Australian Merchant Accounts and Payment Gateway

[Joshua Uebergang]

I'm an Aussie. After much research earlier this year, the only way I can accept credit cards and receive international orders on my site was using eWay as the payment gateway and NAB as the merchant account (for their multi-currency abilities because my products are offered in US dollars).

Is PayPal's Payflow a new, viable alternative? From my reading, I'm still confused about it, but I don't see how it's a game changer. It just seems to be another payment gateway.

What solutions do you Warriors use as a merchant account and payment gateway? Give me your advice!

[Joshua Uebergang]

I'd really like this answered. I know few people can help - most probably Aussie Warriors doing significantly well online.

[tryinhere]

? a little lost is there a reason that you cant use paypal ? I am sure you can set your primary $ to USD if you want ?

[BiancaRaven]

I'm in Australia too and I've been running my online business for 6 years now. I only use PayPal to receive credit card payments from direct clients. I have clients predominantly in the US or UK and I've never had an issue with currency conversion over to AUD using a regular PayPal business account.

I'm with Westpac for my regular banking and they don't charge a thing for me to withdraw my PayPal funds into my transaction account whenever I need to.

For my affiliate products, I use Clickbank to accept credit card payments. Once again, they pay into my regular Westpac transaction account in Aussie dollars twice a month like clockwork. No exchange fees required.

I hope this helps.

Bianca

[Joshua Uebergang]

I can receive payments via PayPal no problem and have been for a year. It works and isn't the issue. I've used 2checkout and clickbank like you Bianca, but I'm tired of the fees, extra steps in the ordering process, and loss of sales.

What works effectively - and it's been shown again and again - is giving people the option to pay on your site. I've heard too many split-tests that showed increased conversions from processing payments on your site to ignore this change. I'm still giving people the option to pay via PayPal, for example, but some people refuse to touch them.

A merchant account and payment gateway is not probably a viable solution for people earning under $50,000 because of the increase in sales doesn't make up for the setup and monthly fees.

I'm not questioning whether I should use a merchant account and payment gateway. It's something I'm doing. I'm just after the best solutions.

[BiancaRaven]

In that event - call a representative at St. George Bank. Tell them what you want to do. Also tell them they need to beat NABs fees and they'll work that into their quote. They have the facilities for dual-currency accounts for incoming international transactions on business/merchant accounts. The fees should also be preferable to NAB

Bianca

[Joshua Uebergang]

Thanks for the direction Bianca. You made me realize a multi-currency feature isn't necessary - all I need is "dual-currency" to accept Aussie and Yankee dollars. That'll expand my tunnel vision with eway and NAB a lot!

Where abouts in Oz are you?

[BiancaRaven]

Where abouts in Oz are you?

Currently living in hot, dry Adelaide, but a native of the gorgeous Sunshine Coast

[BiancaRaven]

Just a thought - if St. George don't come to the party on terms acceptable to you, try HSBC Bank. They're mostly a NSW-based bank, but there should be some availability for them in QLD for what you need - you'd think so if I can access HSBC down in Adelaide. Brissy is bigger. I know HSBC have multi-currency accounts, but I'm not certain if they have the merchant account facilities you're after.

[Quentin]

Hey I agree with Bianca.

St George is probably the premium back in OZ for online business and especially as you have figures to prove your business model.

I have been selling online for 10 years + now and used Paypal most of this time in union with 2 checkout Westpac merchant and clickbank for affiliates.

I have also used Mals shopping cart and processed quite a lot through them mainly in Aussie dollars.

I have tested all sorts of different ways of accepting payments and never found that much discrepancy between my merchant facility and my paypal or 2 checkout account.

I have had one site offering all three for nearly 6 years now and just sold it and had to do stats for the buyer and found that on average they all performed quite well. Interestingly some months Paypal would do the best and others 2 checkout or the merchant would be on top but on average very little difference.

Quentin

[Joshua Uebergang]

eWay and St. George sounds like the way. After Googling HSBC merchant account and searching their site, nothing about the service came up. Could you find any info about it Bianca?

Sunshine Coast to Adelaide... Oh no. I can't believe it.

I was hoping you Quentin, among a few others, would reply! Prior to a few months ago, 2checkout had the ugliest cosmetics on its massive ordering process. Ew! I worried its extra steps caused cash to leak just before it entered my hands.

Did you test PayPal and merchant account versus PayPal and 2checkout? With your stats, it seems you're comparing what's effective as what was selected the most when all methods were available.

You got me thinking though whether the transition and hassle is worth it. I don't listen to women enough So much for "I'm not questioning whether I should use a merchant account and payment gateway. It's something I'm doing."

[AndrewHansen]

Hey Mate,

I'll share my experiences if you like.

Re: merchant accounts as an Aussie... my solution after extensive research and various attempts at applying for multiple kinds of merchant accounts is...

Forget about it.

One instance I almost got caught in a scam - alot of companies advertising merchant accounts for Australians are just that - even ones that look reputable - so be careful.

Another instance I applied through ANZ which is normally AWESOME with self employed people and has been as understanding as any bank about online business stuff up until now...

Came down to the wire and it turned out they force you to make a $40k non refundable deposit for the lifetime of your merchant account... no thanks.

The thing is, just having and maintaining any merchant account for people like us is a serious hassle. You have to keep refund and chargeback rates below a certain level (which, in online biz when getting a refund is so easy, is a nightmare) and if not, the company can close your merchant account at any time... not to mention the fees associated with having and maintaining the account as is.

The other thing is that you don't just need a merchant processor, you need an online management front for it (many merchant providers offer this for an additional fee) so you can connect it to your order process and actually accept, track, and manage the payments.

So I hope you see why I say "don't bother"... BUT...

At the same time, I've probably read about the same split test results as you and spoken to a handful of people who concur. So what do you do?

What you really need to do is find someone from the US who has a merchant account and will let you partner with them, piggyback on their account for a small fee. I haven't personally done it but I've heard that's how certain people are getting around it.

And even then it's hard to find someone to partner with, because not everyone's going to want their account potentially jeopardized by you who's refund and chargeback rate they don't necessarily know...

It has to be someone you trust as well because at the end of the day, you're money's ending up in THEIR account.

My decision for now is to just cop it, deal with the hassle of paypal and keep looking for a better solution.

Sorry for the dreary outlook mate, but I hope that helps.

Andrew

[rondo]

Have you looked into Paymate?
Australian Payment Services


Andrew

[Joshua Uebergang]

Thanks for dropping by Andrew. Sounds like you've had suck experiences with merchant accounts.

Refunds and chargebacks haven't been an issue for me with my 2checkout account so I imagine it'd be the same for the merchant account. Never had a chargeback. Maybe that's a big problem in the internet marketing niche where buyers purposefully use refund and chargeback tactics.

...you need an online management front...

Yes. I hear eWay is the best, it manages payments and reporting, and it's integrated with my CRM.

Interesting idea about working with someone from the US. A lot of trust sure is required. Definitely not a viable option for me at the moment.

Taking everything into account, assuming it is all equal, what really has me attracted to a merchant account is the ability to offer free trials. This is the big point I forgot to mention. Even if merchant accounts convert the same as something like PayPal, when you use merchant accounts alone you can make better offers and drastically increase conversions and profits.