A WorldPay Transaction Fee Scam??

[adrianwaj]

Hi,

I am new to this forum so hello to all.

It would be great if you would let me know of any problems had concerning WorldPay's transaction fees. I've just activated my account and they seem to be taking 21% commission instead of the purported 4.5% as a transaction fee from each sale according to the price of the sold good. This 4.5% rate is stated on their site as well as the sign-up documentation. Are they just ripping me off or have others had the same problems? My site sells digital music downloads at AUD$1 (US$0.70) per file. Maybe to get 4.5% one needs to be selling at much higher prices even though WorldPay won't tell you this????

I've written to them twice and so far nothing has been replied.

Now I am contemplating going to PayPal or somewhere more frugal and sincere with commissions. Could this be a good thing? Has anyone ever successfully received a refund from the company?


Thank you.
Adrian

[bradley]

Since WP doesn't list their fee structure on their page, I don't know any specifics. I can tell you, however, after looking at about 30 merchant processors I never found one that didn't charge a "transaction fee" on top of the % fee. The average in the industry seems to be ~2.5% with a $0.25 fee per transaction. I bet that is what is happening.

[Adam]

PROTX.COM is my prefferance. :)

[Chicken]

Originally posted by adrianwaj:

I've just activated my account and they seem to be taking 21% commission instead of the purported 4.5% as a transaction fee from each sale according to the price of the sold good. This 4.5% rate is stated on their site as well as the sign-up documentation.
Adrian, I've never dealt with WorldPay, but I have read reports of other processors stating one rate on their site, with a clause somewhere that your credit history and product/service offered will be reviewed and the actual rate may be higher. A few points though, not 4.5 to 21% (which is just a tad bit on the high side, eh?)

usually (as you did), you'd write in asking why the rate isn't 4.5% -but if they didn't reply, I'd say that's a pretty big red flag in terms of doing business with them in general. Usually there're touted by most, but all the rave reviews doesn't change the fact that your rate isn't what you expected nor need, and emails to them have gone unanswered. You might try contacting them with an alternate email address, as yours might have problems (either getting to them, or coming back).

[Corey Bryant]

Could it be a reserve rate they are holding? Depending on what you are selling - some processors hold a reserve rate as well for up to 6 months.

One friend of mine sells floor machines - he was talking to one processor who wanted 25% reserve for 6 months - there went his profit. Processors have different ways to determine if you are subject to a reserve rate.

[adrianwaj]

Worldpay finally replied a couple of days ago and this was their answer:



Your Account is setup with 4.50% of transaction fee per transaction and also the WorldAlert Transaction Charge of AUD$0.16.

Standard Administration Fee Per Chargeback 30.00 AUD

Remittance charge 7.00 AUD per remittance Minimum remittance amount 260.00 AUD



Hence, there is in fact a base charge on every transaction equal to AUD$00.16

Thank you for the replies. WorldPay's reply brings more clarity to the situation. Perhaps I should have been more patient, but who likes to wait well over a week for a response.

[GChurch]

It's worth investigating the transactions flagged with 'Caution' and 'Warning' as these are quite likely to end up as expensive chargebacks.

[adrianwaj]

ok, thank you for the hint.

[GChurch]

No problem. I have found the best method is to match the IP addresses on transactions flagged with 'Caution' to the cardholders address using something like http://www.youngzsoft.net/ip2location/.

If the country is not the same as the customer country the customer is emailed as they could be possibly be on holiday or working abroad. If no response within a week the card is refunded. This save you getting hit for the chargeback at a later date.

Most of the fradulent transactions we have are cards issued in the USA with IP addresses in Asia.