Which Payment Methods does RomanCart Support?
With the free version of RomanCart you can accept payments of Cheque, Cash, Bank Transfer, Cash on Delivery and Postal/Money Order. When you upgrade you can connect RomanCart to all the major online payment systems.
What does it mean to 'Accept Online Payments'?
Accepting Online Payments means that your customers will be able to pay you during the sales process and the cart will know at that time whether the payment was successful. For example, the customer might pay using a Credit/Debit Card, or maybe a PayPal, Google Checkout or other similar account.
Why are Online Payments better than Offline Payments?
Offline payments are things like paying by cheque or the merchant manually processing the customer card details in a card swipe machine some time after the transaction. The problem with both these methods are that often cards are declined and cheques bounce. If either of these occur then you (the merchant) have to contact the customer and ask for different payment details. At this point you will frequently find that either you cannot contact the customer, or that you do contact the customer but they no longer want to go ahead with the transaction.
Should I accept Card Payments or payments via PayPal, Google Checkout and similar?
Ideally you should accept as many different payment methods as you can. Some customers will only want to pay using their PayPal/Google Checkout account, whilst others will only pay by card. Accepting as many different types of payment options maximises your chances of a sale.
How do I accept Card Payments?
There are two ways of accepting card payments.
Either:- Get a merchant account with a bank and use it with a payment gateway. Examples are Sage Pay, HSBC Secure e-Payments, Authorize.net, PayPal Payflow (USA), Barclays ePDQ.
Or:- Use a payment bureaux service who effectively provide both the payment gateway and merchant account together. Examples are PayPal, Nochex, PayPoint Complete, Worldpay, Moneybookers, Google Checkout.
Which one of these do I choose?
With a Payment Bureaux it normally takes longer to gain access to your money and there is a higher chance that your account will be frozen if there are any problems with payments. An Internet Merchant Account and Payment Gateway are more complex to setup and may have higher setup costs as you will need to set up an Internet Merchant account with a bank (This is not the same as a normal merchant account). If you already have a Business Bank Account then your bank will be able to advise - although note that your Internet Merchant Account does not need to be with the same bank as your Business Account (in most cases). If you are already trading on the high street for example then we would advise using a payment gateway but also accepting PayPal, Google Checkout and any other payment types you think your customers might be using.
How do I get my money?
Firstly, It is important to point out that RomanCart does not come into contact with your money. This is direct between you and your customer via the payment gateway that you decide to use.
With a payment gateway linked to an Internet Merchant Account, the money is normally deposited in your Business Bank Account 2-3 days after a transaction. However if you have no trading history then it might be 30 days or longer.
Payment Bureaux usually take longer to give you the money, or they require a certain amount of money to stay with them as a guarantee. This is because they are taking more of a risk if fraud occurs. You need to see the website for each payment bureaux you are considering to find out exactly how long it takes for you to receive (and be allowed to withdraw) the money as each system is different.
What about Fraud?
Fraud is a common occurrance on the Internet and which ever payment methods you decide to accept someone could buy from you and you receive the money, you send out the goods and then you are informed that the transaction was fraudulent and the money is taken back from you. In this instance you would lost both the goods and the money. There are ways to reduce (but not completely eliminate this risk). For example if you are using a payment gateway then 3d Secure (MasterCard SecureCode and Verified by Visa) can - in some cases - give 'Liability Shift' where you are not liable for any losses. (Get this a few times though and that privilege can be taken away - refer to the bank for full details). Payment Bureaux such as PayPal have seller protection cover, however you need to check the exact terms of how this works and the maximum value that they protect.
In the end it is up to you - the merchant - to decide whether a transaction is genuine or not using the information available to you. If in doubt then do not send out the goods.
Why do I need to use RomanCart when my payment gateway or bureaux can provide me with a shopping cart for free?
Some Payment systems have a very basic shopping cart system built into them however there are some very good reasons why you shouldn't be using them.
- As you will see in many places on this website and you will come to realise when you start selling online, the amount of money you make from your store will be directly connected to the amount of time, effort and money you spend on marketing. RomanCart is not just a shopping cart, it is a complete marketing system with many features designed to make you more money. Most other shopping carts, and certainly not those provided by payment gateways do not have such functionality. They are just a way to hook up to their payment gateway. However if you want to make money from your venture then you need to be using RomanCart and all the marketing features within it.
- If you hook up your entire website directly with one payment system but in the future want to move to a different payment system then you would need to change your entire website. If you use RomanCart then you can add and remove payment methods as you require.
- If you connect directly to a payment system then you will only be able to accept their payment method. With RomanCart you can have as many payment methods as you like available on your cart at the same time. On some payment methods (e.g. Sage Pay) you can also hook PayPal directly into the payment method. However you really don't want to do this as it adds extra steps to the payment process. Remember that every click your customer has to make will lose you a certain percentage of your customers.
I work for a payment gateway company - How can we get RomanCart to support our payment gateway?
The cost for integrating a New Payment Gateway is £6995+vat. This includes the cost for Integration and testing a single payment gateway for one region. This will ensure that the payment gateway appears on our 'Supported Payment Gateway' page for the relevant region. It will be available to RomanCart merchants for at least 3 years. (If very few merchants use it then it may be removed after 3 years).Click here to purchase integration of your payment gateway now. Once you have purchased this, please email us details of a test account and integration instructions. If for any reason we are unable to complete the integration then you will be refunded. Normally integration is completed within 5 working days.
Sign up to RomanCart NOW and paste 'Add to Basket' links or buttons onto your web pages - When you are ready you can upgrade your cart and start accepting online payments for your store right away!
