Barclays or HSBC for e-commerce integration?

MuGeN

MuGeN

MuGeN

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Does anyone have any experience of both of these banks from an e-commerce perspective?

We are setting up a shop and currently it is through Sage Pay on a shared server, but things may change in the future... does it make much difference if we go with HSBC or Barclays?
 
Protx/Sage pay, whatever they're called, are easily the best.

Barclays are crap. Their back-end payment system is shocking, lacking detail and very user unfriendly - especially if the person who's going to be maintaining the website isn't very tech-savvy.

Also if you're going to use Barclays shared service all you can do to the payment page is add a logo, so it's blatantly obvious to the customer they have left your site.

I've never used HSBC so can't comment on them.
 
I can't remember being allowed any personalisation for HSBC. The integration (about 4 years ago now) was a bit unusual too.

I use SagePay these days (server to server).
 
I did a lot of research for my first e-commerce website. I didn't want a tacky go-to-external-site-payment-gateway-thing. I had a look at Barclays MPS, but they don't provide a nice API. You can to subclass their C++ classes etc. I recommend BT Buynet if you want to easily make a fully custom check out. I used this at http://www.paws247.com

Basically, you run their Java client on your server, and your code (PHP etc.) sends an XML string with the payment details via a TCP/IP port to the BT Java client. Then they process it securely and return a result.

The advantage to this is that you can do things like just authorise an amount on a card, and settle later (after despatch or something)... and fully integrate into your system and database. Plus, having fully integrated check out pages guarantees a higher conversion rate. Looks a lot more professional than going to an external site.

The results speak for themselves... in addition to a really good database driven navigation hierarchy system I created, thoughtful UI design, and shopper friendly check out, we achieved a 14% visitor/sales conversion rate - which is VERY high.

Basically, the developer should do the work to remove as many obstacles between the customer and final checkout as possible. External solutions (Protx Worldpay, Paypal etc.) do the opposite.
 
Last edited:
daz said:
Something tells me you don't know anything about Protx/Sagepay :o
Click to expand...


Actually, I do know about Sagepay integration. What I said was: avoid an external solution'.. meaning avoid a checkout page that goes to an external site. BT Buynet also offer an external checkout systems. But I am specifically making a point about sales conversion rates and removing obstacles.

Just offering some advice from someone who has gone through this quite a few time. I hate fanboys.
 
We're just about to start using SagePay Direct, although need to sort out our PCI compliance first.

Don't have anything bad to say about it so far. Although we didnt build the shopping cart, its an Interspire product.
 
Ok, so for now we are going with sagepay and are letting them deal with all the nitty gritty for the time being (chuck the user over to the saegpay server) - so, my question is regarding what involvement the bank needs?

they (hsbc) are saying that i need to set up a merchant account which is £150 admin fee and then £25 per month??

I thought if I was using sagepay it would simply pay into a bank account so whats this gubbins about?
 
No, I dont think SagePay have ever offered merchant services.

Banks have to have special merchant services for your account to settle the cash into.

Basic ecommerce cost setup:

Bank (with merchant services) (Barclays, HSBC)
Payment Service Provider (SagePay, Barclays ePDQ)
Shopping Cart

Services such as WorldPay and PayPal Business will include both merchant services and payment services in one.
 
Hi,

I work for Sage Pay so perhaps I can help. What we provide is the secure transferral of card details through to the banks. It is the banks themselves that actually settle the funds. You will need to set up a Merchant account with the bank of your choice. So essentially you need both working together to be able to process payments online.

However, we have recently teamed up with Bank of Scotland to be able to offer Merchant accounts at very competitive rates. You can find everything you need to know on our website http://www.sagepay.com/bolt_ons.asp#merchant or alternatively just let me know if you have any further questions.

Hope this helps!

Amy
 
She didn't even quote me.. :(

To be fair, SagePay have phenomenal customer service. And I'm talking about proper, call them up, and speak to an English person service. Infact, I've just got off the phone with them after fixing my 3d secure setup.

That said, unfortunately OcUK frown upon things such as this as while the intentions are great there's a link there.. and it's seen as promotion. I would say, I doubt you'd be found in HGP and you can stay with us, but the Vodafone chap in Mobiles was dismissed.

Hopefully you'll stay.
 
Whoops! Didn't mean to be 'promoting'! There's information on our site about how the payment process works in general so whether you use our merchant services or use one of the banks separately, it may be worth a look for anyone who has questions about getting set up. And we always recommend that you shop around when searching for a merchant account as bank rates can differ hugely

Apologies for the forum faux pas!

Amy
 
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