Re: payments from email

[John Locke <..hidden..>]

Hi,

-------- Original Message  --------
Subject: [Ledger-smb-users] payments from email
From: ..hidden..
To: ..hidden..
Date: Sat 29 Aug 2009 01:42:22 PM PDT
> The online order thing sounds like the same function as Paypal to me.
> Being a contractor we do not get phone payments so I imagine if you need
> this and Paypal apparently does not offer it outside the USA then Paypal
> would not be the way to go.
>   

I'd also say that Paypal kind of sucks from a user/customer point of
view. It forces you to log in, prefers pulling out of your bank account,
won't set your credit card by default, and there's quite a few people
who won't buy through Paypal on principle (due to bad experiences).

> A modification I can see being useful is LSMB receiving the payment on the
> invoices paid from Paypal. Paypal can do this the only reason I am using
> Paypal is I am not aware of anything else that has no monthly minimum,
> supports integration, costs less, and is easy. I am especially annoyed by
> sites that do not clearly post there rates or fees and have monthly
> minimums. We can go months without processing a single credit card so I am
> not aware of any better pay as you go service.
> Paypals fees from the site:
>     *  No monthly fees to maintain a PayPal account.
>     * No setup fees.
>     * No gateway fees.
>     * No fees for multiple eBay and merchant tools.
>   

Well now, here, Paypal is much more transparent in their charges (if you
don't have problems or fraudulent users). And it's a great deal,
especially if your volume is under $1000 a month or so.

Paypal, and several other online gateways we've integrated, has a way of
posting confirmed payments back to a given URL. There's a sort of
double-handshake system--you provide a URL for Paypal to send
notification to. Paypal posts to this address with a code. You create a
brand new post back to Paypal with this code (so you can make sure the
"paypal" post didn't come from a 3rd party), and then Paypal response
with yes or no. We've coded several sites to accept this (IPN in
Paypal's terms) though in PHP, not Perl... we haven't integrated
LedgerSMB though it shouldn't be hard to do.

> Does not apply to Website Payments Pro or Virtual Terminal.
>
> Paypal fees to receive payments for purchases of goods and services vary
> depending on monthly sales volume.
> Purchase payments received (monthly) 	Fee per transaction
> $0.00 USD - $3,000.00 USD 	2.9% + $0.30 USD
> $3,000.01 USD - $10,000.00 USD 	2.5% + $0.30 USD
> and so on.
> Virtual Terminal is $30 per month on top.
> ....../snip
> I just did a few google searches it seems like most others are between
> 2-3% + monthly fee, cart fee, report fee and other hidden fees.
> Monthly fees are $10-20.
>   

The whole industry seems full of snake oil salesmen, and lots of hidden
charges and bait-and-switch rates. Quite often you'll get suckered into
some low rate (like 1.8% or so), and then find out that none of the
purchases qualify for that rate--and you may end up actually paying more
like 3.25%. We're paying around 2.3% for online transactions, + 20 cents
+ $10/month for the gateway, and have a minimum monthly fee of $20 (as
in if the 2.3% doesn't add up to $20, we pay $20 anyway.) And I think
our deal is pretty good--but you really don't know without carefully
analyzing the bill and figuring out what you're actually paying (which I
probably should do to make sure!)

I'd suggest talking to other merchants in your area, see if you can find
a good recommendation for a provider who takes care of their customers
and doesn't hit them with these slimy tactics. And note that places like
Costco or commercial banks don't seem to be any better than independent
brokers--they often have some of the most hidden fees.
> We received a whopping 9 Paypal/creditcard payments in the past 12 months
> total of $5831. (BTW paypal does not charge for statements)
> The fees we paid in total were: $230.84 5831/230.84  3.96%
> An alternative would be to pay the $20 per month go with a different
> company. ($20/month X 12 = $240) + (9 transactions @ .25 = 2.25) + (total
> transactions times 2.25% 5831 X = 145.775) = total yearly cost of $388 or
> 6+% if we could get the $10 per month the total would be $268 or 4.5%.
> Most of the other systems seem to offer worse service and have hi pressure
> sales gimmicks.
>   

Yes. It's hard to find trustworthy brokers of merchant accounts. And if
your average credit card sales are under $1000 a month, you really can't
beat Paypal on cost. But for your customers, I do think there's a bit of
a perception problem with Paypal. Even above $1,000 a month, Paypal is
competitive in cost, but I'd suggest you're better off with a good
merchant account if you're over that threshold.
> I am open and interested in any alternatives and helping LSMB users
> integrate it. I would encourage folks to run the numbers and show us the
> math though.
>   
Cheers,
-- 
John Locke
http://freelock.com