My own merchant/ transaction programme?

[gardenplant]

Is there any way of making your own merchant account/ transaction programme without using ones like paypal or google checkout? I'm trying to save on the commission that paypal take.

Thanks.

 

[Kate]

Have you had a look at 2checkout ?
You can apply for a fully fledged merchant account but you will always have fees - it depends on the volume of transactions you get.

 

[snowbird]

Yeah, I happen to have an actual merchant account through a bank for my computer repair business and i save quite a bit on transaction fees. But what you need to know is that if you are selling products online, you won't see to much of a break in fees. The only time you will get a substantial discount on fees is if you sell products and services in person with your customers. Online payments are considered higher risk by any kind of merchant provider. That is why no matter who you will go with, you will still pay close to what paypal probably costs on fees. When you sell products and services in person, it is called a "Card Present" transaction. That means that you are swiping their card in person or actually looking at it to verify it. With online transactions, you do not actually see the card holder's credit card. So you have no way of confirming a positive ID for that card. A child could have stolen their parent's card, etc.

The best you can do is shop around. Maybe you'll find a better deal, maybe you wont. If anything, you might end up paying more in fees with an actual merchant account because most of them try to charge you a monthly statement fee of around $10 or so. With a place like 2checkout, there are no statement fees or anything. You only pay the transaction fees.

 

[gardenplant]

Thanks very much for the help guys!