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Question on payment processors

by BudaBrit
10 replies
Hi all, and sorry for yet another question thread - there's so much activity it's hard to find something completely relevant for me.

Basically, I offer a writing service, and need to set up a payment processor. The fees on Paypal are somewhat scary, and I understand that they also have atrocious exchange rates (I am Hungary based, and will be accepting payment in USD). Are there any suggestions as to what will be best?

The Paypal rates are 3.4% + 90 Forints (about 40 cents). Is there anywhere that offers lower rates? And when it comes to foreign exchange, what is the best method, if anyone knows?

Would I, for instance, be able to invoice in forints with an exchange rate on the invoice, and the dollar amount specified?

Thanks,

Tom
#payment #processors #question
  • Profile picture of the author timmylang
    I honestly dont think you will find too much lower rates... or if they are lower, less of your customers would use them... and no customers are going to sign up to a lesser known service, just to pay you.

    moneybookers (skrill), payza (alertpay), plimus, 2checkout are 4 you can look into...

    but again, paypal is the most widely used by your customers, so you really dont want to drift anywhere else to save 40cents, you'd be losing tons of dollars IMO.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alexa Smith
      Banned
      I agree with Timmy. You more or less have to be able to take PayPal payments, to run an online writing service. And if you can take PayPal payments, you'll almost never need anything else.

      Your prospective clients will almost all expect to pay that way, and for all prices always to be in US$.

      (A possible exception might be high value copywriting, for which direct deposits and/or bank-wires might be acceptable, for substantial 4-figure sums).
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  • Profile picture of the author lamzoR
    Hello,

    I come from Hungary as well and I just withdraw my funds in USD.
    For $100 I'll get - > 24 324 HUF. And I'm a customer of Erste.
    It's nearly 1:1 exchange
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  • Profile picture of the author Ashleydupray
    my processor is 2.25 % per trans
    .25 per trans
    18.10 per month
    Ashley
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  • Profile picture of the author HatKing
    Hi there, I would recommend checking out Credit Card Processing Companies, Fees, Rates | FeeFighters. I used paypal and google checkout before so I totally understand the high rate. Feefighters compared the different services for you and gives you the best deal. Good luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author PatrickDownes
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  • Profile picture of the author PatrickDownes
    Im an ex foreign exchange dealer, my advice to you is the following:

    1. Set up a USD account with your current bank.

    2. Invoice all payments in USD and ask your clients to pay directly into your USD account, or alternatively send your money from paypal to your USD account.

    3. once funds are in your USD account, convert currency through your bank to your local currency - EUR i assume.

    You will get much lower rates with your own bank...If your current bank do not give you good rates, set up another bank account and have them compete for your business...you should be able to achieve less than 1% margin!
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    Understanding bank exchange rates

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    • Profile picture of the author BudaBrit
      Originally Posted by PatrickDownes View Post

      Im an ex foreign exchange dealer, my advice to you is the following:

      1. Set up a USD account with your current bank.

      2. Invoice all payments in USD and ask your clients to pay directly into your USD account, or alternatively send your money from paypal to your USD account.

      3. once funds are in your USD account, convert currency through your bank to your local currency - EUR i assume.

      You will get much lower rates with your own bank...If your current bank do not give you good rates, set up another bank account and have them compete for your business...you should be able to achieve less than 1% margin!
      Just saw this and thanks for the advice. There is a slight problem here, though...

      Hungarian banks do not like exchange rates :p. They're actually worse than Paypal. I issued an invoice with the banks rate and a paypal request for the same amount, and the paypal request was for about 1000 Ft (just over $4 on a $120ish order) more. So, it works out cheaper to get paypal to change it.

      I have a system to receive GBP in GBP and then convert it in cash at a street trader (rates are often considerably better, I'm talking getting 4 or 5 Ft - that's 2-2.5 cents better per $1), though
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  • Profile picture of the author anaxa77
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    • Profile picture of the author David Payoneer
      Originally Posted by anaxa77 View Post

      When it comes to foreign exchange, payoneer mastercard is the best payment method. The credit card processing is very reliable for everyone. So my support is going through payoneer but also you may use moneybookers, alertpay etc.
      Thanks for the great feedback.

      If any of you have questions about Payoneer and how we can help you, please feel free to ask or contact me at davidst[at]payoneer.com.
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  • Profile picture of the author matt5409
    I think with PayPal being the ubiquitous tool for small payments online, you don't have much choice.

    To combat the fees you could put up your costs. This has added benefits of value perception, so think about how you can turn it around to your advantage
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