Eftpos terminals - whats the go on how to set them up?

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MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#69661 12-Oct-2010 21:42

I am thinking of starting up a small online business to be run from home and would like to be able to accept credit card payments through a secure order form online.

I havent run a business in NZ before and am not sure on the requirements or procedures on how to obtain or setup an EFTPOS terminal/merchant account with a bank in NZ.

I dont see my business reaping in huge amounts of revenue per month as it is mainly a hobby and I know I can go with cc payment services like paymate etc, but want to find out about eftpos etc.

Is it simply a matter of buying a eftpos terminal from trademe and getting an account somewhere?

Is it worthwhile for a small business? It would be handy for trademe sales too I guess to be able to take cc payments.

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#391098 12-Oct-2010 22:00

For asmall online business taking credit cards is not really a viable option, i looked into it about 6 months ago exploring all the option such as using a 3rd party like flo2cash or building me own payment system, but the cheapest option was going to be $200 a month and that was before transaction fees and i think they were going to take about 6% of each sale so turns out its pretty expensive. If it is only a small business then taking online payments into a bank account should be fine and this is what i usually recommend to clients.

As far as EFTPOS goes, it is useless for an online business as you have to physically have the customers card for them to pay by EFTPOS.

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391099 12-Oct-2010 22:02

I was only asking as it isnt hard for me to get my hands on one of those provenco hand held eftpos machines, that take credit cards as well.

But if it isnt viable....

jbard

1377 posts

Uber Geek

#391100 12-Oct-2010 22:05

ahh well if you can get one cheap then maybe it would be.

I know line rental for EFTPOS is aroun $15-$20 a month for standard EFTPOS - if it is the wireless version you are talking about then this is more but im not sure how much more.

Then their is an extra charge on the line rental when wanting to accept credit cards plus they take around 5% of credit card sales. Then their is bank fees ect on top of this.

Really depends how much you plan to put into the business i guess - credit cards would let it expand a lot more quickly and more than likely increase sales.

richms

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#391118 12-Oct-2010 22:56

When I asked about doing online stuff thru a terminal I was told no way would I be allowed to do that.

paypal was the quickest and easiest way to get up and running taking cards online, and much much much cheaper than any local processor would do it for, with no messing around hoping a bank would give a merchant account.

Richard rich.ms

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391156 13-Oct-2010 06:50

what are the alternatives in NZ to paypal?

I know of paymate in oz that does NZ currency as well, but are there any others like that?

jbard

1377 posts

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#391183 13-Oct-2010 09:14

I'm pretty sure you can use paypal in New Zealand, might be wrong though?

cyril7

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#391212 13-Oct-2010 10:10

Yes you can use Paypal in NZ currency in NZ, and its by way the best way.

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MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391233 13-Oct-2010 10:44

I have never been fond of Paypal, but thats just an opinion I formed years ago. Maybe they have changed.

maorry

19 posts

Geek

#391234 13-Oct-2010 10:44

You would have to discuss with your bank whether they would allow you to perform manual PAN transactions (i.e. manual credit card number entries using an eftpos terminal). Being a small hobby business I would doubt it very much but you never know until you try.

I agree that the best alternative would be Paypal as it's very established worldwide and reasonably easy to integrate into your website.

sleemanj

1490 posts

Uber Geek

#391268 13-Oct-2010 11:38

Small business, a few transactions a month, you have two choices, PayPal as already mentioned, and Paymate paymate.co.nz.

PayPal is far better from an API and functionality sense, just, well, no comparison.

They are as bad as each other when it comes to support.

PayPal CAN get a bit tricky if you fall anywhere outside "a normal business", at which point PayPal will want screeds of different documentation, but for 95% of people, no problem at all, I've put probably 20 grand through them over the years.

Paymate has the advantage that they pay direct to your bank account. Although, this is also a disadvantage because it makes accounting for and reconciling the payments a PITA (because the amount which appears as a deposit in your bank statements has had the paymate fees deducted so no longer matches the amount the customer paid - compared to paypal in which the payments are shown in the paypal "accounts" as the correct amount, with fees deducted separately, in short, the accounting legwork/data-entry in using Paymate is more than when using Paypal)

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

MooPoo

251 posts

Ultimate Geek

#391399 13-Oct-2010 16:37

so how do you get your money from Paypal?

I quite like getting paid straight into my account, and with the small amount of transactions I do it isnt that big a deal for me as it is paid into a seperate account

sleemanj

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#391402 13-Oct-2010 16:41

MooPoo: so how do you get your money from Paypal?

You can withdraw from paypal to your bank account.

In other words, think of paypal like a type of bank account, think of withdrawing like doing a bank transfer.

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

richms

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#391415 13-Oct-2010 17:08

Usually end up spending it out of the paypal balance online, more than comes in via it so never had to withdraw from it.

Richard rich.ms

robbyp

1199 posts

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#391418 13-Oct-2010 17:10

MooPoo: so how do you get your money from Paypal?

I quite like getting paid straight into my account, and with the small amount of transactions I do it isnt that big a deal for me as it is paid into a seperate account

You could also try paymex which is a nz version.

sleemanj

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#391429 13-Oct-2010 17:28

robbyp:
MooPoo: so how do you get your money from Paypal?

I quite like getting paid straight into my account, and with the small amount of transactions I do it isnt that big a deal for me as it is paid into a seperate account

You could also try paymex which is a nz version.

Paymex seems quite expensive comparatively, 3.25%+55c/transaction, vs. Paypal's 2.9%+33cUS/transaction (+$1/withdraw if you are under $150 from memory)

Paymate is 3%+50c/transaction

Paymex is the more expensive of the three then, marginally I guess, but it adds up

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James Sleeman
I sell lots of stuff for electronic enthusiasts...

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