PayPal not accepting credit cards from all countries

[dipmicro]

I got a customer from Egypt who wants to buy from me. I remember this guy from couple months back and he also wanted to buy from me and I let it go because I was stupid at the time.

He managed to get a MasterCard, he bought one of my auctions and he is not able to pay with his MasterCard. I got interested and called PayPal Customer Support (quite a PITA) just to hear "I am sorry sir, but we cannot process MasterCard from Egypt.

I thought all the time that my CREDIT CARD PROCESSOR can process credit cards from anywhere. Was aware that not everybody can open PayPal account, but why do I care if they can use CREDIT CARD.

Well, I learned something again the hard way. I am at the state where payment processor fee difference (3.9% at PayPal vs. 2.x% with the bank) justifies the monthly banking fees but I would like to explore what are my options and what are other sellers here using.

Currently I am looking at MoneyBookers.com and like the idea of being able to accept direct bank transfer and debit card payment in 30 countries with no charge to the customer.

Another one I am looking at is Charge.com, but they are closed for today, so cannot talk to anyone. However unlike PayPal they seem to be an actual bank (Wells Fargo Bank, Walnut Creek, CA), so we will see tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope this information helps other on these forums and in return if anybody can share their insight on being able to get paid from anywhere in the world, I would greatly appreciate it.

I know about Western Union. If I was selling $500 items that would be no issue, but paying $35 for sending $25 to Canada is a ripoff IMHO.

Thanks for answers

Roman

[dipmicro]

Wow, nobody really wants to be helful here.

Screw you guys, I am going home (Eric Cartman)

[duujogl]

Well, if I had had an answer I would have responded - there's nothing terribly helpful about saying "Sorry, I don't know anything about these other methods." However, I was waiting to hear if you learned anything about Charge.com?

[numero_1]

wester union is great, however ebay does not allow it

[dipmicro]

Western union would work for me, too small orders.

Charge.com is not for Canadians. They told me I need an american Social Insurance Number.

The best two I found are InternetSecure and PsiGate. None of them publish rates, but after inquiry I was able to get them.

InternetSecure first sent me this link with rates:

https://www.internetsecure.com/AppForm.asp

After an email explaining my business strategy and expected volume they offered dual currency account with following metrics:

$49 Setup Fee
$55 per month
Visa/MasterCard/Discover 2.5%
American Express 3.55%
$0.29 per approved transaction

It's a 3 year contract with $199 cancellation fee

PsiGate offered two plans:

1.
setup fee of $99CDN
monthly fee is $29.95CDN
transaction fee is 0.45¢ (CDN).
merchant discount rate (MDR) is 3.95%

2.
$199CDN, monthly fee is $44.95CDN
transaction fee is 0.29¢ (CDN).
merchant discount rate (MDR) is 3.49%

It's a 1yr contract with no cancellation. I.e. the merchant is responsible for contract remainder worth of monthly fees. I guess that would be similar to $199 cancellation with InternetSecure.

I am about still to try MoneyBookers. Apparently they eat-up chargebacks, but charge more for merchant discount rate - 8%. Direct bank transfers from 30 countries and small fees, I will use them for my personal transactions as well. Hell, I usually pay $55 to ScotiaBank to wire-transfer money to Slovakia when going to Europe.