2checkout and their intercash program, any thoughts?

[wen_laat]

OK, I had just written this major post, but then I hit the backspace button..and it all vanished. I'll just summarize my question then.

Does anybody know if 2checkout is reliable, and does anybody has experience with their intercash accounts? Because I am located in the Netherlands, and wiring funds from an US account to a Dutch account is too expensive for us, they mentioned their intercash program. They've send the details in an email, which I will include at the end of this post.

We now use Paypal for creditcard transactions, but we feel that a lot of potential customers are put off by this, because they have to sign up first. A Dutch merchant account or CC processor is not an option, because they are way to expensive, and quite a hassle to set up. I think one of the problems with 2co will be that they use US dollars and we use EUR, may have to look into that.

So, if anyone has experience with 2checkout and/or their intercash program, let me know!

Thank you,
Wendy


EMAIL FROM 2CO
---------
Program Highlights



Utilizing the InterCash Pay Card provides you with a quick and safe funding option. Some highlights include:

Low Cost: $50.00 opens your account -- $25.00 set-up fee + a $25 initial deposit. This will be directly debited and funded through your 2Checkout.com account.

A real bank account at a US Bank this is not a virtual bank with commingled funds. The InterCash card is the only card provider that offers you the safety of a real, individual FDIC-insured bank account.

Withdraw funds from millions of ATM machines worldwide this card uses the Cirrus and Maestro networks.

Quick Sign-Up

The lowest exchange rates available for international cardholders.

Online bank statements.

No credit check.

Use the pay-by-check option to use this account for internet purchases

Wire transfer funds from this account directly to accounts you specify

Deposit payments from multiple sources directly to your account.


Deposits

Deposits to InterCash accounts are made electronically within the bank. Files sent to the bank by 12:00 noon Central Time are posted that day and uploaded to the international ATM network that evening. This makes your funds available almost anywhere in the world the next day. No more three to six day wait for wire transfers or longer for check payments and, best of all, direct deposit is done at no charge to you.





U.S. Bank Account

The InterCash account is a real U.S. bank account (DDA) at a real U.S. bank. Each account is insured by the FDIC up to $100,000.00. These are individual bank accounts your funds are not commingled with those of other 2Checkout.com vendors.

[EJRS.COM]

Goede avond. Hoe gaat het met jouw? Groetjes vanuit een regenachtig Malaysia.
I use 2co exclusively. The reson is none of the other credit card companies want to offer it in Malaysia.

The only gripe I have with 2co is that the commission they expect is so high.

However I'm pretty happy with the service. So far things have been pretty good. Best wishes. I wish you much success with your business.

[flood6]

I got 2checkout when I was first setting up one of my sites. I used it just for processing checks and as a backup in case my "real" merchant account ever went down. I don't like the 2 week waiting period to get my money and their 5.5% rip or whatever it was was too high to justify using it on any kind of consistant basis.

Like EJRS mentioned getting a good merchant account outside the US can be really difficult, so sometimes it (and PayPal) may be your only option.

The good thing is that the 1 time setup fee of $50 is nice, no monthy fee. And you can customize the checkout process to match the theme of your site.

Their forums have quite a few horror stories about not getting paid or getting paid the wrong ammount, etc.

I guess the bottom line is: if it is your only realistic option, go with it. You may have a few "bumps" but as you mentioned in your post, using just PayPal will turn away more than a few customers. In your case, I would try to offer both.

Good luck.

[janeth]

They are ranked #1 for the worst customer service in the world.

We made ten phone calls and sent 5 emails before we got this email from a guy name Kevin

Luz,

As this is your first payment you must go through verifiactions as you agreeed in our terms of service. I apologize for any inconvience but we have by no means stolen your money.



______________________________________
Thank you,

Kevin
2CO Payments


Yes I accused them of stealing money because it took them a week to answer there emails. I sent him another letter letting him no the information I needed was not on that page and they had the worst customer service I had ever seen.

Here is the next email I got.

There Response:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In signing up for any service it is best to read the terms of service before doing so, that way any confusion can be avoided as to the process and procedures for the service you are signing up for.

I am sorry you did not read the information provided to as this would have avoided your confusion and frustration.

I am sorry we are unable to assist you in your needs and I will close the account so you can find a service that better fits your needs.

______________________________________
Thank you,

Kevin
2CO Payments

So I paid $50.00 they kept it and kept the money my customer sent as well. I have made about 20 phone calls and have yet to get one returned. I have left mess. for Kevins boss ( Christy ) but she is too busy getting the $50.00 to sign people up to waste on customers that have already paid.

You should email them and ask if Kevin can come and explain why is such a jerk to his customers.

[stugre]

We have used 2co for about 9 months now and found them by far the easiest credit card processor. There are 2 drawbacks - one is their 5.5% fees and the other is they are always a target of DDOS attacks.

The fees really arent that bad, unless you are used to just relying on Paypal for your income. The DDOS we can live with as it is not our sole processor.

Their new accounts not have a great deal more features (i.e. you can trade/accept payments in another currency other than $'s such as Euros, pounds etc) and the system looks really good.

Compared to Paysystems and all the other rubbish on the market for Europeans, unless you want a genuine merchant account 2co is the only option.

[EJRS.COM]

I guess I have been fortunate. I like the service so far. Yeah and they are able to accept other denominations too not just US$, Can$, EUR, SwissFranc, and a bunch of others too. So far so good.

[wclew]

I have used 2co for over a year on my friend's ceramics website and have had no trouble at all. Like some others said, I really like the no-monthly fee and the ability to customize it to look like your website. I found it very easy to set up, too.

[stugre]

Their new system is fantastic, but you need to sign up in the right place otherwise you get on the old system.

Sadly in Europe we are pretty much stuck with 2co, Paysystems and WorldPay. Worldpay puts itself out of the running with too high setup costs. Paysystems is ridiculous (virtually anyone can get a refund for anything... no questions asked, not to menmtion the ridiculous "you are buying points to be redeemed at xyz site") so really what other options do you have?

In 14 months we must have used all of the options, including 3 months where we had our own merchant account, even with related issues 2co still wins hands down.

Support CAN be a bit patchy, but I guess it helps if you aren't accusing them of stealing your money :)

[sovidiu]

Hello. You might want to use http://www.moneybookers.com/ - it's for Europeans and it's quite reliable (some sort of Paypal for Europe).

[wen_laat]

Thank you for all the replies. I'm a bit scared with all those stories about 2co, we aren't a huge company, so the last thing we need is money troubles. I've also looked into 1stamericancardservices, and I'm waiting for their response.

I've looked into moneybookers, seems quite nice, but do my customers have to sign up, like they would with Paypal, if so, then it's basically the same, right?

[lionheart]

2checkout is fine, but sometimes their servers go down and make their service unavailable. I have heard that sometimes they do not calculate the balances correctly so you actually pay them more than what you should. The expiry date for credit cards still starts at 2001 and not 2002, (lol), the payment screen *requires* javascript etc. and the site navigation is broken it keeps timing out, can't login, can't even send a technical report. So I guess it’s not that ok after all.

[wen_laat]

We use EUR on our website, do we have to changet that to Dollars, or can we keep it like it is now, and bill our customers in EUR with 2co? Does anybody use their atm card?

[svilla]

We are an internet consultant agency, we signed up for 2 accounts in 2CO (one customer and us). Are very dissapointed abour their service, specially are focused for the latin american market so our payments provide from Mexico & other countries. Since our accounts started (4 months ago) we havent could receive any payment, specially get errors about mismatch of adress between typed and registered in Card .
Another problem is that they doesnt offer actualized templates/support for languages as Spanish.

I only suggest 2CO as a last option, specially for countries different of USA, Canada, etc.

[case510]

I work with 2checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=21043) since the beginning if 2002 and I must say they offer the best deal I have ever seen all over the web.
They interface is very custimizable. It can be integrated into any shopping card. For example it works fine with the most popular shopping cart OScommerce.
They have very strong antifraud protection.
Wire transfer fee may cost you $0.00 when you transfer $1200 or more.
2checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=21043) is an ideal solution for auction sellers. You can issue an invoice for any amount without having a product setup in their database
Payment period is only two week. You can request to be paid weekly if you sell $2000 or more per week

Disadvantages:
They really do not reply to your messages immediately, especially on weekends
If you sell tangable products you will wait up to one month until you receive your first paiment

I would recommend 2checkout.com (http://www.2checkout.com/cgi-bin/aff.2c?affid=21043) for everyone who does not have merchant account yet

As for intercash program I would recommend to read topics on 2CO forum.

Regards
Ioannis Livassov
http://www.cgiscriptshop.com

[alsoran]

..It can be integrated into any shopping card. For example it works fine with the most popular shopping cart OScommerce.

case510,

I've been reading your post on 2CO. I too am a member of 2CO, but I do not know how to install OS Commerce and integrate with 2CO. Can you suggest some place where I can learn doing it? Thanks in advance for any help rendered.

[ronniethedodger]

ezypost - try the OSCommerce site. Here is one modification to set it up for 2CO that I found. I am sure if you dig around and use their support forum, you can get some good advice on how to set it up.

http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions,904/category,13/search,2checkout

[alsoran]

Thanks ronniethedodger. I'll check out your suggestion. Hope I'll be able to do it.

[ronniethedodger]

Thanks ronniethedodger. I'll check out your suggestion. Hope I'll be able to do it.

No problem. With something like e-commerce software it is usually best to deal with the makers own people for modifications for security reasons. There are often a lot of hacks for popular software being published on various sites, but you will be unable to know what those hacks can do unless you are adept at coding them. It is best to learn about the software from the makers themselves and get to know who the real good authors of Mods are, and who isn't.

I am sure that OSCommerce has something built in to validate some of the code that is being written to modify it in some fashion. Also if there is genuine popularity of any mod, it will probably be included in their next update.

[comicemporium]

Hi everyone, I signed up at 2checkout about a month ago, and as yet, have not been able to get set up. Many of the functions, paticularly the shipping options, do not work correctly. I do not know if this is related to the current DDOS attack or not but it is very frustrating. I have traded emails with support but to no avail. At this point I do not recommend their service. Is anyone else out there with new accounts having trouble getting setup?

David
http://www.comicemporium.com

[MichelH]

Wendy,

First of all, if you are from the Netherlands, why don't you use a Dutch credit card processing company? There is no hassle with the Euro payments as it can be transferred directly and if you have any questions, you can do it in Dutch. There are several Dutch options:
- MultiCards (which works globally, head office is in Netherlands.)
- Ogone
- Bebit
- Verotel

I have been told that 2CheckOut works quite good, but their server problems seem to be serious. I have no experience with them. I think that they have used the $50 set up fee to attract very many new customers and they just can't keep up. There are also lots of companies that they can't accept.

I have been using MultiCards since 1998 and their support is great, although sometimes it is not quite obvious when payments are done. No regular sales = no regular payments, I guess and of course, they are at risk when a chargeback occurs. They can do Dutch incasso too.

As far as I know, Ogone and Bebit are really into the Dutch market, offering a wide variety of payments solutions. (RaboCard etc.)

[MichelH]

[quote="case510"]Disadvantages:
They really do not reply to your messages immediately, especially on weekends


Ok, I now that there are people out there who have their own business and even work in the weekends, but you can not expect to get an immediate answer from the customer service desk during the weekends. Sometimes, people tend to forget that the procedure is 48 hours.

[wen_laat]

Wendy,

First of all, if you are from the Netherlands, why don't you use a Dutch credit card processing company? There is no hassle with the Euro payments as it can be transferred directly and if you have any questions, you can do it in Dutch. There are several Dutch options:
- MultiCards (which works globally, head office is in Netherlands.)
- Ogone
- Bebit
- Verotel

I have been told that 2CheckOut works quite good, but their server problems seem to be serious. I have no experience with them. I think that they have used the $50 set up fee to attract very many new customers and they just can't keep up. There are also lots of companies that they can't accept.

I have been using MultiCards since 1998 and their support is great, although sometimes it is not quite obvious when payments are done. No regular sales = no regular payments, I guess and of course, they are at risk when a chargeback occurs. They can do Dutch incasso too.

As far as I know, Ogone and Bebit are really into the Dutch market, offering a wide variety of payments solutions. (RaboCard etc.)

Hi!

Yes, I know that a Dutch company would be easier, but they are also very expensive, and I can't justify the costs just yet. Multicards charge a whopping 11.9% fee per order, I thought the 5.5% 2checkout charges was a bit high, compared with Paypal obviously. I have been looking into Ogone, and I think I might go with them, they have a Virtual Terminal, which will allow me to manually process creditcards.
And as for the Rabodirect, I don't get Dutch customers, all orders are overseas, so I don't have any use for that.

Thank you for your reply!

Wendy

[ronniethedodger]

I have been looking into Ogone, and I think I might go with them, they have a Virtual Terminal, which will allow me to manually process creditcards.


I am really not up to speed on this payment stuff. But Authorize.NET has a virtual terminal too for processing credit cards. If that is all you need they are pretty reasonable.

[MichelH]

MultiCards offer rate plans between 5.9% and 11.9%. I think your bottleneck is probably the set up fee of US $775. I have to agree that this is rather high. The positive thing in my own experience is that I started out with their rate of 11.9% and I worked my way up to the 5.9% rate.

I don't know Ogone that good and I am not sure if they can accept orders from oversea countries.

I don't think that Authorize.net can help here, as you are not an U.S. citizen or business entity and setting up your own merchant account is hard, even if you are from the U.S.

[wen_laat]

I'm also hoping that Paypal will launch their optional application for European accounts too, because that would be rather nice.

I'm currently researching 2checkout, 1stamericancardservices, although they don't respond to emails just yet, and mypaysystems.

We are still a rather small business, and cannot justify $700 application costs and a 11.9% fee, I wish we could though! ;)

[alsoran]

...We are still a rather small business, and cannot justify $700 application costs and a 11.9% fee, I wish we could though! ;)

Hi wen_laat,

It's not 11.9% and $700. It's 11.9% and $95 to start with (Plan 0), scaling up as your business grows. The top plan is Plan 4 where the commission is 5.9% while the fee is $775.

Still, one must say $775 is quite quite high. It was pointed out above.

[ronniethedodger]

I don't think that Authorize.net can help here, as you are not an U.S. citizen or business entity and setting up your own merchant account is hard, even if you are from the U.S.

Understood. I don't handle that end of the business, but it is nice to know a little more about it. I collect little bits of info like dust on my monitor. ;0)