New online business,Elavon/Realex?!

Tones69

Hi guys, My friend and I are starting up a new online store. Looking at online payment solutions here, I was going to go with Worldpay but the 1 month wait put me off (for money to be remitted to your account). Realex are probably the crowd we will go with now but we need to get an MSA (merchant service agreement/account) setup first.

Now,Elavon (who will provide this MSA) are the crowd who are with bank of ireland charge €199 setup fee, 2.1% on credit card transactions and 27c on Laser card transactions, Im awaiting an email from Realex, but im guessing they are gonna be the same if not more per transaction. This is gonna work out a lot more expensive that worldpay but at least this way we can get money remitted to our account within 1-3days.
The whole thing is a bit stressful to say the least and could end up quiet costly too by the looks of it, who here has experience with these crowds starting up online business?
All advice greatly appreciated!

Cheers
Tony

shoutman

Have a peak at this thread,
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055542571

Tones69

shoutman wrote: »

Have a peak at this thread,
http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055542571

Not a whole lot in that thread for me dude cheers

Nuttzz

http://www.sagepay.com/

coming to ireland in the next few weeks i believe

honeymonster

Hey dude, I have just finished a website for my cousin using elavon/realex. They are very expensive, my cousin sorted everything out with them but he said there was a monthly fee of €200 or something a month. Best to give them a call to confirm.

They also have a checklist of stuff your website needs to have. Realex are very helpful but elavon are very slow at getting you website approved takes 2-3 wks.

Any other questions let me know.

Tones69

honeymonster wrote: »

Hey dude, I have just finished a website for my cousin using elavon/realex. They are very expensive, my cousin sorted everything out with them but he said there was a monthly fee of €200 or something a month. Best to give them a call to confirm.

They also have a checklist of stuff your website needs to have. Realex are very helpful but elavon are very slow at getting you website approved takes 2-3 wks.

Any other questions let me know.

Hey thanks for the reply, Elavon charge €199 once off setup fee and then 27c per laser card trans and 2.1% credit card trans and probably 20 or 30euro a month rent then after that, Realex then have their own charges which are probably similar (il have the email by tmrw with all costs) Ive heard Elavon are very slow which is not good as we wanna get this moving asap really

Nuttzz

Actually sagepay is now here

http://www.sage.ie/protx/index.asp

Also see http://webpayments.ie/

Tones69

Nuttzz wrote: »

Actually sagepay is now here

http://www.sage.ie/protx/index.asp

Also see http://webpayments.ie/

Sagepay dont take laser by the looks of it, anyway im wondering is there anyone else besides worldpay who takes care of all that merchant account stuff, realex seem like a good bet but like i said you have to go and sort out the merchant account and they take a percentage too, if only worldpay didnt take 4 weeks to lodge money to your account! GRRRR

r0nanf

Realex are €49 per month, and AIB take a 2.5% rip off the total selling price. That €49 also gives you access to a virtual terminal. I think its a fair price tbh.

Branoic

Don't know what Sagepay are like since they recently changed names, but as ProtX they weren't too hot. They were the cheapest PSP but you got for what you paid for in terms of service and support.

As an alternative to Realex, and often cheaper but with equally good support, take a look at Worldnet TPS. You'll still need a Merchant Account through the likes of Elavon though.

Couple of things to bear in mind with Elavon too:

1) Are you a home trader? Home traders have a harder time getting approval and will be asked for a letter of reference from their bank on a business bank account at least 6 months old, and probably copies of up-to-date financials, or a business plan if financials aren't available

2) What's the delay period between you accepting card payment on your website and the customer receiving their goods? In a normal retail environment merchants are typically funded within 24 hours, however if your business involves any delay before the customer gets what they paid for, or any subscriptions, Elavon will likely only approve an application on condition of delayed funding to cover this.

3) Elavon will give you a checklist of things they need to be able to see on your website, like terms and conditions, privacy policy, a "tick to accept terms and conditions" button etc. All these things need to be there, or on a test site they can access, before you return your application to them, as they won't budge on the application until these requirements are met. Their 2 to 3 week time frame doesn't start until they consider an application "complete", and its not complete until all their website requirements are met.

Tones69

Not a home trader, limited company. I was talking to them anyway and theyre posting out the details and requirements etc, hope its not a total pain in the goolies. Worldpay say after 3 months of trading they consider taking the remittance time down from 4 weeks to 1 week, its still a nightmare having to wait that long but they save a lot of hassle compared to using others that require the merchant account setup!

Regarding the delay time between recieving payment and shipping goods,this will be done very fast, everything is gonna be top notch

Mickk

Tones69 wrote: »

Not a home trader, limited company. I was talking to them anyway and theyre posting out the details and requirements etc, hope its not a total pain in the goolies. Worldpay say after 3 months of trading they consider taking the remittance time down from 4 weeks to 1 week, its still a nightmare having to wait that long but they save a lot of hassle compared to using others that require the merchant account setup!

Regarding the delay time between recieving payment and shipping goods,this will be done very fast, everything is gonna be top notch

Stay away from Elavon, they are a sham. Its something that you think would be just a formality eg. you fill out the numerous forms, send copies of your passport/driving license and household bills, get a bank guarantee for a percentage of your turnover, wait 2 months for them to set up the account and you are set. After about 4 months of messing me around on 2 accounts they rejected one completely and wouldn't give any explanation and the other they send me a lovely letter saying they would be delighted to offer me a merchant account if I just forward a security deposit of 20,000 euro! I got set up with ulster bank merchant services in about 3 weeks and I still bank with Bank Of Ireland but I think it takes 1 day more to hit your account than using Elavon.

Tones69

Mickk wrote: »

Stay away from Elavon, they are a sham. Its something that you think would be just a formality eg. you fill out the numerous forms, send copies of your passport/driving license and household bills, get a bank guarantee for a percentage of your turnover, wait 2 months for them to set up the account and you are set. After about 4 months of messing me around on 2 accounts they rejected one completely and wouldn't give any explanation and the other they send me a lovely letter saying they would be delighted to offer me a merchant account if I just forward a security deposit of 20,000 euro! I got set up with ulster bank merchant services in about 3 weeks and I still bank with Bank Of Ireland but I think it takes 1 day more to hit your account than using Elavon.

Jesus thats a serious nightmare, whos the crowd ulster bank use? A lot of people seem to have real bad experience with Elavon

Would be interested also Mickk re: ulster bank although I do remember you posting about this in detail before, if anyone can find it that would be great!

On another note, I was recommended this through a blog I follow, is it any use? Anyone used Shopify? http://www.shopify.com/

Edit: My purpose of contemplating using shopify was part of a testing phase.

Mickk

Tones69 wrote: »

Jesus thats a serious nightmare, whos the crowd ulster bank use? A lot of people seem to have real bad experience with Elavon

Its just called Ulster bank merchant services, it's still owned by ulster bank. BOI sold their merchant services a few years ago to Elavon.

Pixelcraft

Deleted User wrote: »

On another note, I was recommended this through a blog I follow, is it any use? Anyone used Shopify? http://www.shopify.com/

Afaik it's easy to use, it's easy enough to customise your storefront. The only disadvantages would be that it's relatively expensive, and you still have a shopify payment page/bill page rather than a custom one (not 100% sure if this can or cannot be changed)

Still a nice simple alternative.

podgeen

Tones69 wrote: »

Sagepay dont take laser by the looks of it,

Hi there,

I run www.webpayments.ie and I recently did a blog post about sagepay coming to Ireland. Tom Richards from SagePay Ireland commented on my blog post clarifying that SagePay will accept laser. It is the first comment on the blog.

Tones69 wrote: »

anyway im wondering is there anyone else besides worldpay who takes care of all that merchant account stuff, realex seem like a good bet but like i said you have to go and sort out the merchant account and they take a percentage too

If you do not have an Internet Merchant Account (IMA) or will struggle to get one then you can go down the route of a payments bureau. Paypal, WorldPay, 2checkout, nochex are examples of payment bureaus. There will be an increased settlement period with these. Depending on your projected volume of transactions they may work out cheaper to begin with as there are not monthly minimum fees and you only pay when you make a sale. Cash flow could be an issue due to the settlement period. If you are doing a large volume of transactions then you would be able to afford the monthly minimums so an IMA would be a better option. My site lists the various providers in the Irish market which might be useful for you.

If you have any specific questions feel free to post them here or PM me.

Dave

Tones69

Thanks podgeen, tbh i would like to go with Worldpay as it saves a lot of hassle and seem like a good crowd! The ONE major putoff is th 4 week wait for money lodgings.

keithmc

RE: Its just called Ulster bank merchant services, it's still owned by ulster bank. BOI sold their merchant services a few years ago to Elavon.

Hi Guys,

Ulster Bank merchant services use a company called Streamline to facilitate the setup of merchant service agreements with them. The contact number that I have for Streamline is a UK number, 00448457616263.

Let me know if you have any further questions about setting up, I would be more than happy to help you.

Keith McCabe
Realex Payments

087 7420648

Mickk

keithmc wrote: »

RE: Its just called Ulster bank merchant services, it's still owned by ulster bank. BOI sold their merchant services a few years ago to Elavon.

Hi Guys,

Ulster Bank merchant services use a company called Streamline to facilitate the setup of merchant service agreements with them. The contact number that I have for Streamline is a UK number, 00448457616263.

Let me know if you have any further questions about setting up, I would be more than happy to help you.

Keith McCabe
Realex Payments

087 7420648

This link is what I found and used after Elavon messed me around. Didn't think it was an outside company but maybe it is?

Strings.ie

We've been with worldpay for around two years. It does what it says on the tin but they are expensive. They have all these little charges like a charge for each time they transfer your money (once a week) along with the setup, monthly fee and transaction charges. Support is not great in our experience. The 4 week remittance is a major disadvantage. I find their control panel pretty awful too.

Mickk

drjohnclarke wrote: »

Tony,

I work for one of the Irish Payment Gateways (WorldNet TPS - www.worldnettps.com). If you like, drop me a line (john.clarke@worldnettps.com), and I'll give you a steer on how best to proceed. No committment required, but guaranteed best prices for anyone from boards.ie!

Regards
John

Are you really a doctor?!

lecheile

drjohnclarke wrote: »

PhD, not MD - I fix sick computers, not people!

If its the same DrJohn - then he has plenty of experience working with one of the organisations that seems to be on the receiving end of many people's criticism - so lets hope he has cracked all the issues in this new organisation;)

Where do we find the special boards.ie rates?

miko

Pixelcraft wrote: »

Afaik it's easy to use, it's easy enough to customise your storefront. The only disadvantages would be that it's relatively expensive, and you still have a shopify payment page/bill page rather than a custom one (not 100% sure if this can or cannot be changed)

Still a nice simple alternative.

Does anybody know if shopify accept laser??

byrne0f56789

Yahoo shopping cart seems to be the way to go. Top brands use it and it's cheap. I used 1shopping cart along with WorldPay in the past but would definitely just use Yahoo shopping cart in future.

You should check it out
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/

Peggy Peg

We're currently using a 'local' gateway solution for our website and I'm not pleased. I heard that Protx is finally coming over here. Have they been bought out in that someone told me they were now called Sage Pay? The same person said that they were going to be launched at the IIA conference next week.

Does anyone know anything about Protx (or Sagepay or whatever they're called?)

Peggy

Peggy Peg

Dr John, I'm not a technology person, just a business person. I've looked at the threads you sent, but because you say you work with WorldNet (and I've looked at the site - thank you for the link!), can you tell me (in 20 words or less or so) why I should go with WorldNet and not someone else like this protx people? All I'm looking for is something that's easy to use, helps us with fraud (we're getting a lot of it) and frankly is CHEAP!

Peg

podgeen

Peggy Peg wrote: »

Does anyone know anything about Protx (or Sagepay or whatever they're called?)
Peggy

I did a blog post on SagePay coming to Ireland a few weeks ago. A number of people have commented on the Blog post providing more information on them and their Irish launch.

Peggy Peg

Dr John, when you say the best prices around, do you mind giving details? And is it Podge... thanks for this link. I'll take a look. Peg

ballooba

Peggy Peg wrote: »

We're currently using a 'local' gateway solution for our website and I'm not pleased. I heard that Protx is finally coming over here. Have they been bought out in that someone told me they were now called Sage Pay? The same person said that they were going to be launched at the IIA conference next week.

Does anyone know anything about Protx (or Sagepay or whatever they're called?)

Peggy

Hi Collette/Sarah/Tom/Yvonne/John,

Isn't your company launching SagePay in Ireland?

B.

http://www.peg.ie/companyprofile.asp#team
http://www.earthnet.ie/personnel.htm

shoutman

Right, I'm going to provisionally lock this thread until I hear back from Peggy_Peg.

If Peggy_Peg sees this please check your pm's and respond immediately.