Merchant Account

[dSub]

Have you guys noticed the changes on www.ikobo.com?
Guess this means they're not going to let us down and that they'll keep providing money transfer services worldwide (after all that's what made them popular). This is very reassuring since I was a bit worried about their future.

[Alan25r]

Yeah, I really like ikobo's new website design. I guess you are right ... this is very reassuring for us and also something tells me they are going to continue to provide p2p money transfer services and even improve them. Who knows, they could even lower their transfer fees (3% is too much for me ).

[dSub]

Oh come on... how much lower would you like ikobo's fee to be? I mean next you'll be wishing ikobo actually gives YOU money to use their services!
Seriously now, seeing as though they kept their promise and made some important improvements, I wouldn't be surprised if we will see even more good things happening to their money transfer service.

[Alan25r]

Oh come on... how much lower would you like ikobo's fee to be? I mean next you'll be wishing ikobo actually gives YOU money to use their services!

Actually, it would be a very good thing to pay us just to use ikobo's services! Seriously now, has anyone heard of other money transfer companies with a lower transfer fee?

Seriously now, seeing as though they kept their promise and made some important improvements, I wouldn't be surprised if we will see even more good things happening to their money transfer service.

That's what I was trying to say. I was joking with the fees part. I consider 3% to be a acceptable fee but I am looking for seeing more improvements in ikobo's future though. They seem to be on the right track.

[dSub]

Can't say that I know of some other company with fees similar to ikobo, but I could be wrong and there may be some.
About improvements at ikobo... well, I was getting worried they abandoned that idea, but seeing as they are changing their website and making things easier to use I'd say that sometime soon other features will come. Hopefully....

[Alan25r]

I know that paypal has a somewhat similar fees structure as ikobo but unfortunately they have a pretty low coverage. Moreover, I don't think paypal has a similar debit card as ikobo's ikard. I'm not sure about the latter. Can anyone shed some light here please? Thanks.

[Will]

But if I'm not mistaken ikobo doesn't provide merchant accounts any more – so actually if the vendor is in need of the wide coverage he can use ikobo personal services only if he doesn't plan to process many transactions per month.
Otherwise he'll face some problems as there are not so many companies that run well outside USA/Canada.

[kittykat]

I would recommend you to look at companies in the same industry and see what merchant accounts they use. You will be surprised that the same merchant account provider is happy to cooperate with you, too.

[stymiee]

I would recommend you to look at companies in the same industry and see what merchant accounts they use. You will be surprised that the same merchant account provider is happy to cooperate with you, too.
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How do you tell which merchant account they use? They certainly don't advertise that on their website and you can't see it just by using their website.

[number7]

A good way to search for a merchant account is to surf through a number of shopping carts. These typically lists a number of payment processors they are compatible with.

[stymiee]

A good way to search for a merchant account is to surf through a number of shopping carts. These typically lists a number of payment processors they are compatible with.

This technique will not work. Shopping carts are only compatible with gateways and third party processors. They cannot be, and are not, compatible with any true merchant accounts as they must go through a gateway to use one. So this method will only work for third party processors and it is no big secret who the most popular ones of those are. Same goes for gateways.

[number7]

This technique will not work. Shopping carts are only compatible with gateways and third party processors. They cannot be, and are not, compatible with any true merchant accounts as they must go through a gateway to use one. So this method will only work for third party processors and it is no big secret who the most popular ones of those are. Same goes for gateways.

Could you explain what the difference between "merchant account", "gateway" and "third party processor". As I understand:

- Gateway - is a link between your payment application and your bank account.

- Merchant Account - a service which provides solutions (software) for online payments, MOTO, Checking, etc. Merchant Account providers connects you with your bank through gateway and connects your customer with your business

- Third Party processors - a service which manages your funds and connects your business with customers. You do not need bank account, gateway.

Am I right or not ? It would be greate if you correct me with your explanation. Thanks.

[stymiee]

Your definitions seem to be just fine.