USD Internet Merchant Account

[Ron]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a Canadian merchant account provider that allows processing in US dollars and has an Internet gateway?

I'm using http://psigate.com/ right now, which charges 3.49%, and I'm looking for better rates.

[cdnNick]

There is moneris and paymentech I have looked into those before and they weren't any better then psigate for their rates.

[nabeel]

Does anyone know of a Canadian merchant account provider that allows processing in US dollars and has an Internet gateway?

I'm using http://psigate.com/ right now, which charges 3.49%, and I'm looking for better rates.PsiGate will offer you a lower discount rate if you call and negotiate with them.

Besides them, the realistic options for online merchants are Chase Paymentech, InternetSecure and Beanstream. Moneris has a lot of hurdles to jump through, including having your site ceritifed by a specific security company.

[ebizimage]

Hi,

Does anyone know of a Canadian merchant account provider that allows processing in US dollars and has an Internet gateway?

I'm using http://psigate.com/ right now, which charges 3.49%, and I'm looking for better rates.

You can contact Moneris in US and they will do it cheaper than Moneris in Canada, but the Costco one Nova also offers merchant account in USD with good rate.

PSIGate's setup fee is very high, and monthly fee is high too. Internetsecure is about the same or higher.

[Ron]

but the Costco one Nova also offers merchant account in USD with good rate.

PSIGate's setup fee is very high, and monthly fee is high too.

Nova is 3.25%
I'm going to contact PSIGate and see if they'll match.

[Canucklehead]

Does anyone offer dual accounts? CAN$ and US$ with one gateway/one transaction charge etc? Not sure if I'm explaining it correcty but if there is a minimum of $10/month lets say, can you avoid having to do a $10/month CAN$ and $10/month US$?

[cdnNick]

I believe psigate has a plan that you can accept both USD and CAD with one account, but I believe you have to have a USD and CAD bank accounts, since they don't do currency conversions.

[rayzer]

hi Ron,

I use Internetsecure for about 3 yrs now and I must say their prices and service are excellent ! They are based in Toronto.

They offer many different plans. You can send an email to inquire and they will probably send you a price sheet and offer to waive the setup fee ($99) !

Hope this helps!

[nabeel]

InternetSecure (https://www.internetsecure.com/merappForm.asp): C$49 setup, C$69 per month, C$0.30 or US$0.55 + 3.39% per transaction, for both currencies.

PSiGate (http://www.psigate.com): C$199 setup, C$44.95 per month, C$0.29 + 3.49% per transaction for C$ processing. US$ processing is additional C$99 setup, C$10 per month, C$0.45 + 3.49% per transaction.
My experience is discount rate is negotiable if you have volume.

OnlineMart.ca (http://www.onlinemart.ca/EN/PaymentServicesPricing.asp): Several different plans.

[ebizimage]

Beware of Internetsecure's hold back amount. They charge a fee and hold back money if you decide to cancel the account.

[rayzer]

Beware of Internetsecure's hold back amount. They charge a fee and hold back money if you decide to cancel the account.


i've been using IS for about 3 years and like all cc companies they do a hold back in case of refunds, frauds, etc...but they pay these hold backs back in X #days (depends on your contract). This is to protect them and yourself. I don't see this as a fee but rather a security measure and since your gonna get this back say in a month or two that is fine with me. If you know of any other company that doesn't have holdbacks let me know.

thanks

[Canucklehead]

InternetSecure (https://www.internetsecure.com/merappForm.asp): C$49 setup, C$69 per month, C$0.30 or US$0.55 + 3.39% per transaction, for both currencies.

PSiGate (http://www.psigate.com): C$199 setup, C$44.95 per month, C$0.29 + 3.49% per transaction for C$ processing. US$ processing is additional C$99 setup, C$10 per month, C$0.45 + 3.49% per transaction.
My experience is discount rate is negotiable if you have volume.

OnlineMart.ca (http://www.onlinemart.ca/EN/PaymentServicesPricing.asp): Several different plans.
OK the geek in me tumbled the numbers:
PSiGate is a better deal in your seventh month of operation. You also save a bit per transaction.

If you negotiate the set up charges, it would be an even better option than internetsecure. Even if internetsecure waives their fee, the monthly charge is 50% higher - unless you're getting that much more in some other way, it does not look like a good option.

Key is reliability and support. Any comments?

[ebizimage]

i've been using IS for about 3 years and like all cc companies they do a hold back in case of refunds, frauds, etc...but they pay these hold backs back in X #days (depends on your contract). This is to protect them and yourself. I don't see this as a fee but rather a security measure and since your gonna get this back say in a month or two that is fine with me. If you know of any other company that doesn't have holdbacks let me know.

thanks

They used to charge hold back for all credit cards, but then Mastercard forced them to cancel their hold back policy for Mastercard. Well, a credit card company also believe they should not be entitled to this "security measurement".

I had been with them for some years before I canceled the account. Before, I had to check the statement very carefully (which my accounting person did for me), and found that the hold back fund release process was quite messed up and every year, I had to email them either to ask for adjustment or clarification of missing funds.

Also when you canceled the account with them, they will not release all hold back until 6 months later (or 9 months since they changed the policy last year). Well, if you no longer want to keep the business or its bank account for another year, then you will lose all the hold back fund.

O, they also charge like a hundred dollars for changing bank account and some hundred dollars for canceling the IS account, and I found this very annoying. With a real merchant account, there's no fee to change depositing bank account, and for most banks, you can cancel the merchant account without penalty.

[nabeel]

OK the geek in me tumbled the numbers:
PSiGate is a better deal in your seventh month of operation. You also save a bit per transaction.

If you negotiate the set up charges, it would be an even better option than internetsecure. Even if internetsecure waives their fee, the monthly charge is 50% higher - unless you're getting that much more in some other way, it does not look like a good option.

Key is reliability and support. Any comments?
Your math does not take into account the discount rate.

Like I mentioned, with PsiGate (in my direct experience), the discount rate is negotiable. For me, that meant it was significantly cheaper than InternetSecure.

[rayzer]

Your math does not take into account the discount rate.

Like I mentioned, with PsiGate (in my direct experience), the discount rate is negotiable. For me, that meant it was significantly cheaper than InternetSecure.


So PsiGate is better ? thanks i shall check this and also thanks to ebizimage for his input i will definitely check my holdbacks and any fees that may have been missed out or overcharged to me.

So which is the best merchant account in terms of service and price ? Psigate ?

thanks

[ebizimage]

I recommend Moneris USA. Funds are deposited to bank account the next business day, and they are compatible with Authorize.net for internet processing gateway. Otherwise, Costco's Nova is quite economic too.

O, there's also another Vancouver company offering USD and CAD merchant account called Beanstream

[nabeel]

O, there's also another Vancouver company offering USD and CAD merchant account called BeanstreamBeanstream is what TD's onlinemart.ca uses.

[rayzer]

After raving about Internetsecure I think I lost total confidence in them. I had setup another account in Nov but told them not to activate since my webdesigners have not finished the website to input the new codes and they told me that would be fine. This week I received an email asking to pay $130 something for 3 months of service. I told them that I had told them not to activate and that there was no activity. They said that the agreement states that after 3 months they will start billing me and they didn't budge and told me to read the agreement (which was like 8 pages) and that if I cancel I will have to pay 1 yr of service charges. What a scam!!! I never had such a bad service like this. I know in a way it was my fault not to look through the agreement with a microscope but do all of you have time to look at the agreeements with credit cards, paypals, merchant accounts ?

Now I need to find another Merchant account since I'm quite upset being a great customer for 3 yrs and get shafted like that.

[ebizimage]

After raving about Internetsecure I think I lost total confidence in them. I had setup another account in Nov but told them not to activate since my webdesigners have not finished the website to input the new codes and they told me that would be fine. This week I received an email asking to pay $130 something for 3 months of service. I told them that I had told them not to activate and that there was no activity. They said that the agreement states that after 3 months they will start billing me and they didn't budge and told me to read the agreement (which was like 8 pages) and that if I cancel I will have to pay 1 yr of service charges. What a scam!!! I never had such a bad service like this. I know in a way it was my fault not to look through the agreement with a microscope but do all of you have time to look at the agreeements with credit cards, paypals, merchant accounts ?

Now I need to find another Merchant account since I'm quite upset being a great customer for 3 yrs and get shafted like that.

Let me warn you, even if you had read the agreement, it wouldn't make any difference. We had a copy of the agreement right from the signup, but they could change their agreement term (like cancelation fee etc..) without much notification. At one point, the agreement they put on their signup page was a totally different agreement than the one they put in the Merchant Interface. The one on the signup page said there was no cancelation fee at anytime, but at the same moment, the one in the Merchant Interface said there was some hundred dollars penalty to cancel within 3 years . When I questioned them, they said if you are using their merchant account, you are supposed to keep checking the agreement in the Merchant Interface and automatically "agree" to it.

[Sybersport]

I used Paymentech for a number of years, it was originally Scotiabank until Scotia sold that division (I believe.)

In the end, I had both US and Canadian accounts, for Visa and Mastercard. I paid 4% or something crazy for Mastercard, and I paid 2.6% for Visa. Needless to say I pulled a McDonalds with each order I took and said "would you like to pay for that with your Visa card?" - (i.e. would you like a coke with that? :))

Give them a try, can't hurt.

[rayzer]

thanks for the info , i'll keep you posted.

i went to Costco to get a brochure about the Nova Networks and did a search in the internet. Not very favorable company to deal with based on this link: http://www.epinions.com/bsrv-Financial_Services-Merchant_Account_Processing-All-NOVA_Information_Systems_Inc but the posts are a few years back and maybe they have changed.

if anyone are using Nova please let me know if they are ok in terms of service and quality.

thanks

[Drew_W]

thanks for the info , i'll keep you posted.

i went to Costco to get a brochure about the Nova Networks and did a search in the internet. Not very favorable company to deal with based on this link: http://www.epinions.com/bsrv-Financial_Services-Merchant_Account_Processing-All-NOVA_Information_Systems_Inc but the posts are a few years back and maybe they have changed.

if anyone are using Nova please let me know if they are ok in terms of service and quality.

thanks

I use them. They work extremely well, and the rates are EXTREMELY low. There is also NO withholding amount. Zero. The full amount is deposited next day after you batch out, then they withdraw the discount at the end of the billing period.

Also, NO MONTHLY FEES. $10 minimum if you don't process anything, but beyond that, no monthly.

Buy yourself a Nurit 8320 terminal on eBay for <$200 and save the $25/month+tax rental fee. Only SNAFU is with the pinpad...while the US 8320 can be reprogrammed to work in Canada, the 292 pinpad CANNOT and good luck finding a used Canadian 292 (I'm still looking). You can always just rent the pinpad, they break it down to $18 for the terminal and $7 for the pinpad, or just process credit cards.

Returning the rental terminal turned into a huge ordeal, and it took them 6 months to send a call tag. I have yet to send back the rental so I hope they'll reverse the rental fee on those months I had to wait. Their records (at least when I logged into my online account to check status) shows I've been processing with a different terminal ID for that period.

The less hand holding you need, the better they are. It's a US company seemingly new to Canada, so if you can cruise smoothly on your own.

One other little thing - when you do a refund, they won't charge you for the refund, but they will also NOT refund the discount on the original transaction like say PayPal where if you send a refund, PayPal also refunds the fee they took from you back to you. So if you do a refund, you will lose the discount on the original transaction amount. Hope you don't do too many of those!

[Drew_W]

By the way Ed (I'm assuming), you can e-mail me at andrew@solutionsav.ca if you want to discuss further or have specific questions.

[rayzer]

By the way Ed (I'm assuming), you can e-mail me at andrew@solutionsav.ca if you want to discuss further or have specific questions.


Thanks Drew! I will definitely contact you should i have any questions. Are you referring to Ed from MR ?

thanks

ray

[Drew_W]

Thanks Drew! I will definitely contact you should i have any questions. Are you referring to Ed from MR ?

thanks

ray

Nono, Ed(win) from Audiyo. ;)

[rayzer]

Nono, Ed(win) from Audiyo. ;)

yep, good ol' Ed he's one of the partners of Audiyo !