Shopping carts with more than one payment gateway

grantdk · #1 (**permalink**) 02-09-2006, 02:24 PM

I have a client who has one shopping cart with one payment gateway and is talking about adding a second payment gateway , in another currency, which means he will have to run a mirror shopping cart with that currency. I realise that one shopping cart means one payment gateway but the client does not understand this. He wants one shopping cart with two payment gateways. Has anyone done this? Is there a work around this? Are there international laws governing this? I realise would be a complicated process but thoughts would be appreciated.

cyanide · #2 (**permalink**) 02-09-2006, 04:56 PM

What kind of cart is your client using?

Many carts nowadays support multiple currencies, maybe it would be prudent to switch to another cart?

grantdk · #3 (**permalink**) 02-09-2006, 06:12 PM

Thiers supports as many currencies as you want but the issue is the payment gateway. They want more than one running off the same cart.

cyanide · #4 (**permalink**) 02-09-2006, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantdk

Thiers supports as many currencies as you want but the issue is the payment gateway. They want more than one running off the same cart.

okay, so why not switch to a gateway that supports multiple currencies. To me it seems like a waste of time, resources, not too mention fees to use 2 gateways

grantdk · #5 (**permalink**) 02-09-2006, 10:32 PM

That's the way theirs is BUT here is the problem -
They have a Canadian currency payment gateway. Their concern is their US currency clients will not like the forex charges and they will loose business. So for their US clients set up a US currency payment gateway and thus the client will not pay any forex charges. The company will pick these forex cost when they bring the money into Canada. And yes they do not want to maintain two shopping cart. Any ideas?

ADAM Web Design · #6 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 04:51 AM

You're lucky. You're going to get the resident hoser e-com perspective, eh?

I'm not sure who you're using as a payment processor, but there are at least three payment processors right here in Canada that offer both US and Canadian dollar merchant services.

Check out the boys over at BeanStream first. They'll get you all set up with both currencies and will serve you well.

If you don't like what they have to say, check out Internet Secure. I'm not crazy about their API, and they have some weird settlement issues going on with a client of mine (mostly because they resell for Paymentech, among others, and it's created a ridiculous paper trail where only a data trail needs to exist).

Personally, I'd go with BeanStream. They allow you to host your own payment pages and the API is, while not the best, good enough to tweak and get a decent e-commerce site happening.

You don't need two payment gateways. although if you had to, you could set up a cart to do so e.g. PrayPal and CCNow (those of you who have experience with e-commerce, don't laugh...I've actually seen a site that was stupid enough to do this, but I can't remember where it is now because it's 4 AM and I can't sleep).

Hope this helps.

grantdk · #7 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 09:54 AM

Thanks for the input.

They are with Moneris, as they bank with Bank of Montreal. Moneris does have US payment gateways. From a accounting standpoint one will still pick up the Forex charges - I have confirmed this.

The main issue is having one shopping cart and then been able to make a choice at the end as to which Payment Gateway you want to use Canadian or US. I never seen a site ever do this. If anyone has I would like to see some examples if possible please. From a accounting, international trade, forex angle I don't think its allowed.

Corey Bryant · #8 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 10:58 AM

It probably would take a little extra coding on the cart to push the consumer to the particular gateway. Maybe I just did not understand your question? I mean - we set them up all the time for Paypal / and LinkPoint gateway so there should not be much difference in choosing two electronic payment gateways.

grantdk · #9 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 11:44 AM

I've seen it done with the likes of Paypal but never with a credit card payment gateway. I would like to see someone that has done this then I will believe it can be done. Everything I have been lead to believe is that it cannot be done. Just one example please! :-)

jestep · #10 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 12:35 PM

Quote:

I've seen it done with the likes of Paypal but never with a credit card payment gateway. I would like to see someone that has done this then I will believe it can be done. Everything I have been lead to believe is that it cannot be done. Just one example please! :-)

It can definitely be done. I just don't know of anyone that is doing it.

I personally think it would be easier to provide a US price next to each non-us price. When you process a US card, it will automatically convert to US currency on the back-end. You avoid any nasty programming this way and you don't have to hassle at all with adding a second payment gateway.

Are they not willing to do something like this?

jestep · #11 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 12:53 PM

OK I think I had missed the point of having two gateways.

Basically your client wants to avoid having their US customers pay a foreign exchange fee when the currency is converted back to US Dollars after a transaction is processed. Also if they accept US dollar transactions, they don't mind paying it for money going to themselves.

Correct?

I don't think 2 payment gateways would fix the problem. Here's why...

If you have a US payment gateway that accepts US dollar, the money still has to go through your processor before it goes to your customers bank account. If your processing bank is a Canadian bank, then the money would first be converted to Canadian, and then back to US before it goes into the customers bank account. This would cause 2 Forex Charges instead of just 1. The only way that I can see having your customers avoid getting a forex charge would be to have a US Merchant Account in addition to the Canadian account.

Did the processor you are currently with say that a US payment gateway would solve the problem?

ADAM Web Design · #12 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantdk

Thanks for the input.

They are with Moneris, as they bank with Bank of Montreal. Moneris does have US payment gateways. From a accounting standpoint one will still pick up the Forex charges - I have confirmed this.

The main issue is having one shopping cart and then been able to make a choice at the end as to which Payment Gateway you want to use Canadian or US. I never seen a site ever do this. If anyone has I would like to see some examples if possible please. From a accounting, international trade, forex angle I don't think its allowed.

First mistake: dealing with Moneris. That company is scum of the scum of the scum. I know people that work in that company...they're a nasty bunch.

Unless you're processing over $1,000,000 a month with them, they're not going to give a damn what you want.

So...get rid of them. You can do better, said the teenage girl to her best girlfriend.

Second, Amazon offers multiple currencies on their cart, including USD and CAD. So there's one example of it being used. In fact, it ties into point 4) nicely.

Third, jestep is slightly incorrect about the payment issue. If you have a USD bank account (and you need one for a USD merchant account anyway), no forex charges will occur for your customer. The money just gets deposited into your US account and that's it, that's all. No fuss, no muss, no conversion.

You'll get hit with a forex charge on withdrawal or conversion on your end, but that's about it.

Fourth, why do they have to wait until the end to make a choice? Why not, as jestep said, offer CAD and USD pricing on the site and let the customer choose which currency they want (with USD as a default since it would likely be your larger market)?

I don't know where or how you're getting your information, but it's obvious that it's incorrect.

Basically, this is what you need:

1 gateway (payment gateway <> currency)
2 currencies
A reconfigured cart with both currencies in place

That's it, that's all, nothing else.

Although the more I read this, the more it sounds like you're in way over your head. Is this a project you should really be taking on?

grantdk · #13 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 02:34 PM

In reply -
Jestep - Two payment gateways is the answer but this means running two shopping carts. With 500 plus items this is high maintenance which they don't want.

Adam -
I have nothing for or against Moneris up to this point but they have provided good service. So they have no complaints as yet. Who know what the future holds.

Amazon, I'm afraid, does not offer two or more different payment gateways. On their home page you will find your country of choice and then you start shopping and end up on payment gateway in the currency of the payment gateway. I just double checked. Even did a transaction. This would be the first company to introduce this payment option hence I looked here first. So any examples would be appreciated.

My solution to the client is still a site which displays as many currencies as the want. (that's the easy part) and has a Canadian payment gateway. Or if they have the money and resources - Two shopping carts and two payment gateways.

jestep · #14 (**permalink**) 02-10-2006, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

Third, jestep is slightly incorrect about the payment issue. If you have a USD bank account (and you need one for a USD merchant account anyway), no forex charges will occur for your customer. The money just gets deposited into your US account and that's it, that's all. No fuss, no muss, no conversion.

I was under the impression he was trying to transfer entirely to a Canadian bank.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grantdk

In reply -
Jestep - Two payment gateways is the answer but this means running two shopping carts. With 500 plus items this is high maintenance which they don't want.

In that case here is what I would personally do in this situation.

Option 1: Have a completely separate mirrored site on the same domain, with a sub-domain us.mysite.com or something similar. I would then configure 2 of the same shopping cart systems to use the same product database and each displays only one price either CAN or US. Then configure each separate cart with its own payment gateway. 1 with the US and one with the Canadian.

Not really saying that its going to be easy, but it seems to fit the idea.

Option 2: I would show US and CAN prices on each product. At the first checkout page I would have 2 links. One say US customers checkout here, the other with Canadian customers checkout here. Each of those goes to its own payment form and each are attached to their own gateway. The site itself can calculate the currency exchange on the back-end, and automatically apply it to the necessary checkout form. The US user sees US prices and the US transaction is processsed through the US payment gateway.

I think it would take nothing more than a bit of programming, nothing major, but it seems much easier than running 2 separate shopping cart systems.

Corey Bryant · #15 (**permalink**) 02-11-2006, 08:30 PM

Unfortunately even though I have it checked to recieve emails when a reply is posted, I never do.

Do you have a shopping cart already? If so, how do you want to determine to use what gateway? And then you just create your second connection to the gateway on separate pages.

We used to have one customer that could only run about $10,000 through one merchant account because of his location. So when he would get close to that amount, he would change the code himself to go to the other gateway