The Transaction Group

[acidbase]

Does anyone (International Users) apply for a merchant account from www.thetransactiongroup.com?

Any comments on this?

Also where can I apply for an international merchant account with low fees?

[drmike]

I'm iffy that they don't list their fee struction anywhere on the site. Or did I just miss it?

-drmike

[acidbase]

they will give a rate quote according to your business model.
But I have never heard of any good or bad review about them?
Anyone?

[Corey Bryant]

If I remember correctly - they are a reseller for a number of different processors. Check out: http://www.thetransactiongroup.com/partners.asp - it will show you those names.

[acidbase]

Which of these processor do you think is the best option and most economical for international sellers?

Thanks

[Corey Bryant]

Actually I do not think any of them will supoprt someone who is not in the United States

[acidbase]

Thanks for your reply.

Sad to say that the merchant account market is just still in its infant stage ouside US.

Hopefully, this will change in a year time.

[Adam]

Originally posted by acidbase:

Thanks for your reply.

Sad to say that the merchant account market is just still in its infant stage ouside US.

Hopefully, this will change in a year time.

Not really. The UK for example; Just because we don't have a hundred different companies offering 3rd party credit card processing at double or triple bank rates, doesn't mean we're at infant stages. If anything you could argue that we are further ahead as we primarily use REAL bank merchant accounts to process credit cards over here, not only via online interface but also with new terminals and links with the banks' gateway.

It may seem daunting for a new business to get a real merchant account but it's honestly the best way to go, and at least you won't get as many problems as I've heard other people get with 3rd party systems. The most recent issue being PaySystems suddenly closing all IBA accounts and then selling client details to another firm.

[Corey Bryant]

Adam brings up an interesting point. In the US - 90% of the banks outsource their CC processing to a company that specializes in merchant account processing. 5% partner with other companies (like First Data) and the remainder do it themselves

[acidbase]

I do agree that UK has a more established system in terms of real merchant account. For example, Barclays has ePDQ, and RBS with worldpay and also streamline in a way. Natwest with its fastpay to beat with paypal and also nochex.

I have to agree that UK in a whole or in fact there are some European companies that are quite looking into having a market share for this.

However, being in Asia, the situation is still not as promising. Despite the current development to build the infrastructure, there are still many issues to be looked into before having a well-defined system that one can rely on.

That's basically what i mean.:)

[Adam]

Ahh you are in Asia. Instead of searching for a 3rd party processor, is there no way you can apply for a proper merchant account via your business account with your bank? You don't have to have a web service such as ePDQ from Barclays, you could use a terminal which allows manual entry or you could have the old way of writing invoices with card information to the bank. May be time consuming but its' a good way to get accepting cards.

In regards to the UK, I doubt any 3rd party processor will ever succeed due to the low percentages here. For example, I have recently had an agreement signed with HSBC for a future project which will allow me to process credit cards for 1.5% and 2.5p and in addition to this debit cards for 55p per transaction. So if a 3rd party processor was to launch - its' success would be questionable.

[acidbase]

1.5% and 2.5p is really a very good deal. Your future project must have lots of potential to have such a discount.

I am not against the old method of writing invoice and go to the bank but since I am in the technology industry, i would definitely hope to see that the technology can assist the financial sector to move to a cyber stage.

Maybe just being a sci-fi guy haha.

[Adam]

My project for the future quarters does have potential, but believe it or not, it's not exactly the highest of volumes.

If you like technology, get yourself a terminal inside your office/property and make sure it has manual entry, that could be a good option for you.

[acidbase]

Well, I shall speak to my local HSBC bank for the information.

Thanks for the info anyway.

Good luck in your new venture as well.

[Adam]

No problem, good luck with yours - mine isn't for a little while yet :)