Help needed on e-commerce issues

[cypher2]

I intend to launch a B2C e-commerce website next year. Target customers will likely be local at first and then I intend to go global (or at least regional). I've not done any of these stuff before. Need the expertise and advice of all of you here.:confused:

The e-commerce package I'm looking (from an overseas hosting company) at says that in order to process credit card online in realtime, I have to get a merchant account in my own country and that the bank I sign up with must be able to work with any of these 2 processors: CyberCash, FDMS Nashville or Signio.

I'm not sure how to go about this. I don't want to just sign up a local payment system like d2pay from DBS cos I have to consider the needs of my overseas customers. Credit card payment would be the best.

Any comments from anyone of you?

Thanks so much.

Cypher2:(

[chin]

Many had made use of Paypal (http://www.paypal.com) to process their credit card payment.

Paypal accept US, Pound, Euro... and you can transfer the $$ to your local POSB, DBS ..bank account from paypal.

[lifegauge]

You will have to first estimate the revenue that you will be getting from your venture, and how many perfect of it is from local/overseas.

If credit card processing is what you need, then DBS's d2pay is too expensive. This is because d2pay provides payment through NETS as well, if I'm not mistaken.

If most of your potential customers are overseas, I say stick to paypal. Their charges may not be the cheapest, but they sure are easy to set up. Not to mention they are amongst the top payment gateways internationally.

If you wish to cater to both local and overseas (as in 50-50), then perhaps you should give WorldPay a try. They require that you pay a fixed amount every year, and on top of that they receive commission from every transaction as well. The plus point is that your users can choose to pay in their local currency (USD, Euro, Pound, SGD, etc). I think you are allowed to choose up to 4 different types of currencies. This is good so that your users do not have to worry about their bank's forex rates.

[chin]

The thing is WorldPay is very expensive to start up with :

Processing charges
Setup Fee (S$138 non refundable) : S$198
Annual Payment Processing Fee - includes 3 free currencies :$398
Additional charge per currency : S$138

Service charges per transaction*
Credit Cards :4.5%
Remittance Charges**
Remittance in any currency £2.50

As taken from WorldPay Pricing page at :
http://www.worldpay.com/sg/pricing.shtml

[Glenn]

But what you may seem to require is actually sufficient in the WorldPay package.

[lifegauge]

What Glenn said is correct. It's all in the WorldPay package. Which is why I sugested that cypher2 should prioritise his needs, whether he thinks catering to local audiences is as important as overseas customers, or it isn't important to let his customers pay in their local currencies.

If this feature isn't needed, then PayPal would be the best choice.

Also, "expensive" really depends on whether you are making enough revenue + sufficient profit. If paying high fees to WorldPay brings more business, I'd say that it's cheap! (Well, at least its cheaper than spending more $ to advertise)

[cypher2]

thanks so much for all your comments. :p

Indeed WorldPay is quite ex. While I am quite confident of earning enough revenue to cover their charges, I'm not quite willing to pay for something so ex when you can settle for something cheaper and perhaps, just as good.

I don't need that many currencies, just SGD (for local) and USD (for overseas).

I'm considering Paypal as one of the options but the prob is customers need to have a Paypal account to buy online. Some people who do not have a Paypal account may just prefer to use their credit cards directly.... or they may not bother to set up a Paypal account.

The e-commerce package I'm looking at includes hosting, supports credit card transactions and charges only US$36 per month (contrast this with WorldPay!!). Howevern , it says that I need to get a merchant account with a bank that can work with either of the 3 payment systems they are using: CyberCash, FDMS Nashville or Signio.

Any of you have any idea about which banks use the above?

:confused: :confused: :confused:

[alva chew]

I would root for worldpay in terms of functionality and customisability. Experienced that when developing for a client. And that they have a local rep office in spore is a big plus.

[Ediot]

While there may seem to be many solutions available in the market, but if you're a business based in S'pore, and your merchant account is with one of the local banks here, you'll probably want to skip the rest and go straight for Worldpay or NCS (even more expensive). It makes a VERY BIG difference that WorldPay has got a local rep office here. PM me if you need to know who to talk to @ WorldPay Singapore.
We have done quit a few e-commerce projects, and in my personal opinion, you should avoid using Paypal. Paypal is not designed to handle "real" business transactions, it's still more of a Peer-To-Peer payment facility. And there is quite some risk using Paypal since it's geared towards protecting buyer's interest instead of the seller's. Do a google search on "charge back with paypal" and you'll get a better idea.

[cypher2]

Gee..... thanks Ediot! Reading about other sellers' nightmare with PayPal is enough warning..... :eek:

As I'm very new to e-commerce stuffs, I need all the help that is available. Will PM you over the weekends when I'm less tied up.
:help:

Also thanks to everyone else for their much valued opinions.

[garyler]

www.2checkout.com

[Ediot]

there is some ongoing investigation of credit card fraud by 1mhost a.k.a. 1checkout ... and there's speculations that 2checkout might be involved. anyway, 2checkout is run by some Egyptian.

[soowee]

hey have u tried revecom.com quite good in service and quality.... my frens have recommended....me...but i haven try.....!! most of the soccer sites use this company for cc transactions......