Online Registration Payment Providers
Our Online Registration customers can select the payment provider they wish to use for their transactions. We currently support PayPal and any merchant account that supports the Authorize.net gateway.*
If you are interested in learning more about the cost differences between processing payments with PayPal vs. using a merchant account, please take a look at the following side-by-side comparison.
|
Base transaction rate |
2.9% |
2.3% |
This fee is a percentage of each credit card transaction you process for this provider. PayPal fees may be lower depending on transaction volume. |
|
Per transaction fee |
$.30 |
$.30 |
This is a flat free for each transaction. |
|
Checkout pages on your site |
A few extra steps |
A nicer flow |
The checkout process for PayPal is not quite as smooth as the checkout for a merchant account. The user needs to click a few more times with PayPal. |
|
Monthly Fees |
$0 |
Approx. $25 |
PayPal doesn't have any monthly fees. A merchant account will have a few different fees (statement fee and gateway fee).
Statement fees are usually about $10/month. Gateway fees are usually about $15/month.
Please note that these fees will vary based on the provider of the merchant account.
|
|
Minimum transaction fees |
$0 |
$25/month |
Most merchant accounts require a minimum amount of transaction fees each month. In general terms, this charge only applies in months when you don't have approximately $1100 in online registrations.
Some merchant account providers will waive this charge. |
|
Application/startup fee |
$0 |
$0-$100 |
These charges are often waived. |
|
Virtual Terminal |
$20/month (varies) |
$0 (included) |
With Authorize.net you can process any credit card transactions for your businss using your computer and a browser. PayPal offers this service for an additional charge. |
|
Sliding scale for transaction fees |
2.9% - 1.9% |
None |
PayPal transaction rates are reduced if sales volume in the previous month is greater than $3,000 (2.5%), $10,000 (2.2%) or $100,000 (1.9%). |
|
Customer Service Complaints |
Occasional |
Very seldom |
We've found that PayPal is slightly less reliable than merchant accounts when it comes to sending timely confirmations to customers. The number of issues is very small in either case though. |
|
URL to sign up for an account |
PayPal |
e-OnlineData |
Follow these links to sign up for the account of your choice. In addtional to PayPal, Main Street Sites recommends e-OnlineData. e-Online data is a reputable provider of merchant accounts.
Click here for step-by-step instructions for starting a PayPal account.
Click here for step-by-step instructions for starting a merchant account. |
* Most merchant accounts support the Authorize.net gateway. To be safe, you should confirm that your bank supports the Authorize.net gateway before opening a merchant account for use with Main Street Sites. If you don't already have a merchant account, Main Street Sites recommends
e-OnlineData. We use them ourselves and have been happy with their service.
Non-Cost Factors
Although costs are important, there are other factors you should consider as well. When your site is linked to a merchant account instead of PayPal, the checkout process for parents is streamlined. In other words, PayPal adds several steps to the checkout process that can be cut out when a merchant account is used. In addition, PayPal requires cookies to be enabled for its checkout process to work. If one of your customers has disabled cookies, then he or she won't be able to complete a PayPal checkout process. On the other hand, when your site is linked to an Authorize.net-enabled merchant account, the streamlined checkout process doesn't require cookies.
Cost Breakdown by Provider Type
Figuring out the expected costs for the various options can be a difficult task. We are often asked to help our customers decide which payment processor is the right fit for their business. To help our customers figure out which option is best for them, we have put together the following cost breakdown. Please read all of the assumptions and notes before making any financial decisions based on this model.
Important assumptions and notes:
-
These numbers are calculated per 3-month quarter. Therefore, any monthly fees shown below are multiplied by 3 for this calculation. This was done because most of our customers provide classes on a 10-week semester basis.
-
The merchant account values below do not take into account any monthly transaction fee minimims (typically $25). The model assumes that the minimums are either met each month or waived. If you don't think you'll be meeting the minimum each month, you may want to add an additional $25 to the merchant account number for each of the three months in which you wouldn't meet the minimum.
-
Please note that PayPal transaction fees begin at 2.9% and are only reduced to 2.5% (or lower) if you exceeded $3,000 in sales the in preceding month.
-
Merchant accounts generally have setup fees (as noted above). These fees are not reflected in the grid below.
-
-
Please note: this calculation assumes an average transaction of $160
| Transactions per quarter |
Gross sales |
Fees per transaction |
Total fees |
Fees per transaction |
Total fees |
Fees per transaction |
Fixed amount fees |
Total fees |
| 50 |
$8,000 |
$4.94 |
$247 |
$4.30 |
$215 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$276 |
|
100 |
$16,000 |
$4.94 |
$494 |
$4.30 |
$430 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$476 |
|
150 |
$24,000 |
$4.94 |
$741 |
$4.30 |
$645 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$677 |
|
200 |
$32,000 |
$4.94 |
$988 |
$4.30 |
$860 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$878 |
|
250 |
$40,000 |
$4.94 |
$1,235 |
$4.30 |
$1,075 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$1,079 |
|
300 |
$48,000 |
$4.94 |
$1,482 |
$4.30 |
$1,290 |
$4.01 |
$75 |
$1,279 |
Summary Recommendations
If you are just starting out, we recommend that you go with PayPal. A PayPal account is easy to set up and PayPal costs less than a merchant account when you're just starting.
If you expect to be processsing at least $1500/month on average in online registrations, we recommend that you take a look at Authorize.net and merchant accounts. The costs are competitive with PayPal and the checkout process for parents is streamlined. Also, as your business grows, the processing fees for a merchant account will be lower than the fees for PayPal.