Barclays merchant services low user charge

[ForestGump]

I have been with Barclays merchant services for over 5 years with a PDQ and internet account. The main reason I stay with them is I get next day payment and don't have to wait 56 days as some merchants do.

Until recently I was charged £24 for the PDQ and the internet was free but I had a charge from Worldpay as they are the 'gateway'.
But 8 months ago Barclays introduced a low user charge of £20 a month so now I have to pay £40 plus the PDQ charge of £24 a month as well as the Worldpay charges and that's not including the percent of each transaction charge.

Last month we did over £9,000 in card sales with Barclays taking over £300 in charges but because this month we did no sales they charged us the low user charge. When we spoke to customer services they said even if we did £100,000 sales in one month and none in the next month they would still charge us this low user fee.
Is anyone else getting the same treatment as us? Is there anything else we can do to get these charges taken off.

[Brian Turner]

It sounds like it would be worth considering a new payment gateway, as Barclays are obviously not so focused on the customer experience.

Additionally, Worldpay is one of the most expensive, clunky, and least merchant friendly services out there.

Might be worth exploring setting up a Paypal merchant account instead, and compare how the charges compare.

2c.

[DeniseMckay]

Thank you for the info!

[ForestGump]

Cheers Brian. Would like to know if anyone else is getting this charge too.

[-=seth=-]

its having to pay for the gateways on top which gets me, i was looking at upgrading from nochexs to streamline, but once you take into account the set-up charges, monthly rental and then the % of each transaction it just looks so much less attractive

Nochex has lots of little useabilty problems, paypal just doesnt look professional its screams ebay, the service that the banks and streamline offer are too expensive if youre a small company, its an area thats crying out for a smart entrepreneur to come in and clean up on

[Megahertz]

We've been with Barclays for about 4 years, and we've been on a 28 day settlement deal - Barclays take the money from the customer straight away but hold on to it for a month before passing it to us. I've been trying for ages to get them to remove this and had to lodge a formal complaint before they would even look at it!

I have applied for a PayPal account - at the moment it seems it would be cheaper to go with PayPal - do they normally operate deferred payment?

Like other posters I am nervous about the paypal logos all over my site - surely Barclays would be more professional - even though it seems more expensive at the moment.

[Brian Turner]

Paypal accrues the funds, but you can withdraw at any time - takes about 3-4 working days to clear as with a BACS.

Personally, I think Paypal has become common enough online that most people won't be put off, just so long as they know the transaction is likely to be secure.

2c.