Recommendations for a Bank for Business Banking (Online Store)

blobert

Hello,

I'm in the process of starting a Ltd company, an online store where all transactions will be through credit/debit cards.

Just wondering what people's recommendations were in terms of the best bank to go with, whether there are any good introductory offers available anywhere.

Will need to process credit card payments, I belive there are difficulties getting some of the banks to allow you to do this if you have no trading history.

Was intending to use Realex, on the basis that they seem to get a lot of positve feedback here, with them I need:

Step 1 Agreement With Bank

Merchants require a Merchant Service Agreement (MSA) in place with their acquiring bank for the appropriate sales channel or channels in which they wish to sell in the customer not present (CNP) environment - whether it be a website, call centre or interactive voice response (IVR).

Will using them allow me to get past the obstacle described above?

Any advice on how or who to proceed with would be much appreciated.

Thanks

StuartC

www.webpayments.ie is a good starting point. there are a lot of contrasting opinions on who the best are so ill step aside

patftrears

blobert wrote: »

Hello,

I'm in the process of starting a Ltd company, an online store where all transactions will be through credit/debit cards.

Just wondering what people's recommendations were in terms of the best bank to go with, whether there are any good introductory offers available anywhere.

Will need to process credit card payments, I belive there are difficulties getting some of the banks to allow you to do this if you have no trading history.

Was intending to use Realex, on the basis that they seem to get a lot of positve feedback here, with them I need:

Step 1 Agreement With Bank

Merchants require a Merchant Service Agreement (MSA) in place with their acquiring bank for the appropriate sales channel or channels in which they wish to sell in the customer not present (CNP) environment - whether it be a website, call centre or interactive voice response (IVR).

Will using them allow me to get past the obstacle described above?

Any advice on how or who to proceed with would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Realex is just a piece of software that organises the transactions sent to your bank.
It does not remove the obstacle above.
To overcome that you can use http://www.webpayments.ie/web-payments/how-do-i-setup-online-payments/what-is-a-payment-bureau

Realex are very good at marketing and promoting their product, but they are not the best option for most online startups.
Using the solutions in the link above is the easiest, cheapest and fastest way to get trading.

TheWaterboy

Getting a merchant account with your bank and setting up a credit card processor like Realex can be a bit of a drawn out process.

Im a firm believer in getting the website up and making sales - Paypal for me is the quickest payment model to get you to market. It might not be the best as it doesnt accept Laser Cards but it has no setup costs and its pretty easy implement into your site.

Once done then you can concentrate on sorting out your merchant account

Bank of Ireland or AIB are the two main banks for getting merchant accounts. Once you have this then you can contact Realex about opening an account with them.

podgeen

blobert wrote: »

Hello,

Was intending to use Realex, on the basis that they seem to get a lot of positve feedback here, with them I need:

Step 1 Agreement With Bank

Merchants require a Merchant Service Agreement (MSA) in place with their acquiring bank for the appropriate sales channel or channels in which they wish to sell in the customer not present (CNP) environment - whether it be a website, call centre or interactive voice response (IVR).

Will using them allow me to get past the obstacle described above?

As the other posters have indicated you will need an Merchant Service Agreement (also known as an Internet Merchant Account) with an acquiring bank in order to use Realex.
To get an Internet Merchant Account you will have to complete some paper and also submit 2 years of audited accounts or in your case as you are a new business then a detailed business plan. The business plan would need to provide details of the source of any investment as well as turnover projections for the next 3 to 5 years. From the banks perspective they are trying to figure out the level of risk associated with your business. There will be a setup fee for the Internet Merchant Account and a monthly minimum fee also.

If you are unable to get an Internet Merchant Account then you can use a Payments Bureau such as PayPal or WorldPay. My site has a list of all the payment bureaus who work with Irish merchants. PayPal has the advantage that there are no monthly fee's and you only pay when you make a sale but PayPal cannot accept Laser. WorldPay will allow you to accept Laser but they have a setup fee, a monthly fee and typically will cost more than PayPal or a Realex/Bank combination.

Dave

patftrears

podgeen wrote: »

As the other posters have indicated you will need an Merchant Service Agreement (also known as an Internet Merchant Account) with an acquiring bank in order to use Realex.
To get an Internet Merchant Account you will have to complete some paper and also submit 2 years of audited accounts or in your case as you are a new business then a detailed business plan. The business plan would need to provide details of the source of any investment as well as turnover projections for the next 3 to 5 years. From the banks perspective they are trying to figure out the level of risk associated with your business. There will be a setup fee for the Internet Merchant Account and a monthly minimum fee also.

If you are unable to get an Internet Merchant Account then you can use a Payments Bureau such as PayPal or WorldPay. My site has a list of all the payment bureaus who work with Irish merchants. PayPal has the advantage that there are no monthly fee's and you only pay when you make a sale but PayPal cannot accept Laser. WorldPay will allow you to accept Laser but they have a setup fee, a monthly fee and typically will cost more than PayPal or a Realex/Bank combination.

Dave

Can this work, know not the correct way to do it but can it be done.
You want to collect regular monthly payments from a customer using credit card.
You get their CC details.
Then each month you fill in a paypal form with their details.

The reason for doing this is customer only gives you CC details one and you do the manual processing each month.

podgeen

patftrears wrote: »

Can this work, know not the correct way to do it but can it be done.
You want to collect regular monthly payments from a customer using credit card.
You get their CC details.
Then each month you fill in a paypal form with their details.

The reason for doing this is customer only gives you CC details one and you do the manual processing each month.

Yes you can do this - it is known as recurring payments or subscription payments. You do not store the CC details yourself this is done by PayPal or the Payment Service Provider. If you are interested specifically in PayPal then you can find details of their recurring payments service here. If you want to look at other options then this blog post on recurring payment providers in Ireland will be of interest to you.

Dave

blobert

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll be wanting to get a merchant account if I can, think this is much preferable to PayPal, Worldpay, etc Options. Will go see the banks with my business plan and see what they think. Why are they so reluctant in this regard?

Also which bank would people recommend using for business banking?

Thanks

Have you made ANY sales yet ? Have you tested the product through any sales channel yet ? Have you tried it online in a micro form ?

Don't give yourself the hassle unless you know it will sell the volumes required to warrant a merchant account for an e-business START UP.

R3al

blobert wrote: »

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll be wanting to get a merchant account if I can, think this is much preferable to PayPal, Worldpay, etc Options. Will go see the banks with my business plan and see what they think. Why are they so reluctant in this regard?

Also which bank would people recommend using for business banking?

It will be easier for you to get an IMA if you already have some online trading history so that you can demonstrate the level of turnover, so you might want to use one of the third party payment processors initially to gather this data. It is also a good idea to offer your customers more than one payment option such as paypal and credit/debit card, especially if you are a new online business where people might be wary of giving their credit card details, with paypal the customer knows that the card details are hidden.

BOI offer business banking with no fees for the first 2 years, you might want to check that out and similar offers that other banks make.

FYI - if you have an IMA (with Streamline), RBSworldpay offer a similar payment processing service to realex and elavon as well as offering the full third party payment portal service, paypoint is another option, their rates seem quite reasonable.

podgeen

Hi there,

R3al wrote: »

It will be easier for you to get an IMA if you already have some online trading history so that you can demonstrate the level of turnover, so you might want to use one of the third party payment processors initially to gather this data.

Good advice here. The acquiring bank will want to see your website, refund policy, privacy policy and terms&conditions as part of the IMA application process. So if you already have a site that is operating and accepting payments then it will make things easier.

R3al wrote: »

FYI - if you have an IMA, RBSworldpay offer a similar payment processing service to realex and elavon as well as offering the full third party payment portal service

I worked with RBS WorldPay to create their provider profile on webpayments.ie. I was told that their Business Gateway package is only available to UK Businesses as they only work with UK banks like HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and RBS. I took their word for it and only listed their Business Gateway Plus option on webpayments.ie. Do you know of any Irish businesses using this service?

R3al wrote: »

paypoint.ie is another option, their rates seem quite reasonable.

I was not aware that paypoint.ie provided support for online payments. Do you have a link to details of their service or their pricing?

Thanks,
Dave

R3al

podgeen wrote: »

I was told that their Business Gateway package is only available to UK Businesses as they only work with UK banks like HSBC, Lloyds, Barclays and RBS. I took their word for it and only listed their Business Gateway Plus option on webpayments.ie. Do you know of any Irish businesses using this service?

You can use RBSworldpay in Ireland if you have your IMA with Ulster Banks Streamline service (I've updated my earlier post to reflect this)

podgeen wrote: »

I was not aware that paypoint.ie provided support for online payments. Do you have a link to details of their service or their pricing?

Thanks,
Dave

Dave, You can find details of paypoints payment processing (both with and without an IMA) at:
http://www.paypoint.net/

TheCostumeShop.ie: Ronan

For processors its worth looking at Realex, Worldnett TPS and Sage Pay. As they all do the same thing, all that really matters is price. Budget about 30 per month for starting off.

Merchants, Eavlon are good (BOI), for an online business in my opinion avoid AIB merchants - we had awful problems dealing with them. I've heard good things about Ulster bank too.

Hope that helps

blobert

Thanks again for the replies guys, will go meet with BOI and Ulster Bank and maybe some others and take it from there.