Are there any alternatives to Paypal that still have a robust API?

Question

I currently sell a small software program and we use Paypal to handle receiving payment via Credit Cards.

Its fees are really high and some of their policies are a little overreaching.

What alternatives are there that still have a robust API? For example, when we make a sale we have Paypal notify our server when the payment clears so we can send out a persons activation key automatically.

Requirements:

• We must be able to take payment within our own website on our own form. No redirecting to a 3rd parties website to place payment and then come back.
• It must notify our server when a sale goes through so we can automatically send out a license code email. We do this with PayPal currently.
• Must have a reasonable chargeback policy and be willing to work with the sellers on issues.
• It's fees must be less than that of PayPal's. As a small-time developer, I've already paid PayPal $2k in fees. I'd like to cut these costs somewhat.
• Must be trusted by customers. I don't want some obscure money handler that will scare off my customers.

I've heard that one can even get setup to process credit card sales directly and have the charges deposited into a bank account. I'm not sure if this would be ideal or not as I have no experience with it. I would think you would be losing all the nice features most services provide.

So tell me SO, how should I take payment as a small time developer?

Answer 1

• Authorize.net
• Trustcommerce
• Google checkout
• Cybersource
• Protx

these are all good alternatives. I used Authorize.net and it has a similar testing ground for their API. TrustCommerce seems to be good as well. I've heard some good things about protx and Cybersource but I haven't test their API out.

edit:

just found out about this zero cost payment system on techcrunch.com: Noca

Answer 2

In my opinion, people trust Paypal. Personally, when I have to pay in sites that don't support the 'standard' paypal payment, I think it twice.

That is why the only alternative I can suggest is Google Checkout. Google is a well known name. I don't know their fees.

Answer 3

I use the protx API every working day, I'm a senior developer who works for a company that builds and maintains a number of busy ecomm sites. We connect to protx via php cURL, its easy.

Heard great things about cybersource.

Worldpay is good.

Wouldnt touch HSBC.

Answer 4

Take a look at Amazon FPS, I haven't used it yet but am planning to use it on the next project that comes along, and I hear it's got an excellent API.

Answer 5

You should check with your bank. Chase has their own product called Paymentech/Orbital that had an option for recurring transactions and Bank of America has their own merchant services, but I am unsure about the functionality. Lots of banks are doing this now. Keeping all of the services under one roof, and if you are a long-time customer, you are likely to get better rates. Good Luck.

Answer 6

www.paymentexpress.com is very good. Very, very nice API compared to Paypal's weird 'we POST back to you thing and you post back to us'.

All XML.

Edit: never mind, just noticed that you want a push notification from the gateway

Answer 7

I've been investigating pretty much the same thing. I have the additional requirement of needing recurring payments. I found some great resources listed in the book "The Web Startup Success Guide" by Bob Walsh. He lists the following payment solutions. They are:

• Paypal
• Avangate - www.avangate.com
• FastSpring - www.fastspring.com
• iPortis - www.iportis.com
• Zuora - zuora.com
• TrialPay - trialpay.com

I am most impressed with Zuora for my needs although they don't appear to have released yet, so I am doing integration with others. It also looks like Zuora is built on top of Paypal so it won't meet the requirement of being cheaper. It certainly is a good idea to have integrations with more than one payment processor for a number of reasons, especially if you go down the route of using one of these startups.