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AccentAlarms
Starting Member
USA
46 Posts |
 Posted - March 24 2008 : 18:45:57
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Virtual Merchant lists VP-ASP as a "Compatible Cart", has anyone who has used this gateway provide any sort of opinion?
We've been using PayPal Pro (or whatever they are calling it) and I think we've reached about all we can handle with them. Now they are raising our rate as they say we are not in compliance with they way they would like the express checkout to be displayed.
Thank you in advance for any insight any of you may have!
Sean McNeal
Accent Alarms, Inc
Over 14,000 Quality Security Products
(877) 345-ALARMS
www.AccentAlarms.com |
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saki
VP-CART New User
82 Posts |
Posted - March 24 2008 : 19:42:39
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| I just looked at your site and it looks fine? What are they complaining about. VPASP delayed that for months waiting for their (payPal) approval? |
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AccentAlarms
Starting Member
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - March 24 2008 : 19:55:35
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Saki,
Paypal says:
"I’m writing to remind you that on 4/2/2007 you signed up for Website Payments Pro and agreed to the terms located in the PayPal Pro/Virtual Terminal Agreement.
Our records show that your usage of Website Payments Pro is out of compliance with Section 4 of the PayPal Pro / Virtual Terminal Agreement ("Agreement"). Section 4 of the Agreement states:
"Usage of Express Checkout:”
In order to use PayPal Website Payments Pro or PayPal Website Payments Pro PayFlow Edition, you must use Express Checkout as described herein.
i. You must include a PayPal Express Checkout button either: (A) before you request the shipping/billing address and other financial information from your customers or (B) on the same page that you collect such information if you only use one page for your checkout process.
ii. You must offer PayPal as a payment option together with the other payment options you offer for Express Checkout. The PayPal logo must be displayed with equal or greater prominence as the logos for your other payment options.
iii. You must provide your customers with the option of not storing their personal information, including but not limited to their email address, shipping/billing address, and financial information."
Pursuant to the Additional Fees provision in Section 2 of the Agreement, your usage of the DirectPayment API will be subject to a 0.5% increase to your processing rate, bringing your total DirectPayment processing rate to 2.7 - 3.4% + $0.30. This increase will be effective in 30 days which is 4/20/2008."
I believe they are going after #ii, specifically that we are not offering PayPal Express on the paypalproshopcheckout.asp page. I did just get an update from support (VP-ASP) and changed the "Pay Now" back to "Pay with PayPal Pro" which we changed because we had coperate customers calling saying that they would not use "PalPal" so now it's back to what PayPal wants while we look for another gateway/solution.
Sean McNeal
Accent Alarms, Inc
Over 14,000 Quality Security Products
(877) 345-ALARMS
www.AccentAlarms.com |
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AccentAlarms
Starting Member
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 08:57:22
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No comments? I wonder if this means that:
1. Nobody is really using this gateway, or
2. The people that are,have not problems so they don't read the forum?
Cam/Simon/Howard - do any of you have any experience with Virtual Merchant?
Thank you!
Sean McNeal
Accent Alarms, Inc
Over 14,000 Quality Security Products
(877) 345-ALARMS
www.AccentAlarms.com |
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support
Administrator
4679 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 14:56:45
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Hi Sean,
We do have a gateway implementation for My Virtual Merchant.
We have not had any direct dealings with them but reports from our other customers have been favorable.
If you require the gateway files please submit a request through our helpdesk.
Regards
Michael
VPASP SUPPORT |
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devshb
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1904 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 16:25:25
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I personally can't remember working on virtual merchant files/gateways, which is probably a good sign because it means that if I have worked on a site that uses it then it couldn't have had any major problems.
Things like googlecheckout and paypal basic stand out in my mind as being nightmare/bad situations in a lot of instances, paypal pro/ipn stands out in my mind as being pretty awkward to setup but workable/ok once it's in place, worldpay as being very expensive, and the others not having any major problems that I can remember.
So, I'd guess that coupled with michael's reply above, it sounds like a good sign for virtual merchant.
That note that you (sean) pasted about paypal's "complaints" against the site is pretty scary stuff; they shouldn't be able to dictate that kind of thing to a merchant; adding a paypal logo somewhere I'd accept, but not all the stuff they mentioned there; if it were me I'd tell them to go boil their head.
The trouble with paypal is that when most people see the word "paypal" they don't realise it can just be a card-clearer; most people still think they need a paypal account, hence I'd even be reluctant to put a paypal logo on my own site, in fact whenever I've worked on a site that uses paypal the merchant's always had exactly that problem (customers not ordering because they see the word "paypal" and run away), and they always ask to add an explicit message something that hints at "you do not need a paypal account, this is just a card clearer", and to leave out all other mentions of paypal because it just scares people away.
I'm glad you (sean) mentioned that paypal note; it's definitely something I'd now bear in mind whenever we get someone who wants to install a gateway; I didn't know their merchant rules were so nasty; those rules basically mean that I don't think anyone should be using paypal as a merchant; paypal have completely shot themselves in the foot with that one.
Simon Barnaby
Developer
[email protected]
www.BigYellowZone.com
Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons |
Edited by - devshb on March 26 2008 16:36:28 |
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AccentAlarms
Starting Member
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 17:12:54
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Michael/Simon,
Thanks for the input!
This is our second go around with PayPal over being in compliance with the "Term & Conditions" of the PayPal. About 10 months ago there was a similar post and problem with PayPal. I would obviously highly recommend using another gateway. I have to wonder how many other people have not purchased from us? The typical buyer/visitor is NOT going to call and ask if you take something other than "PayPal". You have to figure if we had a "few" take the time to try to find our number to call; there have been tenfold that who just went somewhere else.
At this point we are looking at Authorize.Net and Virtual Terminal - feedback on both would be extremely welcomed. I'm a bit turned off by Virtual Terminals 3 Year Contract (that's not a typo!) and they want a one-time fee of about $300 to "purchase" the software w/ a $5/Month "maintenance" fee. Seem like they will all get your money oneway or another though.
Thanks again for the input!
Sean McNeal
Accent Alarms, Inc
Over 14,000 Quality Security Products
(877) 345-ALARMS
www.AccentAlarms.com |
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devshb
Senior Member
United Kingdom
1904 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 17:24:11
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I can't remember using virtual merchant, they may well be fine, I just can't remember working on one, but I've worked on lots of sites who use Authorize.Net and that's always been very tidy/easy/reliable.
gateways are like hosts; if you find a good one then that's great, but if you have serious problems that they won't help you with then I'd do what you want to do and simply move. It's not like there's a shortage of gateway providers; there are 100's of them out there. Paypal shouldn't be so picky when they have so many competitors. sounds like they're trying to force merchants into hinting on their sites to their customers that paypal is the only/definitive card-clearer (ie trying to corner the market by using cleverly implicitly worded phrases and unfair forced rules, like microsoft does with windows or like google does with search engines) - I'd say nuts to them and get another one.
Simon Barnaby
Developer
[email protected]
www.BigYellowZone.com
Web Design, Online Marketing and VPASP addons |
Edited by - devshb on March 26 2008 17:25:31 |
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elammers
VP-CART Super User
USA
256 Posts |
Posted - March 26 2008 : 18:56:49
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I hooked up with Authorize.net a few years ago as a reseller. Not to just sell it to anyone that came along, but to sell it to the eCommerce shops we build with VP-ASP. There's good and bad, and I think the good outweighs the bad.
BAD - getting them on the phone when you need verbal communication to answer a question or just help with something can be a nightmare. Leave a message and maybe they get back to you. Granted this has been on the reseller rep end more than the client support end.
GOOD - After the client filled out the application and got their account a few days later, I am able to hook it into VP-ASP usually in less than an hour (15 minutes when all goes well). Then it just takes a little time to tweak the look of that ASP page if you're so inclined.
FEES (in general) - $99 application and about $50 in monthly if you have very low sales volume (<$1200/mo). I don't recall there being a minimum contract length.
Regards,
Eric in Maine |
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cattledogpushy
Starting Member
1 Posts |
Posted - April 02 2008 : 12:04:04
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Sean,
I'm looking @ virtual merchant-vpasp combo as well. Have you found anything else out since your last post that makes you feel one way or the other? Have you switched?
Thanks In Advance,
PJ |
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AccentAlarms
Starting Member
USA
46 Posts |
Posted - April 03 2008 : 08:29:58
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PJ,
I'm still evaluating, but I'm leaning towards the Authorized.net solution. Not sure that one is better than the other, it simply appears like more people on this fourm are familiar with Authorized.net. So if I run into problems and/or questions, I'll have more of a pool of knowledge to draw upon using the forum.
If you happend to switch before me, I'd love to hear what you think/how it went!
Thank you,
Sean McNeal
Accent Alarms, Inc
Over 14,000 Quality Security Products
(877) 345-ALARMS
www.AccentAlarms.com |
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