Credit Card charges for online sales - Anyone tried Braintree?

dc14

Hi all,
I've been looking into the option of getting a Realex/Merchant account set up for online transactions to reduce costs. Paypal/Stripe, etc all charge pretty high rates for the service they provide. Also, they charge a flat rate regardless of whether the customer uses a credit card or a debit card. If we go with a merchant account, the rates are lower for credit cards, but there would be significant savings on debit card transactions.

One option I am looking at is Braintree who provide a Merchant account as part of their service, so we would only need to deal with one group as opposed to two (Realex & a Merchant account provider), both of whom would charge us. They also offer much lower rates than the alternatives (Paypal/Stripe and the Realex/Merchant account option). However, my concerns are:

1. I haven't heard much about them. I know that they have now been bought over buy Paypal, so they have a huge company behind them, but I would like to hear from someone who has used them.

2. How easy is their system to integrate. We integrated Paypal ourselves in the past and we have also used a third party system, however, we are not programmers.

Would love to hear experiences if anyone else has used them.

Thanks,
dc14

jimmii

Wow .9% +10c by the looks of it you would either need to be an "experienced developer" or hire someone who is in the FAQ it says they would be able to get it done in half an hour so I am guessing it is pretty straight forward for someone who knows what they are doing.

Its owned by eBay so if you comfortable using Paypal then should be just as comfortable with Braintree.

Graham

jimmii wrote: »

.9% +10c

Interchange +.9% + €.10 per transaction

Peterdalkey

How much does it cost to use Braintree?

Our European pricing is Interchange +.9% + €.10 per transaction. Total costs are typically 1.8% to 2.6% of the transaction and includes all of our great features, and unlimited access to our support team.

jimmii

That certainly makes it sound cheaper than it is.

dc14

According to what they sent me, the interchange rates are from .15-.18% for domestic consumer cards. There is also an interchange processing fee of 2.5c. That still just adds up to 1.06 - 1.08% plus a 12.5c processing fee. It's a big saving....Stripe charge 2.4% plus 24c; Paypal charge 2.9% plus 35c and the Realex/Merchant account option which is the cheapest alternative to Braintree would work out at about 1.9% for credit cards and 35c for debit cards plus the realex charges of 8 c per transaction, but they apply exception charges of .85% for any transactions that are processed without 3D secure (the Verified by Visa system) and I think many customers may not have implemented this, so I'd be hit with a lot of exception charges as well.

Also, there are no monthly fees with Braintree & I don't think you are tied into a 12 month contract so it would be great for seasonal businesses (although I'm waiting for confirmation of that).

I asked where the 2.6% average fee came from as my calculations seemed to indicate that it would cost about 1.08% plus 12.5c. They said that the difference would be from accepting international cards and business cards, whereas most of my business would be from domestic consumer credit & debit cards.

Apart from the integration issue (which could potentially be a big issue), I'm wondering why no-one else is using it if these savings are correct?

Am I missing something or maybe my calculations are incorrect ?

Jay Dee

Hi,
How did you get on in the end ?
I am looking for something similar, and would be interested in how you went ?
Drop me a post if you can.

Thanks

Jay.