Hi Ray, It's easy enough to establish merchant and gateway accounts here, unless you want to accept multiple currencies at your checkout. In my case only about 5% of sales are in Australian dollars, and I would be mad not to accept at least a few other currencies. Otherwise overseas buyers (the 95%) will have currency conversions on their credit card statements, if they decide to pay in AUD in the first place.
The problem here is that only one bank offers a merchant account that accepts multiple currencies, and it is very expensive. They require that you establish a foreign currency account with them for every currency that you accept, plus there is a $1200 set up fee. I would say that almost all Australian developers who sell overseas use a third party payment processor. My original question was whether adding a merchant account to a PayPal option might have a large effect on the abandonment rate. The reason I asked is that the one expensive option in Australia may be more attractive if the impact on the abandonment rate is very favorable. It's not so much the work involved in setting it up that I'm worried about; it's more whether it stacks up financially. After Daniel's comment I went searching, and there is a rumor floating around that PayPal will introduce Website Payments Pro for Australians. Here's hoping. James On 22/05/2010, at 11:22 PM, Ray Barber wrote: > > HI James, > > Nowadays, it relatively easy to get yourself a merchant account. However > this entails a lot of 'stuff' to get squared away. > > 1) You must first register as a merchant via your bank. You can also do > this with First Data (albeit I'm not sure if they handle overseas - you'll > have to check) or other well known Pay Processors in your country. > > 2) Set up an AuthorizeNet account. (First Data can do this for you) > > If you contact your bank, they will be able to put you in touch with who > handles merchant accounts. They should also be able to provide you with > contacts to the Pay Processor. Once you sign up with a Pay Processor, they > (usually) can get you squared away with AuthorizeNet too. > > 3) Set up the *backend* on your website, so that you can now accept credit > card payments. > > Once you have gotten this set up, it's relatively easy for (3). Please > contact me off list for some nice options. > > Hope this helps in some way! > > Ray Barber > CEO / Director of Operations > MacScripter, LLC | macscripter.net > > Notes: Not unlike anything else, your money 'costs' money - for example, > some pay processors have two tiers, qualified, and non-qualified. Qualified > tiers are cards accepted in your locale. Conversely, non-qualified rates are > those outside your country, and are generally higher because of higher risk. > > For first time Merchants, expect to pay higher premiums on your money, > simply because you're "new" and sell services (ie: software) over the > internet. Over time, once you have proven yourself and that you're not > going anyway any time soon, you can negotiate those rates down considerably. > > Avoid the company iPayment of Valencia like the Black Plague. They'll > nickel and dime you to death, and rip you off. > > > Thanks Daniel. Unfortunately Website Payments Pro is only available in the > > US, > > UK and Canada; not here in Australia. There is only one bank here that > > offers > > multi-currency payment options and it's extremely expensive. We are way > > behind > > in this area. > > > > James > > > > > > On 22/05/2010, at 10:28 AM, Daniel Jalkut wrote: > > > >> If you're just considering it and worried about taking an expensive leap, > >> just upgrade to PayPal's "Website Payments Pro", which will let you add a > >> virtual (to the consumer) merchant's account look and feel to your site. > >> They > >> will be able to use a Visa/MC/Amex without knowing that they are actually > >> being processed through PayPal. > >> > >> It's $30/month, and there are some hoops to setting up and getting going, > >> but > >> there are with a merchant's account as well. > >> > >> Daniel > >> > >> On May 21, 2010, at 4:59am, James Bishop wrote: > >> > >>> I have a very high abandonment rate, with purchasers leaving after they > >>> click my PayPal button and before they reach the thank you page. In other > >>> words there is a high drop-out on the PayPal site. > >>> > >>> I'm considering adding a merchant account to the PayPal option, rather > >>> than > >>> the other way around. Does anyone have experience with how a merchant > >>> facility compares with PayPal for checkout completions? > >>> > >>> Thanks. > >> > >> > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6 > > Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: > > http://groups.google.com/group/macsb-talk > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6 Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: http://groups.google.com/group/macsb-talk Yahoo! 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