non-usa payment processing

[arcadetown]

Recently we're seeing a larger than usual influx of sales from non north american countries and many questions on how to make a purchase. Apparently credit cards are not so common in other countries and paying by mail/check is a big hassle since users must provide a check made out in us dollars to BMT. Seen some european sites use cell phone based text messaging using metacharge.com for example.

Anyone know of a good payment solution provider for non usa based users? Hopefully one that provides cell phone and other payment options. If any experience good or bad please share if possible.

[shoecake]

Hi,

Never heard of Cellphone payments, unless you mean those premium rate things where you send a text and get charged a fortune?

I'm based in UK, I take payments in Pounds, Euro and US Dollars through SWREG and PayPal. I used to get hastled from people in Germany and other parts of europe where Credit Cards are not so popular for alternative payment methods. It was so uncommon I didnt really take it too seriously but it seems these days PayPal is filling the gap with Bank Transfers, eChecks etc. I now get about 3 sales a week from people making transfers to PayPal by eCheck or Bank Transfer. The only annoying thing is these people usually expect instant delivery just like Credit Cards when it takes about 4 days for their payments to clear.

I would always recomend people accept PayPal as it's very popular method for many of customers.

Cheers,

Paul

[Andy]

@shoecake
Almost all of our customers from Germany are using alternative than Credit Card methods - mostly Invoices and even Wire Transfers (expensive!).
@Brian
When you will switch to (add) RegNow or Plimus please don't forget to let me know! ;)

[patrox]

Recently we're seeing a larger than usual influx of sales from non north american countries and many questions on how to make a purchase. Apparently credit cards are not so common in other countries and paying by mail/check is a big hassle since users must provide a check made out in us dollars to BMT. Seen some european sites use cell phone based text messaging using metacharge.com for example.

Anyone know of a good payment solution provider for non usa based users? Hopefully one that provides cell phone and other payment options. If any experience good or bad please share if possible.

http://www.plimus.com :)

Orders forms in multilanguage, tax friendly for europeans...

pat.

[Jack Norton]

I too recommend plimus. It accepts almost every kind of order, and they said that they'll integrate Paypal orders in near future :)

[arcadetown]

Plimus's multi-currency multi-language support is getting closer. Since few Europeans have credit cards no cigar since instant payment get game fast is where it's at for sales.

Spoke with an Italian author who said instant payments in Europe are done predominantly using PIN numbers and cell phones. Hoping for a good provider of that.

[patrox]

Plimus's multi-currency multi-language support is getting closer. Since few Europeans have credit cards no cigar since instant payment get game fast is where it's at for sales.


Right they don't have credit card but they have "debit cards" also named "blue cards". Credit cards are not very popular, people don't like to live on credits , credit history is a non existing thing here ( well not officially i guess... )

If you have a car you're most likely to have a debit card, ( so much more convenient to put gas ). Most broadband internet providers only let you subscribe to the internet with a debit card only...

plimus also accept checks, wires and phone orders btw.

pat.

[Jack Norton]

Spoke with an Italian author who said instant payments in Europe are done predominantly using PIN numbers and cell phones.
Ah interesting! who is that italian author? I'd like to exchange some info with him too :)

[arcadetown]

Not at liberty to say but interestingly enough someone what just talking about very similar subject here.

http://forums.indiegamer.com/showthread.php?t=257

[raziel]

....

Anyone know of a good payment solution provider for non usa based users? Hopefully one that provides cell phone and other payment options. If any experience good or bad please share if possible.
Well, apart from 2checkout, and moneybookers there's also ikobo. I know this because I'm using it occasionally. It's pretty good for paying and receiving payments from non-US countries (as well as for the US). It's especially popular in Eastern Europe where most of the other processors won't work for God-knows-what reason. It's a suggestion....

[Abscissa]

Right they don't have credit card but they have "debit cards" also named "blue cards". Credit cards are not very popular, people don't like to live on credits , credit history is a non existing thing here ( well not officially i guess... )

If you have a car you're most likely to have a debit card, ( so much more convenient to put gas ). Most broadband internet providers only let you subscribe to the internet with a debit card only...
Unless it's different in Europe, the whole point of debit cards is that they can be used just like a credit card. I buy stuff using my debit card as a credit card all the time, online and in person, and I've never run into any problems.

[ManuelFLara]

I'm from Spain and I have to say micropayments throught the cellphone are really common here. But I talk about 1 or 2 euros, not twenty bucks. It's used mainly to download melodies, logos, little games, etc. It's mostly used by young people, who don't have much money in their pockets or their cellphone's prepayment-loaded cards.

[george]

can these european debit cards be used as credit cards also? here in america, most people's debit cards can also be used as visa credit cards... i've seen authors who offer their customers both american option (like bmt, regsoft, etc.) and a european option like shareit. now that i read this thread, i might do the same. i am not sure if it is worth it though... i get a substantial amount of european/non-american orders and i have never had a problem...

[James C. Smith]

We use PayPal to fill this gap. We don’t rely on PayPal for credit card processing, we do that our self, but we offer PayPal as an alternative for people who don’t have a credit card or simple want to spend the funds they have sitting in their PayPal account or don’t trust their credit card with anyone but PayPal.

[raziel]

can these european debit cards be used as credit cards also? here in america, most people's debit cards can also be used as visa credit cards... i've seen authors who offer their customers both american option (like bmt, regsoft, etc.) and a european option like shareit. now that i read this thread, i might do the same. i am not sure if it is worth it though... i get a substantial amount of european/non-american orders and i have never had a problem...
Well, I use my ikard (it's basically a visa electron debit card sent by ikobo) to buy stuff online as well as at different points of sale like shops gas stations and so on. Don't know if this qualifies as using it as a credit card, but it does the trick for me.

[Nutter2000]

isn't this a really old thread that's been resurrected?

incidently, we have been looking at SMS payment methods (ie thorugh the mobile/cell phone) and it turns out the EU are currently clamping down on it and are restricting it to something like 5 euros max or something like that.

[arcadetown]

Recently saw on runescape.com this sms payment option (screenshot) (http://s1.arcadetown.com/temp/rs_sms.jpg). Also been seeing TV adverts pushing some cell phone animations via sms payment method here in the US. Appears metacharge.com only works in UK. Wonder if there is a company that can provide sms payment option for entire EU or if must make deals for each various region which would be prohibitive.

[Kirk]

Hello! I suppose ikobo could be a good secondary payment option. Sorry that I rush into your forum but I have the same dilemma (that is why I found this forum). So I would like to know your attitude towards ikobo service. Ikobo seems to be a good alternative since it’s fees are almost the lowest while country coverage is wide enough. Also it’s quite free to sign up. Any suggestions?

[terin]

I found SMS payments to be prohibitively expensive, charging service charges of roughly 45-50% or more, depending on countries. I researched this dillema heavily for a company.

Most Euro debit cards are not backed by a major CC company (Visa for instance).

In the UK there is Splashplastic, which wouldn't hurt to add. In other countries, however, you will find that bank transfers are probably the way to go. This means, I believe, you need a euro bank account to recieve transfers to.

Bank Transfers are the most common method that is accessable to nearly everyone.

-Joe

[Winterwolf]

IMHO, it is definitely not worth the hassle to deal with customers that cannot pay via credit card. Handling mail orders, checks is a big hassle, at least for me. It reduces my efficiency as a developer. I think that those few people who cannot pay be cc, if they really like your game, would eventually find a method to purchase it, either buy borrowing a friend's cc or acquiring their own.

[James C. Smith]

@Winterwolf: I agree that handling checks is probably more hassle than it worth but why wouldn’t you accept paypal? It is so simple and allows you to get non-credit card payments.

[Winterwolf]

James, I think you meant paypal..


Well, I haven't really looked into that...and from what I have implemented in my mind (don't really know for sure) paypal isn;t any less of a hassle. I could be wrong? Anybody have any GOOD experiences with Paypal, and notice a greater influx of orders from it?

[Sillysoft]

I have set up paypal to be totally automated - they make a payment and paypal hits my server (using their IPN feature I think it's called) and my server sends out a reg-code to the user. I get lots of paypal orders this way, and the commision on them is significantly better then with the reg service I use.

[ibsta]

Sillysoft, are you saying that you get more sells through paypal than you do with your primary reg service e.g. plimus, regnow, etc?

[gpetersz]

As you might see, I am a freelance artist from Hungary.
I've always stumbled into the problem of receiving/sending payment.
When I wanted a software so badly I used wire transfer but it meant that the software costs not $30 any more but $50 what is quite a difference, so I never bought any game this way. PayPal is not an option for any eastern european (and as an Eastern European "merchant" (freelancer) I've got very bad experience with PayPal), you simply cannot use it.
(and I do not know, as somebody here already asked: why on earth only 45 countries on the PayPal's list?) Ikobo seems great though, so I'll give it a try.

Western Europe has got I think as much potential as the US, only that Europeans fear internet piracy and hackers more (so don't type their card number so willingly), and use other methods to pay.

Eastern Europe is coming up fastly.

I've just read today that last year 250 million dollars was spent on online gaming (like World of Warcraft) in Hungary and it is growing as hell as the DSL bandwith gets cheaper and wider spread. Moreover Hungary has got a population of 10 millions what is not too much but... I think there might be quite a market of the newly joined EU countries as the standard of living and ability to spend money on things like games increasing. Poland gots over 40 millions souls, the Czeh Rep. and Slovakia makes another 8-10 millions, as the Baltic countries. Slovenia has reached the highest (near western) standard of living already.

So I think it is good idea to consider other methods than credit card to gather as much sales as you can. Onecan ignore this but probably not everybody will and the contest is hard. I surely won't ignore. :D

[Sillysoft]

Sillysoft, are you saying that you get more sells through paypal than you do with your primary reg service e.g. plimus, regnow, etc?No, I don't get more sales through paypal then through my reg service. But I do get a lot of paypal orders, and the paypal option is listed underneath my reg service on the payment page. Clearly a lot of people (from 10-40% depending on the month) prefer to use paypal when they can. Thus I am happy with the paypal option I have set up.

[jankoM]

I am from slovenia, and as I see it - very very few people here would use a credit card to pay something online to a foreign country. And there aren't many other options, as gpetersz said PayPal and similar services usually ignore us (I don't mean just slo. here).

I am writing because I am interested in iKobo. I heard about it here for the first time, and it really has bigger span. Does anyone have any experiences with it?

LP, Janko

[arcadetown]

I've just read today that last year 250 million dollars was spent on online gaming (like World of Warcraft) in Hungary and it is growing as hell as the DSL bandwith gets cheaper and wider spread.
When you say this do you mean people spending the money via online payment and if so how since you mentioned it's very difficult to purchase something online?

[gpetersz]

Correctiong my post. 250 million was spent ALLTOGETHER on retail, online, download AND for internet service.... I am sorry, I reread the article in the new and it is this way.

Anyway it is still a growing market.

A new way of payment spreads in Hungary though. If you have a bank account you can order a so called e-account to this, what is a sub-account practically. You can easily fill only the needed amount to this second account, and you have a credit card number associated with it. So you can pay from this sub-account without endangering your "original" account easily.

I already have one. :)

I don't know if this thing is known to other countries.

[SonSon]

A new way of payment spreads in Hungary though. If you have a bank account you can order a so called e-account to this, what is a sub-account practically. You can easily fill only the needed amount to this second account, and you have a credit card number associated with it. So you can pay from this sub-account without endangering your "original" account easily.

This is possible in France too. Don't know for the other european countries, but I guess this is possible across the whole Europe.

[Kirk]

I am writing because I am interested in iKobo. I heard about it here for the first time, and it really has bigger span. Does anyone have any experiences with it?

LP, Janko

I am going to test how ikobo works myself. Now I am waiting for my ikard to arrive as my relative has transferred some funds to the account I created with ikobo. All I know about ikobo from my own experience – it’s free and very easy to sign up :) .

[Kirk]

My ikard has arrived today and I have even withdrawn part of the amount received. I want to say ikobo works in the way described at it’s website. It is really possible to withdraw funds at any Visa ATM with the ikard. Also, while withdrawing I had an option to choose a desired currency (dollars USA or national).

[jankoM]

Kirk, thanks for telling about it, I decidet to order iKobo card very soon.

[raziel]

Sorry guys for being out of the loop, but apparently gmail decided that these notifications were spam... grrr.
So, how are you guys doing? Making any progress with ikobo?
I for one am considering adding it as payment option for a little project I have going on. I'll let you know as things move on!