takin payments

im looking for a little advise here.

there is a whole range of people out there that take online payments for example paypal, secpay, protx etc etc

what do people here use, and how do you find there service??

why did you choose them??

what was involved in getting your site linked into there paymants to recieve the payments, how much work was there envolved?

how long did it take to get the account up and running and you recieveing money etc??

any support would be greatfull

I too would like advise in this area... There are whole alot of payment modules out there and no real guidelines on which ones are best suited to what type of business . Each mothod has its pro's and con's. I am certain that other developers like me, have gone through the cycle of researching and trying out a module.... and then moved onto the next after fully realising the pro's and con's, or just simply getting stuck. It would be really good if people could share their experience, that way everyone would not be reinventing the wheel.

here are my experiences, all IMO:

PaypalIPN

pro's

• very few errors to get past whilst implementing
• aimed at smaller stores
• payment notification works well
• particularly suited to stores that will sell a single item (high priced products)

con's

• cannot send details of each order line, instead order is consolidated with a total order amount + vat + shipping
• if the customers browser has a cookie from previous paypal sign-in, then the customer will only see paypal sign in, instead of choice of creditcard/debitcard methods. i.e. they are encouraged/forced to use paypal account over their credit/debit card

Paypal Express Checkout

pro's

• cheap aimed at small - to medium stores
• payment notification works well, better than paypal IPN
• can send individual line items within the invoice.

con's

• not enough customisation of the payment page, except logo
• could look more professional
• slightly more difficult to setup than paypal IPN.
• if the customers browser has a cookie from previous paypal sign-in, then the customer will only see paypal sign in, instead of choice of creditcard/debitcard methods. i.e. they are encouraged/forced to use paypal account over their credit/debit card