UPDATE/ETA:

It looks like our solution isn't dumping PayPal (at least not yet), but rather configuring the PayPal admin screen for "Authorization" instead of "Sale" as suggested by dbdave in another thread.

This allows us to capture funds in the Cart only after we've verified the order and shipping address. And if we cancel an order we don't capture the funds, so therefore PayPal doesn't charge us up to ~3% in transaction fees.

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Our company sells a technical product online, with unusually many full refunds given to customers who buy the wrong item. In a typical month we refund more than 10% of payments received.

On 9/18/2019 PayPal sent a broadcast email to advise that they've changed the longstanding policy, and will now keep their ~2.9% transaction fee whenever a merchant issues a refund. In our case this will amount to thousands of dollars per year in additional PayPal fees.

It's always painful and risky to change payment providers, but this seems like a good time to look into alternatives.

- We'd be grateful for any positive or negative recommendations about alternative payment processing companies that integrate with our Ecommerce Templates shopping cart, from any merchants who sell in the US.

Thanks in advance for this.

- Paul D.

Hi Paul,
Almost all my US clients use Authorize.net AIM without any problems - https://www.ecommercetemplates.com/phphelp/ecommplus/authorizenet.asp



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Hi Paul,

Have a look at Stripe, their integration is also built in to ECT. We've never had any issue with Stripe on our websites, nor any issues with the other sites I've built. On my own business site I only use Stripe, as I don't like or trust PayPal, and their fee at 1.4%+20p transaction charges suit my needs. https:stripe.com

Steve
Manchester, UK.

The big question is, do any other payment providers refund their fees when making a partial, or full refund to a customer.

I too am not happy with this Paypal change, and we will be impacted for sure. I'm still evaluating the situation myself, and will likely stay with Paypal.
I'm guess most payment providers do not refund the original fees.

Thanks for your replies.

Currently PayPal charges us 2.2% plus $0.30 per transaction, based on our transaction volume.

Having said that, our PayPal volume is starting to decline as our sales through Amazon (FBA) have grown.

The Stripe and Amazon Pay websites say that new merchants pay 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

That 1.4% fee that Steve mentioned for Stripe seems shockingly low unless you're selling many millions of dollars per year.

Has anyone seen anything that suggests these sorts of low transaction fees are available to new Stripe merchants who are selling less than $1,000,000 per year?

- Paul D.

Hi Paul

The pricing at stripe.com/gb/pricing is 1.4% + 20p for all European cards and for non-European cards is 2.9% + 20p. Dave: I know that Stripe do not refund the initial processing fee and neither do WorldPay.

My business is non-tangible products, mostly my time, which is agreed before proceeding with work. With banking apps having grown rapidly in recent years I now get most of my payments via electronic banking without paying a penny for the 'privilege'.

If I were in the business of flogging tangible products I'd still shy away from PayPal. They are grossly expensive as are the likes of eBay and IMHO their attitude stinks. .



Steve
Manchester, UK.

Yesterday I reached out to Stripe sales, and received the prompt response that, like PayPal's new policy, when you refund a customer Stripe doesn't return the transaction fees that they charged you.

- Paul D.

Not many processors will return transaction fees these days, IMO transaction fees should be looked as part of re-stocking fees or built-into the restocking fee and deducted from the refund. Of course this needs to be stated in the terms and conditions policy of the site.

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quote:

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IMO transaction fees should be looked as part of re-stocking fees or built-into the restocking fee and deducted from the refund. Of course this needs to be stated in the terms and conditions policy of the site.

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I agree with Sinbad, this is likely my path.

I use a company in the USA called First Serve for my brick and mortar store. All cards refund the processing fees, except American Express.
American Express does not issue any refunds on processing fees.

Out of the 60 or so transactions over the last 24 hours, 18 were by credit card, 42 by paypal express.
They know they are to big to totally get rid of and have decided to screw us.

Just to throw this into the mix that the SquareUp payment processor will be added in the next release.

Vince

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Great to hear about Square being added.

And it looks like no refund processing fees on SquareUp.

I have personally switched to Stripe. I don't have lots of refunds and I save $30/month for the PayPal Pro solution. This forced me to switch to the ShipStation integration for shipping. Now that we use that we love it.

Vince, is this solution the SquareUp hosted payment, or payments on our site?

Dean
ecomwebstore.com
[img]http://www.ecomwebstore.com/images/ecw_sm.jpg[/img]

Hi Dean
The SquareUp solution takes payment on your website. It's actually an iFrame which take the content from the SquareUp server so avoids PCI problems, but it is embedded in the cart page.

Vince

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Further to my post on 21st September regarding Stripe fees. My brother's website (ECT) sells new construction plant equipment and I had to check some stuff for him in his Stripe account. Checking the transactions log shows that all his transactions are definitely charged 1.4% + 0.20p. Curiosity on my behalf as all Stripe payments to myself are for non-tangible goods and stuff like construction plant is usually deemed 'high risk'.

https://v45.co.uk/ect/stripe-fee-1.jpg

Steve
Manchester, UK

Using ECT since 2004