Setting up Laser Card Payments for Website

jujuB

:confused: Hi All,

Just wondering can anyone help!
I have a website set up through wix.com. They only give us 2 payment options for our customers to use. Either PayPal or Google Checkout. We are currently using PayPal & it is working out okay but our problem is PayPal do not accept Laser card payments. As we are an Irish based company, we are losing out on business I feel by not allowing our customers to use their Laser cards. Not everyone has a credit card, especially nowadays. Google Checkout seemed a pretty good option but it can only be used for people in the UK or USA, pretty silly if you ask me considering there are 194 other countries in the world!!! Also I am not 100% sure if they would actually accept Laser payments anyway! How do I go about setting Laser payments up for my website? I am wondering is there any other option I can look to? I would really appreciate some advice. Thank you!

The Apprentice

Hey dude.. dont waste your time doing anything with that laser card movement.. u may be missing out but with the many many options of getting a visa/mastercard option such as 3v and others its not worth the time.
The banks are phasing out laser cards, they are now a thing of the past despite the credit card charges being dearer.
The new thing is a debit/credit card.
It acts like a laser but is indeed a mastercard/visa that only lets u spend whats on the card. I have mine with ulster bank..

I personally wouldnt touch it my friend

Groinshot

AIb aren't moving for at least a year, and I don't know about BOI.
Take a look at implementing realex in your site, AFAIK they're the only provider to deal with laser payments.

mneylon

Laser is worth a LOT of sales to any business based in Ireland

jujuB

Thank you for your replies. Laser card payments online I would have thought are huge business in Ireland. Just had a quick look at Realex, it sounds good. @ The Apprentice- I tend to agree with you there though, Laser cards are being phased out & being replaced with debit cards, thank god. It has started already. @Groinshot- I know Ulster Bank, Bank of Ireland & Permanent TSB have all phased out their Laser cards to Visa Debit cards already.

Like I said wix.com don't support any other services other than PayPal & Google Checkout. We have found wix.com excellent as we can change & design anything on our site very easily & very painlessly. If we decided to take Laser payments online using Realex for example, would we need to change from wix.com?

mneylon

Do you have to type your replies in a big blue font?

cormee

On one of my sites, I know of only two or three sales lost because I don't accept Laser, in about 5 years of business. It's an Irish site, subscription service.

mneylon

cormee wrote: »

On one of my sites, I know of only two or three sales lost because I don't accept Laser, in about 5 years of business. It's an Irish site, subscription service.

We used to think that Laser wasn't *that big* - once we switched it on we realised that we were very wrong

cormee

Blacknight wrote: »

We used to think that Laser wasn't *that big* - once we switched it on we realised that we were very wrong

You're probably right, but it's just that at this stage, going through the whole process - merchant account, realex account, payment gateway etc. seems like a lot of effort for little reward.

I'm sure with the volume of sales Blacknight makes it would pay for itself quite quickly, but not for a small trader like myself.

Interesting article in today's Indo on the matter: http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/from-laser-to-loser-as-visa-takes-lead-in-debit-payments-2850059.html

mneylon

@Cormee a lot would depend on what you are selling and how often ie. once off / monthly / annual etc.,
The thing with Laser being replaced is that it's not going to happen that quickly unless the banks do a recall on the cards.. when they changed the Laser cards the last time it was phased over a couple of years with cards being replaced as they expired etc.,

The thing to bear in mind are the costs of processing transactions - switching to our own merchant account and Realex saved us a fortune

jujuB

Blacknight wrote: »

Do you have to type your replies in a big blue font?

What has that got to do with anything?

Thanks for the advice everyone

mneylon

jujuB wrote: »

What has that got to do with anything?

It makes it very hard to read anything you're posting.

pfurey101

jujuB wrote: »

What has that got to do with anything?

Thanks for the advice everyone

I suppose you could call it "talking very loudly" rather than SHOUTING!

IrishDog

I am involved with a business based in Belfast, selling throught all Ireland, and I would love to be able to take Laser Cards, I know for a fact that we are loosing business because of it.

But, it's just about impossible to be able to process them if you are not a ROI based company.

Our merchant account is in £GBP, so we can't process them. It isn't financially viable for us to open a Euro bank & merchant account as the banks demand too much for them. So, we can't take them.

As has been pointed out even PayPal don't take Laser cards, and they operate all round the world.

There was a bit of a loophole for a while where Laser cards could be processed as Maestro cards, but with the extra layer of security on maestro card transactions online, that doesn't work anymore.

I have tried with 2 different card processing companies, I even had an account with an Irish card processor in Dublin, but still couldn't take them.

If anyone knows a way round this so I can accept Laser cards online, then I would be glad to hear about it.

Laser - Please stop making it so difficult for us to take your cards.

Paul

mneylon

IrishDog wrote: »

<snip>

Laser - Please stop making it so difficult for us to take your cards.

Paul

Laser is being phased out by the banks .. though it will be around for the next few years.

I'd recommend talking to Realex who might be able to advise on solutions ..

IrishDog

Blacknight wrote: »

Laser is being phased out by the banks .. though it will be around for the next few years.

Thanks, that makes me feel a bit better at least - especially if they are being replaced with Visa debit.

I'd recommend talking to Realex who might be able to advise on solutions ..

Sasly, we only changes to a new procssing company about 4-5 monts ago, and I endd up paying termnination charges to get out on my last contracts - who kindly 'rolled them over' automatically on a 18 month contract :mad:

My current provider does accept Laser cards, but 'we' cannot take them with our £GBP merchant account.

It's a pity that tere isn't something like PayPal or Google checkout that takes them, that we could just 'bolt on' as a payment option on our website.

Thanks for your help Blacknight.

Paul