheme
- altergold review
- altergold negative review
- altergold money fraud
- altergold refund problem
- altergold gone under
- altergold victim
Pay special attention to the dates of the search results. Also, when one is searching for payment processors it is very easy to get distracted. Don’t fall for HYIP (High-Yield Investment Program) schemes. They are all Ponzi schemes. It is always a good idea to check if your payment processor is registered with the Better Business Bureau and if they have any complaints/issues over there. If a website claims to be PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard) Level 1 or any other level certified, then they should be able to share with you their certificate. Be sure to do your homework and go to the Official PCI Website and check out if the certificate is indeed valid/proper.
If you find this article helpful, you can always subscribe to our RSS Feed or follow us on Twitter & Facebook for more updates.
Important Note
Choosing a payment processor can be both easy, yet difficult. The abovementioned links are meant to serve as a gateway in the right direction of choosing an online payment processor. These links are not in any way represented as promotions, recommendations or sponsored listing. You must do your homework before you select upon a payment processor, and you alone would-be/are responsible for the risk(s) associated with your decision. This article is not to be taken as an instruction manual for making financial decisions. We do not unilaterally endorse anyone in this article/list.
Related posts:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Faisal Qureshi, Faisal Qureshi, Dr. Fizza Rahman, Kamran Bukhari, Shoaib Taimur and others. Shoaib Taimur said: RT @babushka99: Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online on your Website… http://fb.me/L9sbIkgi [...]
[...] Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online | Webscopia [...]
[...] is the original: Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online | Webscopia By admin | category: card international service | tags: based-out, california, [...]
[...] the original post: Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online | Webscopia By admin | category: card credit international processing | tags: account, benefits, [...]
Online Merchants Gain Competitive Advantage from Partnership of Total-Apps Inc. and LADezign…
We have taken an interest in your site, so we (RambergMediaGroup) would be interested in hearing from you, our readers might like it….
[...] post: Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online | Webscopia By admin | category: card services international | tags: based-out, credit, [...]
[...] Merchant Accounts: Accepts Payments Online | Webscopia [...]
[...] out payment details. There’s a comprehensive list of payment processors that you can work with here, but only some of these are compatible with Pakistan. Those that work in Pakistan include [...]
[...] country now has some sort of an ingenious payment system. This could be a mobile payment system, a payment gateway, retail networks, branchless banking or even the traditional bank [...]
[...] Read more: Merchant Accounts: Accept Payments Online — Webscopia [...]
[...] out payment details. There’s a comprehensive list of payment processors that you can work with here, but only some of these are compatible with Pakistan. Those that work in Pakistan include [...]
[...] Read More [...]