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Thread: E-Commerce Gateways

  1. #11
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    Hi.

    I sell computer hardware on my site to the local market only.
    Another big concern of mine is that the money must be available either immediately or within 1 or max 2 days as I need the customers money to buy the stock seeing as I don't keep it in stock.
    At the moment I'm not ready to go for a merchant account with a bank as their costs will work out more as my sales are not high enough as yet. I first want to get a super merchant account so that my sales increase a lot and then from there, I will use those figures to propose a forecast to the bank.

  2. #12
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    Well been using them for nearly 2 years now, can't say that I had any serious problems. I have a fixed product sold at a single price on each of the sites perhaps that is making the difference?

    I used Neteller the first time, mmmmmm I think 4 years ago, they even have a little bank card you can draw your money with from most ATM's, so it is fairly easy and user friendly. They are very reliable and my experience with them was that they are very helpful. I sold my site that we used them on June last year, but I was happy with them. They do a FICA and once that is done you receive your card and documentation within about 3 weeks time.
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by eitai2001 View Post
    Hi.

    I sell computer hardware on my site to the local market only.
    Another big concern of mine is that the money must be available either immediately or within 1 or max 2 days as I need the customers money to buy the stock seeing as I don't keep it in stock.
    At the moment I'm not ready to go for a merchant account with a bank as their costs will work out more as my sales are not high enough as yet. I first want to get a super merchant account so that my sales increase a lot and then from there, I will use those figures to propose a forecast to the bank.
    Why do you not just ask for an EFT, open a business account with FNB as a soletrader and you will receive your payments immediately from another FNB or the next day from other banks?
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

  4. #14
    Email problem Karenwhe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by eitai2001 View Post
    Hi.
    I sell computer hardware on my site to the local market only.
    Another big concern of mine is that the money must be available either immediately or within 1 or max 2 days as I need the customers money to buy the stock seeing as I don't keep it in stock.
    This is exactly what we also do with hardware (just not computer stuff). We say on the site that "your order will be processed only upon proof of payment". Which enables you to use EFT and ask them for proof of payment before you place your order with your supplier and pay them.

    At the back end of the website software we mark "confirmed" when we get proof of payment. With credit card is fast with EFT you need a fax or whatever to check for the customers proof of payment. We use fax to email for convenience (not a real fax).

    Quote Originally Posted by eitai2001 View Post
    At the moment I'm not ready to go for a merchant account with a bank as their costs will work out more as my sales are not high enough as yet....
    I agree 100%. But you can negotiate with them cheaper than you think. This is why we went to the bank. We managed to negotiate them so much more down that they became cheaper for us than any other solution. Don't take their advertising for granted. Go in, speak to them, tell them about your business, your margin and what you can afford to stay in business. Lets just say you can get even 75% below their advertising rates.

    They are likely to give you much lower rates. And I mean far lower than you can imagine, but will most likely put you on a trial of a few months. Then you need to go in again and ask them to keep your rates the same, if you did not reach their required transaction volumes.

    We did this until we reached their required margins and it worked. But we knew it would take a year so we had to keep going in the bank to keep the rates low every 3 months.

    If you don't think you will ever reach their required margin, then this may not be an option at all.

    Hope this helps.

  5. #15
    Email problem Karenwhe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Chatmaster View Post
    I used Neteller the first time, mmmmmm I think 4 years ago, they even have a little bank card you can draw your money with from most ATM's, so it is fairly easy and user friendly. They are very reliable and my experience with them was that they are very helpful.
    I must definitely check this. Thanks for that.

  6. #16
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    I see they still have the card and if you compare costs it is not that bad,you can check it out here you will note that SA are one of the few countries on their list that allows for the use of the card.
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

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    Thanks for the info.
    I actually have been using EFT since May ... my problem arises that by not accepting credit cards, I'm losing about 40-50% of customers, or maybe even more ... due to them not wanting to pay EFT or mostly because purchases online are usually impulsive ... if you don't get the money there and then ... there is a good chance you won't make the sale.
    May I ask which bank you approached to lower your merchant fees and get the credit card facilities?

  8. #18
    Email problem Karenwhe's Avatar
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    We work with ABSA (the red bank ). But I do know that others are negotiable too, it just depends who you land on.

    Edited to add: It is suggested that you approach the bank you work with the most. They take into account how much business you do with them (also don't forget to remind them that). If I was you I would try there, and if it doesn't work I would move on to another bank.

  9. #19
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    I use FNB and they are pretty much the best option imo. I do not have a particularly good relationship with ABSA and Nedbank due to my ill experiences with them on service delivery in the past. I also have one business account with Std Bank but I prefer FNB atm.

    I have another question...
    Why not make use of Setcom but offer the customer 2 payment methods? One is Creditcard through Setcom and the other is EFT at a discounted rate. In other words increase your pricing or charge a delivery/shipping fee but if you pay via EFT you get a discount and do not have to pay a delivery or shipping fee. So if the customer decides to pay via Credit card you cover your costs?
    Roelof Vermeulen (Entrepreneurship in large organizations)
    Roelof Vermeulen| Rock flaps south africa

  10. #20
    Email problem Karenwhe's Avatar
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    Last I checked you were not allowed to discount for EFT or vice versa, increase price for Credit Card. Maybe I am wrong, but there used to be some rules in regards to this. I am not sure what is going on now, maybe that has changed, or I was given the wrong the advise at that time.

    Yes ABSA and Nedbank were not good with service. Imho still are not, the only reason we use them is because we managed with a huge amount of effort to create some relationships that make life easy.

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