Support & Assistance: Accepting Online Payments

Manual Credit Card Payments:

If you already have a credit card merchant account (swipe terminal in your shop or business), you may wish to use this for taking payments over the Internet.

There are however, some things to take into consideration:
- You will need an SSL certificate to secure your site so that customers can enter their card numbers on your site. SSL certs need to be renewed yearly.
- You need to store and if at all possible encrypt the card details before they are sent to you to pass through your terminal.
- Your bank might prohibit you from using an existing merchant account for Internet sales as they provide separate Internet Merchant Accounts for this purpose (and additional charges!).

PRO's:
- A quick and cheap option

CON's:
- More set up involved
- Cumbersome: you need to process the card details manually
- Security issues: storing credit card numbers in any digital form is not recommended unless you have top class security in place.
- Only suitable for a low volume of transactions

Internet Merchant Account:

If you believe you will be doing a large volume of transactions, then it would be worth your while investigating arranging an Internet Merchant Account with your bank. As usual, the banks will make you jump through hoops to get this, and they are very nervous of online trading and you may not be successful at obtaining an account.

The account on it's own is useless. You will also need a Payment Service Provider (see Realex below).

PRO's:
- In conjunction with a PSP, it can be a cost effective solution for large volumes of business

CON's:
- Difficult to arrange with your bank
- Minimum charges and account setup fees will apply
- Technial integration with a PSP is required

The banks typically charge 3-4% commission on all transactions, but this is subject to negotiation and is decided on a case-by-case basis.

 
Payment Service Provider:

A payment service provider essentially acts as a virtual credit card terminal, acting as a gateway between your bank and your Internet Merchant Account with it, and the Internet.

The only PSP to provide this service for all Irish banks is Realex Payments (http://www.realexpayments.com/).

They offer two versions of their service:

Hosted Service:
The customer, when they wish to make payment, is transferred to a secure server hosted by Realex (but customised to look like your own website). This is ideal for small operations as it means you do not have to purchase an SSL cert or worry about storing credit card details safely.

XML Service:
Card details are stored on your own site and are passed to the Realex system for payment processing invisibly by a software call. This allows you the freedom to process card payments in the future and have complete control over the processing operation.
It does require a more detailed technical integration, but it is quite straight forward if done by an experienced web development company such as Cloch Internet.

Realex Charges:
Realex Payments offer various different service plans depending on the volume of business you expect to generate.

Their entry-level plan costs €50 per month and provides you with up to 50 transactions (effectively €1 per transaction). For very large volumes, the per transaction charge can drop to as little as 10 cent.

Note that this is in addition to the commission charged by your bank.

 
All in One Providers

There are a number of providers that provide both the payment processing and Internet merchant account in one solution.
While there are numerous providers out there, we are focusing on the providers that have an offering specifically for the Irish market.

WorldPay:

WorldPay are a part of the Royal Bank of Scotland which owns Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland.

Their entry level services, targeted at SME's is the WorldDirect account.
This provides an Internet merchant account and payment processing in one.

Fees:
Set up: €145
Annual Charge: €250

Per Transaction Charges:
Mastercard/Visa: 4.5%
Laser: Flat €0.80

WorldAlert (fraud screen):
€0.10 per transaction

Optional extras, Set up charges:
Futurepay (for recurring charges): €200
WorldAccess (card terminal application): €100
Additional Currency processing: €90

Remittance:
There is a €4.50 charge for remittances to bank accounts in Ireland.
Funds are remitted every week 4 weeks in arrears.

PRO's:
- Easy, all in one solution
- Works with most shopping cart systems
- Reliable company
- No need to worry about sensitive information such as card details: this is all handled by WorldPay.

CON's:
- Expensive
- Funds held 4 weeks in arrears
- Some financial history required, but quite straightforward
 

PayPal

Paypal accounts are very easy to sign up for, and there are no annual fees. It used to be the case that members had to become a PayPal member before they could make a payment to a merchant, but this is now optional, though our experience is that this does cause the occassional problem.

You will need a credit card to sign up for a Paypal account although there are no application/setup fees.

For further information or to apply for an account, please see here.

Charges:

Standard Rate (volumes from €0 - €2,500):
3.4% + €0.35 / transaction

Merchant Rate (volumes from €2,500.01 - €10,000):
2.9% + €0.35 /transaction

Funds Withdrawal:
For amounts in excess of €100, there are no charges.
For amounts less than €100, the fee is €1.

PRO's:
- Fast and easy to set up
- Cheap processing charges compared to others

CON's:
- Users in some countries must be a PayPal member before they can make a payment, though this is no longer the case in Ireland
- PayPal is often considered a personal payments system and may be considered unprofessional by potential customers, particularly if they must join PayPal.
- Do not accept Laser card payments which can be quite cheap as debit cards transaction fees are normally flate rate