Debit Card Questions

[Dedios]

Firstly a hi to everyone as it is my first post here.

Now to my question, I am setting up a webshop and I have got most of the site up and running, one of the things I still have to do is determine how my customers will pay, I have spent a lot of time speaking to other shopkeepers about what payment solutions they have and the pros and cons of different methods.

One of the thing things that has really surprised me is that some of them had gripes about debit cards (mainly concerning fees and chargebacks), others where full of praise. This left me slightly concerned as I was getting very different points of view depending on who I spoke to.

What I am really looking for is for people to tell me what the issues are if any and what to look out for? Also can someone point me in the right direction to find out what these charges are.

Sorry if it all seems a bit of a ramble but I suppose I am just looking for a list of pro's and con's for debit cards and some idea of the charges involved.

Best Regards

Jamma

[Webman]

Hi Jamma,

I have worked for and consulted with a large number of e-commerce businesses in the past and although I have never worked alongside the finance departments I would imagine that the fees they have mentioned to you are simply business banking fees as normally debit cards are the least of your worries. Check with your bank to see what the charges will be. If you know what e-commmerce platform you will be using I may be able to go into more detail on this for you.


The main complaint I have had from an e-commerce company has been dealing with fraud transactions. Basically the bank will take the money from the customers card and if this turns out to be a stolen card the money will be taken from you and you will have lost your goods. Therefore many e-tailers I have spoken with now either only deliver to the card registered address or they carry out their own fraud checks before releasing the goods.

Paypal is always an option and is more secure and will mean less admin for you but of course you will be charged a fee by paypal so I guess you need to work out which is the lesser of two evils for you.

Hope this helps and does not confuse things more

[Brian Turner]

Debit cards aren't usually a problem - processing fees are generally cheaper, and the payments are less likely to be contested.

The real problem, as above, is fraudulent use of credit cards, as once the scammer disappears, the credit card company can force you to pay back the transaction even when you've sent the goods.

A combination of common sense and a good payment processor should help.

[Dedios]

Just another question to bolt on has anyone heard of or does use POLi?