Payment Processors (UK)

Choosing and Configuring a Payment Processor

In order to receive payments from your Insight shop you will first need to register with a payment processor to take payments securely. The type of payment processor you choose depends on your trading status and the requirements of your organisation. Payment processors fall into two different categories as follows:

• “One-Stop” Solution (Paypal) - Processors such as PayPal allow you to set up an account to receive online payments to your paypal account and then transfer that money to your existing bank account. This approach can be beneficial for organisations accepting credit cards for the first time (especially if they have little credit history), and for organisations selling in relatively low volume.
  
  

  Advantages

  Disadvantages

  - simple to set up as no separate merchant account is required.  - no fixed yearly charges.

  - higher ‘per transaction’ costs. - payments are processed by redirecting to another web site (looks less professional and less reliable). - Funds have to go via online account before being realised in your bank account, often taking 30 days or more. - Not supported within the payment group feature, so restricted to shop - Takes the payment immediately so no chance to check you have stock before taking payment - Sometimes there's a delay of more than a day between the order being made and us receiving a confirmation that the payment has been successful.

  
  Paypal is currently the only one stop solution integrated with the Insight system. Other one stop solutions e.g.Worldpay aren't currently compatible with the Insight system.
  
• Payment processor and Internet Merchant Account (Sage Pay) - A Merchant Services Account with a bank allows you to take credit card payments using a credit card swipe machine. Many of these can be upgraded to an Internet Merchant Services Account to allow you to receive payments online, for example Barclaycard Merchant Services, Royal Bank of Scotland Streamline, HSBC card processing.
  
  Many of these service providers charge an application fee and require a minimum level of business however the transaction costs can be much lower, especially for large volume sales.
  
  SagePay, the payment processor for UK Insight sites also offer merchant services, see http://www.sagepay.com/bolt_ons.asp and then select the "Merchant Services" option for more details or contact SagePay directly for more details. 
  
  Once you have an internet merchant services account you will need to register with a payment processor; some banks offer this service as part of the Merchant account however third-party payment processors are often more competitively priced and offer the same level of functionality and service. 
  
  Sage Pay is the payment processor selected for Insight in the UK and is compatible with a wide range of Merchant Services as follows:
  - Lloyds-TSB Cardnet
  - Barclaycard Merchant Services
  - HSBC
  - Streamline
  - Bank of Scotland
  - AMEX
  - Diners Club International
  
  

Advantages	Disadvantages
Lower transaction costs for high volume of sales. Can be used in both the Shop and payment group features. Payment page integrated within your web site for a more professional look.	Fixed costs including monthly fees and application costs meaning miniumum level of business required to be cost effective. Note:If you only expecting a small number of transactions but you want to use which means this option isn't financially viable, contact us to discuss other possible options.

A Merchant Services Account with a bank allows you to take credit card payments using a credit card swipe machine. Many of these can be upgraded to an Account to allow you to receive payments online, for example Barclaycard Merchant Services, Royal Bank of Scotland Streamline, HSBC card processing. Many of these service providers charge an application fee and require a minimum level of business however the transaction costs can be much lower, especially for large volume sales. Once you have an internet merchant services account you will need to register with a payment processor; some banks offer this service as part of the Merchant account however third-party payment processors are often more competitively priced and offer the same level of functionality and service. Sage Pay (protx) is the payment processor selected for in the UK and is compatible with a wide range of Merchant Services as follows:- Lloyds-TSB Cardnet- Barclaycard Merchant Services- HSBC- Streamline- Bank of Scotland- AMEX- Diners Club International.

 The most cost-effective strategy for your organisation largely depends on the volume of sales you expect to generate through your shop. Before selecting a provider ask yourself the following questions:

• Will you be using the payment groups feature? Paypal can't be used with the payment group feature so you will need to sign-up with Sage Page and your own Merchant Services account.
• Do you already have a Merchant Services Account? If so, find out what additional fees are charged and the transaction costs for an Internet Merchant Account.
• What volume of business do you expect to generate through your Insight shop? You should try and estimate an annual turnover as well as a typical transaction size. If you expect to generate more than £1000/month it may be worth investigating in the cost of a merchant account. Don't forget that you could also receive donations to your organisation using this payment method.
• Would you benefit from being able to process credit cards in other areas of your organisation? Whilst Paypal is a simple payment method for e-commerce, registering as a Merchant would also allow you to take credit card payments through other means (e.g. by telephone or in writing) which may be beneficial for other uses.
  

Using a Sage Pay as your payment processor

Once your account has been activated you will need to change the following setting in your paypal profile as follows: 

• Under the My Account section click the My Profile sub-category.
• Select the payment receiving preferences option.
• Set the “Block payments sent to me in a currency I do not hold” option to no.
  Note: this setting is used to ensure that all payments through your Insight web site are accepted without requiring you to visit the PayPal web site. It is however optional.

Configuring your PayPal account

You can use your PayPal credentials in your Insight web site as follows:

• Enter the Web Office.
• Click the Settings tab at the top of the window.
• Select the E-commerce category from the left-hand navigation pane, several E-commerce options will be displayed.
• Select the Payment Processing category.
  Note: if the payment processing option is not visible you do not have the Payment processor admin permission. Contact your web site administrator for further information.
• Existing payment processors will be listed. Click the Add button to add a new payment processor.
• Enter a name to identify this payment processor in the space provided.
• Select PayPal from the list of payment processors.
• Enter your PayPal login name in the space provided, this is the email address you supplied when signing up for your account..
• Enter the daily cut-off time. This setting determines the latest time that transactions will appear on the daily statement. Set this value to Midnight.
• Click Save Changes to update your configuration.

Testing your PayPal account in the shop

• Ensure that you have at least one product in your shop – refer to the Shop Catalogue guide for more information on managing your shop catalogue.
• Exit the Web Office.
• Select the Shop from your navigation menu.
• Purchase an item from the shop in the normal way. On proceeding through the checkout you will be redirected to the PayPal web site to enter credit card details for payment. Once payment is complete you will be returned to your own web site.
• Enter the Web Office.
• Select the Shop tab from the top of the Web Office window.
• The Unshipped Orders should be displayed on the screen. If this is not the case click on the Unshipped Orders link on the left-hand side navigation pane to display all new orders.
• Click on the order number to display full details of the order.
• The payment area should indicate that payment has been received. You can also verify this by visiting the PayPal web site. 

Payment Processor Security

The Payment Processor admin permission grants a user access to the E-Commerce->Payment Processor area, enabling them to modify the details of the payment processor(s) used on your web site. When payment processor details are edited everyone with this permission will be notified by email that they have been changed; this is an extra security measure. This permission should be granted with care as modifications to the payment processor details could have financial consequences.

You can grant the payment processor admin permission to another user as follows:

• Enter the Web Office.
• Select the Settings tab.
• Select the Permissions category from the left-hand navigation pane.
• The permissions options will be displayed, click Site Administrators from the options available; the work pane will refresh to reveal the current allocated site administrator permissions.
• If the user you wish to grant permissions to isn't listed select the  Add another administrator task to add them; the user browser will be displayed shortly afterwards, locate and then click on the person or people you wish to add and then finally click the Select Records button to add them to the list of users.
• Click on the Payment Processor Admin checkbox for the user you wish to grant this permission to.
  Payment Processor Admin permission not listed? You will needto ask your site administrator to grant this permission to you.
• Click Save at the top right of the page to grant this permission.

Additional resources

www.electronic-payments.co.uk - compare UK electronic payment costs using this independent government funded web site.
www.businesslink.gov.uk – guide to accepting credit and debit cards.