Online Payment Processor (Credit Cards Etc)

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Hey guys. Do any of you have any recommendations as to which online payment processor is the best? PayPal seems like they have a good offer on the table with their merchant accounts, but I'm aware that standard accounts have a lot of problems with regard to them limiting and freezing accounts. I won't be able to afford a freeze, so I need to know the full story. Would my merchant account be limited, too?

I basically just want something to accept credit cards and so forth, but PayPal account payments are nice, too.

Thanks for your time!
 
It completely depends on your product/service. If you are selling something that would be classified as highrisk (acai, adult, travel, replica, etc) then PayPal would not be an option. PayPal is very picky about what you are selling and will not hesitate to freeze up your account for seemingly no reason.

2Checkout is another option you could use, less strict than PayPal but if your product is high risk at all I would not recommend it.

Allied Wallet would be the next option I would recommend. A tiny bit more pricey than PayPal, but they have a good reputation of taking care of their merchants.

If you have any other more specific questions let me know!
 
If you've got problems on Paypal Standard account why don't you create a Business Premier account, then if you would like to verify your account go look for a VCC. I think that would solve your problem, I haven't proven any other sites than Paypal, There are a lot of payment processors, but they have a limited merchant services.
 
Pretty much the only good thing about PayPal is their vast amount of users. Even then, I'll stick with CCNow or 2CheckOut. Those two are pretty pricey because of that, but it's great for PayPal users and your average card users. I have a couple PayPal accounts, all verified, but I don't really use them unless I have to because even through 100% legitimate operations, I've had a lot of problems with them. When I first started my business in 06, I was doing $120k a year in gross sales on eBay selling mostly liquidated electronics, and I saved up about 17k in profit in PayPal to make a large 20k purchase from China including shipping. It was going to get me out of the shitty electronic market and into other niches. Well, it was frozen for 180 days, or as I was told on the phone by someone who didn't seem to understand how the process works. I was told there was nothing I could really do, and to not try, and that I'll have my funds released in 6 months. I continued to keep getting sales from eBay and those were frozen too, luckily I could still operate my eBay business without having access to the funds in my PayPal account. If I didn't have much money, I would have been screwed. After a month of back and forth phone calls with PayPal, I ended up suing them and they released my funds within 48 hours. Two months later, I was frozen again. My business wasn't destroyed unlike others, but it made a dent. It just wasn't worth dealing with PayPal anymore.
 
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Pretty much the only good thing about PayPal is their vast amount of users. Even then, I'll stick with CCNow or 2CheckOut. Those two are pretty pricey because of that, but it's great for PayPal users and your average card users. I have a couple PayPal accounts, all verified, but I don't really use them unless I have to because even through 100% legitimate operations, I've had a lot of problems with them. When I first started my business in 06, I was doing $120k a year in gross sales on eBay selling mostly liquidated electronics, and I saved up about 17k in profit in PayPal to make a large 20k purchase from China including shipping. It was going to get me out of the shitty electronic market and into other niches. Well, it was frozen for 180 days, or as I was told on the phone by someone who didn't seem to understand how the process works. I was told there was nothing I could really do, and to not try, and that I'll have my funds released in 6 months. I continued to keep getting sales from eBay and those were frozen too, luckily I could still operate my eBay business without having access to the funds in my PayPal account. If I didn't have much money, I would have been screwed. After a month of back and forth phone calls with PayPal, I ended up suing them and they released my funds within 48 hours. Two months later, I was frozen again. My business wasn't destroyed unlike others, but it made a dent. It just wasn't worth dealing with PayPal anymore.

Thanks for the input. Are there any alternatives that have lesser rates? 5% plus 0.50 is a huge difference from PayPal's rates. :eek:
 
Thanks for the input. Are there any alternatives that have lesser rates? 5% plus 0.50 is a huge difference from PayPal's rates. :eek:

It seems like a lot, but that's because they accept PayPal and deal with eBay in case you sell on eBay, which has a big scam/chargeback rate. The industry standard is like 3% + $0.30, and I've used cdgcommerce, but they do a credit check on you (which didn't bother me, but makes it so most young entrepreneurs out there ineligible), but they fight chargebacks hardcore. They work great for eCommerce of physical products, but aren't a big fan of intangible items like eBooks and stuff, they don't like eBay either.
 
It seems like a lot, but that's because they accept PayPal and deal with eBay in case you sell on eBay, which has a big scam/chargeback rate. The industry standard is like 3% + $0.30, and I've used cdgcommerce, but they do a credit check on you (which didn't bother me, but makes it so most young entrepreneurs out there ineligible), but they fight chargebacks hardcore. They work great for eCommerce of physical products, but aren't a big fan of intangible items like eBooks and stuff, they don't like eBay either.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the heads up!
 
It completely depends on your product/service. If you are selling something that would be classified as highrisk (acai, adult, travel, replica, etc) then PayPal would not be an option. PayPal is very picky about what you are selling and will not hesitate to freeze up your account for seemingly no reason.

Yeap, that's pretty much why I'm looking elsewhere for a payment processor. :o
 
yeah xenn, you need to get someone who matches up with authorize.net and get serious about protecting your cashflow. if you use paypal, your risking having all your income frozen overnight for no reason whatsoever. I recommend powerpay as the best place to go to for a straight sale, if you need a high risk for continuity billing, start looking elsewhere, they are hard to find these days.
 
I appreciate the input. I suppose my business isn't really "high risk" so much as it is in violation of most processors' ToS. I'm selling glass pipes, which can be classified as drug paraphernalia (but it definitely isn't legally within the USA; everything I do is perfectly legal).

I'm mostly concerned with a processor being above-board (I don't want bullshit, tacked-on charges) and being willing to accept payments for glass pipes.

Edit: I'm considering CCNow. Any good?
 
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