gateways, merchant account and merchant account via credit card, what's all about?

[cangarooo]

Hi all.
I’m not an expert on this matter as I usually help my customers to setup their correct offshore companies and holdings.
So, I would really appreciate your support.

One of my customers is now entering the Swiss market with his eCommerce website.
He will be selling fashion items.
He has a good company setup via Swiss S.A. and Swiss bank account and reports the earning via Holding to Delaware and from there to Panama.

He will accept credit card payments from Swiss customers to the Swiss bank and between gateways, merchant account and merchant account via credit card he is lost (me too).

Anyone willing to explain more what the difference is?
In my high ignorance I’ve suggested him to use Paypal or similar but he told me that:
- fees for transaction are high based on % and fix fee;
- some of them request a fees also for money withdrawal;
- some of them request a monthly or yearly fee;

Please, consider that he will have on average (estimation) around 250 items sold per day with an average payment of 80CHF (~80USD).

Anyone willing to suggest a similar method with low fees/rates and no monthly/yearly usage fees?

Thanks for your help

cangarooo

<<removed not relevant for the thread>>

[Admin]

Welcome aboard, where is the company located for which you are looking to open a merchant account for?

If it is a European company you may look into payment service providers like RBS WorldPay, WireCard, FailesafePayment, 2co.com, global collect etc. there are hundred of options.

[cangarooo]

Hi Admin.
Thanks for your feedback.
As mentioned before in my message, the company will be based in Switzerland.

I’ve checked your suggestions and following what I found:
- RBS Worldpay: both setup fees/annual fees and also a very high transaction fee;
- 2co.com: transaction percentage very high;
- Globalcollect and Wirecard there are no indications (or at least I was not able to find) for the rates and fees.

From what I’ve seen, failsafepayments may represent a good option with good rates and fees and no setup or recurring fees at all.

If I can raise another question, what’s the difference (if any) between a “merchant account solution” and a “payment gateway solution”?

Any other similar solution to failsafepayments?

Thanks.

cangarooo

[Admin]

Well, PSBill may be a alternative so Netbilling and all the many other 3rd party billers you may be able to find on Google. Important is that they are PCI/AIS Certified!

[johnspence]

Payemet gateways are the software which processes customer credit card number, address and order ionformation . and Merchant account are the bank authorize account which allow you to accept credit cards.