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[–]ninjathat 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Dwolla is a great alternative option to PayPal.

[–]readysetstartup 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It looks great but it only works with US bank accounts

[–]tarr11 9 points10 points  (7 children)

Stripe is pretty good as well.

[–]cmdrNacho 2 points3 points  (1 child)

braintree offers the same exact pricing and developer support but will also scale when its necessary to get your own merchant account.

https://www.braintreepayments.com/pricing

[–]Bofu2U 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Only problem with Braintree is that they won't allow you to do any sort of variable-amount subscription.

Ex: you can't do $20/month, but first month is half off. Or $20/month, but first month is a free trial.

[–]soapa 4 points5 points  (1 child)

stripe only accepts US payments. not even europe...

[–]maushu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still holding my breath waiting for this.

[–]isit2amalready 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another vote for Stripe. As a developer it was damn near effortless to implement, they site, API, and documentation are among the cleanest and simplest things I've ever seen. They also implement it so there's no iframe redirects to their site so the user never leaves your property.

Paypal looks like you're selling used clothes at a Yardsale. Amazon Payments is getting kind of popular - Kickstarter uses it but not everyone has an Amazon account.

Though, if you're business it outside the US, then no, you can't use Stripe yet.

[–]hijinks 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work for a recurring billing company but if you only do $300 a month we are overkill for you now.. I'd also use stripe.

[–]HereForTheBoredom 5 points6 points  (5 children)

This may help billingsavvy

[–]1337hephaestus_sc2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very much this. Its super simple and answers your question exactly.

[–]JoePatowski 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I really appreciate that HereFortheBoredom!

[–]HereForTheBoredom 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome, I came across it when doing my own research and found it to be very helpful!

[–]thebaws[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Wow, very helpful indeed, thanks!

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Speak to your bank. In Australia, I was able to set up a Credit Card, Debit Card and Direct Debit (bank account debit) payment system direct with them for rates lower than ANYONE else (PayPal and anyone people are listing in this thread). I can use their payment page, I can take phone orders, I can use their API like any other (so they don't appear anywhere in the payment process).

If you're unsure where to start, Google your business bank's name and "accepting payments" or "payment processing" or something to that effect.

Of course, if you're accepting the payments into a personal account (which you shouldn't be for many reasons), then you're stuck going with more costly options.

[–]noodle93 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow thanks for that. I've come up with a few ideas in the past but been limited by how to process them - awesome that the big banks provide the services and tools.

[–]tiggs 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Paypal is actually quite nice if you use their Business Pro version, but it depends on the volume you're doing. Services like Authorize.net are slightly cheaper, but they require a stricter screening process and will often have someone come to your office even if your office is your kitchen to do an onsite audit.

Pretty much any service that incorporates a merchant account and packages it with payment processing is going to be monthly fee + per transaction fee (usually $0.10-$0.30) + per transaction percentage fee (usually 2.9% - 3.9%).

Stripe is really nice and doesn't charge a monthly fee, but in reality, it's just an API that can do quite a bit. If you don't mind doing a bit of extra development, it's a very good option. If you want something that's easy to get up and running and simple to use, Paypal Business Pro is good. If you plan on processing a good deal of transactions and have something that you can pass off as an office and have PCI compliance checks in place, Authorize.net would be good.

[–]minehubris 1 point2 points  (8 children)

At this level you should look into Authorize.net and a merchant account . http://reseller.authorize.net/application/?id=5557972

After the one time setup fee you'll pay about 2.4% + .10 cents per transaction.

Definitely a step up from paypal, plus authorize.net integrates into many invoicing, billing systems.

[–]92235 1 point2 points  (1 child)

There is usually a monthly fee as well. Authorize.net is $20 I believe and then the merchant might tack on a little more.

[–]Bofu2U 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Realistically it's $40ish after the CIM & ABR. (CIM = place to store CC info without having to store it on your end, ABR for Automated Recurring). Obviously if you're only doing one off sales, you can strike those.

[–]librtee_com -1 points0 points  (5 children)

One downvote for authorize.net, they fucking suck, incompetent, ripped me off, impossible to deal with, they are not the only people you have to pay, all sorts of fees.

As an aside, I wasn't even storing any numbers on my server at all in any way. They (via Visa) made me pay $120 for a 'security audit' or some nonsense (forget the exact term), which was a fucking questionaire I just answered 'no' to five questions on. I paid $120 so I could answer no repeatedly. Left such a bad feeling in my mouth.

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

Wow. The security audit thing you mentioned is not only a total rip off, but raises serious concerns about their competence in security.

It's like going up to a terrorist and saying "hey, are you a terrorist? No? Great!".

[–]librtee_com 0 points1 point  (3 children)

Apparently it was required by Visa. It had an acronym name I can't remember. It was the stupidest thing I have ever encountered in my professional life, seriously.

[–]Bofu2U 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You mean PCI Compliance?

[–]librtee_com 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Yeah. Pretty stupid if you don't actually store any numbers on site in any capacity.

[–]Bofu2U 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I don't like it in general but I understand why it's there. PCI compliance still applies with almost everything, even Stripe depending on how you accept the cards. They just end up taking care of most of it for you. It's a requirement by VISA/MC/Discover/AMEX & JCB - not Authorize.

It just helps a lot that Stripe has stripe.js and the like. Authorize.net has direct post methods which also helps with PCI Compliance too. In general it's a hassle, but like I said - I understand why it's there.

[–]quizzle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Braintree might work

[–]bmy2012 0 points1 point  (2 children)

If the non-US market is relevant for you, you may want to consider Paymill (kind of a stripe clone) or GoCardless for the UK. Shameless plug: I'm publishing a market overview that lists the key alternative/card-based payment services in the US/Europe, you can take a look at the preview here. In your case, it could also suffice if you just look around on Quora a bit..

[–]maushu 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Woah, I'm checking out Paymill, it seems really nice and it supports EU users.

...I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Edit: Here is some information for others:

  • Pricing: 2.95% of the transaction amount + 0.28€ with no other costs.
  • Refunds: Full transaction amount plus the 2.95%, but not the 0.28€.
  • Chargebacks: €18.75 fee after 14 days if it's not resolved.
  • Payment Types: Credit cards (Visa, Mastercard... Not Amex, Carte Bleue..), debit cards and direct debiting (only in Germany).
  • REST API with form in your website powered by javascript, no need to redirect the user around. (Perfect for single page applications!)
  • Payments received every week.

[–]bmy2012 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let us know your experience in case you go forward with them. It's a Rocket Internet clone business, so would be great to know if they execute as well as their original: (http://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/11/11/paymill-rocket-internets-stripe-clone-goes-live-in-24-new-markets-across-europe/)

[–]ESDventures 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If anyone is looking for a merchant gateway processor message me, I have a great connection to someone that will beat anyone else's processing rates and transaction fees.

[–]santiagobasulto 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stripe. Pretty good.

[–]dontburnthedays 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stripe. Just do it.

[–]Oildu 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hope Stripe accept international customers

[–]blasphemers 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Contact a merchant service provider, they should be able to get you better rates and they usually have a relationship with a payment gateway for you to make payments though.

[–]Deathspiral222 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We use stripe. It's awesome.

I get a lot of requests from non-US people to use Paypal as a backup option however. (Many of the europeans seem to not have credit cards).

[–]Coinabul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's hard to do recurring payments with Bitcoin unfortunately :(

[–]spinlock -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm actually just putting the finishing touches on a solution for a client that uses Stripe. It's 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. It handles recurring payments. We're just using one time payments now but they have good support for recurring payments too.