Third Party Merchants

Here's a list of some third party merchants that you might want to consider if you're looking for ways to accept credit card payments. I have not tried any of them myself (as a vendor) so I cannot vouch for any of them. Check them out carefully and use them at your own risk.

Note that rates and stuff that I publish below were correct at the time I investigated these vendors. It may have changed by the time you read this since I investigated them quite a while back.

2checkout.com: One time $49 setup fee. Transaction fee of 4.5% of the total amount. Very reliable service, we use and recommend 2checkout.com

CCBill: There are no setup fees. Transaction fees vary (I can't find the schedule though) depending on the volume of sales in each accounting period. According to their website, "these fees are never more than 13.5% of revenues charged during this one-week period for CWIE hosting clients and 14.5% for non-hosting clients".

CCNow: This is only for people who ship tangible, physical products. There is no setup fee, and they charge 9% per transaction except in the November and December where the fees are 8% per transaction (yes, lower).

Clickbank: There is a one time setup fee (US$49.95) and a transaction fee of US$1 plus 7.5% of sale price. There are no other monthly fees. This is only for people who sell services or deliver products over the internet (not for those who need to ship physical products).

PayPal: If you are a Premier or Business account user, you get charged US$0.25 for transactions of US$15 and below, 1.9% plus US$0.25 for transactions above US$15 when your customers pay by credit card. They require your customers to sign up for their services before they can pay you. This can be a deterrent for your customers.

ProPay: A new competitor to PayPal (see elsewhere on this page) that currently only caters to US residents. You have to pay a $35 fee to sign up, but there are no monthly charges.

RegNow: Designed for software authors to sell their ware, this merchant deducts 20% of your sale price with a minimum of US$2.00 for their commission. There are also other charges for sales generated by your affiliates, etc.

Share-It: This service is for shareware authors. They charge US$2.95 plus 4% per order, and US$1.95 plus 4% for the 1000th order of the month and above. There are also charges for mailing you your cheque in some instances.