Mtrex Payment Gateway or another Alternative to Paypal

**FoodSourceDirect** · 4 Aug 2014, 09:14 PM

I am stuck. I am looking for a flexible payment gateway / processor that can work with us and has reasonable fees.) I assumed up to this point that we were going to use Paypal to process payments; but, further research revealed that Paypal can make unilateral decisions which can result in them freezing our Paypal account preventing us from accessing our money for days or weeks. Also there are hidden fees that they do not have to disclose; since, they are not a bank.

What is perhaps a factor that can complicate things for us is the fact that our company is not registered in the U.S; and, we do not have a business bank account yet. I have two personal accounts in the U.S. And we do not have a business bank account as yet in the country where I live and operate the business from. (It's a new business.)

Looking for an alternative to PayPal, I found Merchant, Inc. https://www.merchantinc.com who market themselves as such. After submitting the application and chatting up their customer service rep, I asked the question that should have been the first question out of my mouth. "Can I use your payment processing services if I use Zen Cart?" To which, I received the following reply: "We use the mtrex.com gateway. Our services work with cartmanager.com and 1Shoppingcart.com. (Cart... who? And 1Shop.... where?) She stated that Mtrex.com is very similar to Authorize.net in features.

I have already switched from PrestaShop 1.6 and have invested a lot of time and brain cells to get to where I am now with Zen Cart. I am not inclined to switch again.

Somebody, please let me know what's the deal with Mtrex.com because I notice that there are two closed threads back in 2009 that mentioned it. They closed without even a single reply to the op's request. Well that was 2009. This is 201//4. Tell me. Is there something better than Mtrex? Or is it time to revisit the Mtrex.com payment option?

If Mtrex.com is in fact "similar in features" to Authorize.net, does it mean that their API is "similar" and easily integrated with Zen Cart? Or am I totally befuddled? (They say "ignorance is bliss". I can assure you, I am not having a blissful moment.)

Let me know.

AJ

**stevesh** · 5 Aug 2014, 12:44 PM

I've never heard of Mtrex, but I wouldn't let any Internet horror stories about Paypal prevent you from using them. I've never had a problem of any kind with Paypal.

**yaritai** · 5 Aug 2014, 01:21 PM

I agree with Stevish. While I have witnessed firsthand of how Paypal can treat sellers and store owners unfairly, the best advice I can give you is to know what the circumstances are. This is hard to do on the internet as stories on the internet do not give the full details of what transpired for the individual parties. While I do not agree with some of the tactics that paypal employs, paypal is trusted among many online shoppers which some only will pay with paypal. But as long as you are legitimate and not dealing in shady practices, you should not fall in the negative publicity that is posted online.

**FoodSourceDirect** · 5 Aug 2014, 05:17 PM

Originally Posted by stevesh

I've never heard of Mtrex, but I wouldn't let any Internet horror stories about Paypal prevent you from using them. I've never had a problem of any kind with Paypal.

Thank you for the feedback. I did install PayPal Express Checkout yesterday.

AJ

**FoodSourceDirect** · 5 Aug 2014, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by yaritai

I agree with Stevish. While I have witnessed firsthand of how Paypal can treat sellers and store owners unfairly, the best advice I can give you is to know what the circumstances are. This is hard to do on the internet as stories on the internet do not give the full details of what transpired for the individual parties. While I do not agree with some of the tactics that paypal employs, paypal is trusted among many online shoppers which some only will pay with paypal. But as long as you are legitimate and not dealing in shady practices, you should not fall in the negative publicity that is posted online.

Ok. I see your point. I installed it primarily because it's a trusted form of payment. I, myself, have used it for many years to pay for goods and services. I am still going to continue researching other payment options as well.

AJ