International (US-Can) E-commerce payment processor wanted

[ADAM Web Design]

Hi everyone,

I've got a client, Hibiscus Florals who is looking for the following:

• US dollar only (not CAD) payment processor and merchant account provider (presently with Internet Secure, volumes can be made available upon request);
• Ideally, the option to either host the payment pages on the Hibiscus site or get directed to the payment processor's server a la PrayPal. At the very least, the former;
• If the payment processor's pages are to be used, something relatively simple (send billing info to site, site only needs to collect credit card info, process and thank the customer or redirect to a thank you page);
• Has to accept merchants in both the US and Canada (since Hibiscus is presently a Canadian merchant);
• At least the same merchant discount rates and RMRF as Internet Secure;
• Active Server Pages (or XHTML)-compatible user interface. It can be XML-based too, as long as it's documented.

The following would be nice:

• CAV/AVS;
• No RMRF;
• US-comparable merchant discount rates, although that may be a bit of a pipe dream.

Please PM me or post here with any suggestions. Do not contact the client directly as I would want to review the company first before making any kind of recommendation to the client (and since I'm building stuff).

[Corey Bryant]

Does the merchant have at least a US bank account and address / phone number? You would at least need these for a US merchant account

if not, have you also checked out PSIGate / Beanstream? Those are the other two companies that I know of in Canada. And maybe even Paymentech?

[ADAM Web Design]

Long time no see, Corey!

BeanStream I know about, and I've built stuff using their setup before (built a web-based POS terminal for a client's store yesterday). I've always been a fan of the BeanStream API...it's a simple base API but fully customizable for the ASP geek.

But do they allow US merchants as well as Canadian? AFAIK, they didn't. There's a reason I ask this question, too, but I'm not sure how much my client (who by now has probably found this thread having read their Live Stats, so hi Mark! I know you're watching!) will allow me to reveal.

PSIGate, I'm not a fan of because of their DLL object (it's a bit of a RAM pig, I find.)

And Paymentech...it's a Steven Allen story, and again, I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to reveal.

Although, on an unrelated note, Paymentech did recently turn down a client of mine for a debit-only POS terminal for "PBC" reasons (which were never explained.) They wouldn't even allow my client to give a security deposit or provide a guarantor.

Maybe I'll just go with iKobo. You think I should, Corey?

[Corey Bryant]

IKobo, eh? I have not heard of them in a long time.

People have their own opinions over different processors, and keep in mind that Paymentech is one of the largest out there so just like any large company, you will hear about more problems than compliments. I will say that Paymentech's approval process is a little more difficult that some of the others.

Where is the merchant based? If in the United States - does he / she have a Social Security Number? If not, at least a US bank account, address, phone number?

It is somewhat difficult to get a processor to refer US and Canadian merchants to because of the approval process and the acquiring banks.

[ADAM Web Design]

Canada, for now. That's part of the problem...I'm trying to look for something that, if it gets switched, only needs to get switched once.

That's one of the reasons I was intrigued by Paymentech, and initially they were pretty helpful (plus one of the guys out in Texas is a GM in my fantasy baseball league).

The problem is that, in Canada at least, they seem to have adopted the large-corporate mentality where big business rules and small business can go to hell.

That's why I'm wondering if say Authorize.net or Worldpay has some sort of solution where I could host the pages myself.

(Not CCNow either. The whole 9% MDR...not good.)

[Corey Bryant]

Well Authorize.net is only an electronic gateway any mainly supported by United States merchants. And the MAPs that actually support merchants not based in Canada are dwindling due to all the rules / regulations of not just the government but also Visa / MasterCard.

Yes I have noticed that it is really different for Canadians. We looked into becoming an ISO in Canada but the rules there were just a bit more than even the United States. The banking system has a prety good stronghold on everything

[ADAM Web Design]

Thank you for confirming what I've long suspected, Corey. Your insights on this sort of thing, as usual, are bang on.

The Canadian banks do have a nasty stronghold. And they have got a level of bureaucracy and red tape that limits international competition, especially in areas like this, while simultaneously causing local online merchants to suffer.

Not that any of them would ever read this rant, or give two fifths of a damn if they did, but it's true.

Anyway, that pretty well answered the question. Thanks again, friend.

[caliguy80]

We actually were going to use Paymentech - they were the 4th largest ISO in 2004. So I would agree with Corey, the more customers, the more complaints. It is unfortunate, but you can never please everyone all the time.

[Corey Bryant]

Anytime - good luck with it!