Getting Started

Trading with Protx

Getting Started

To become a fully e-commerce enabled merchant, you will need to take the following steps: set up a website, obtain an Internet merchant account with an acquiring bank, and arrange for a payment gateway such as Protx to process the payments. It is important to get this right in the beginning in order to avoid problems once you are up and running.

Websites

In order to sell your products online, you must first set up a website. You will need to decide whether to host the site yourself, which requires a certain amount of technical knowledge, or whether to find a third party to host it for you. For smaller companies, third party hosting is usually the best solution, since it allows you to concentrate on your business without having to worry about maintaining your servers. Next, you must decide how you'd like your website to look. You may wish to employ a web designer to create the site for you, or you might prefer to use a piece of software, called a shopping cart, which will enable you to create the site yourself. Shopping carts are generally very easy to use, will allow you to do everything from designing the look and feel of your website, to handling stock and shopping transactions. If you are new to setting up websites, Protx will be happy to recommend web hosts, web designers or shopping carts that will meet all your needs.

Banks

The first step towards accepting online transactions is to set up an Internet merchant account with an acquiring bank. An Internet merchant account allows you to accept transactions when the cardholder is not present (such as via the Internet, or in some cases, over the phone). This is a separate account from your business account, and because not all banks are acquiring banks, you can have an Internet merchant account at a different bank from the one where your business account is located.

All the banks have different requirements and fees. What rates you will be charged is dependant upon a number of factors such as the length of time your business has been established, what type of goods you sell and your turnover. Consequently, it is difficult for us to estimate how much this will cost you. However, you will usually be charged a set up fee, a percentage rate for credit card transactions and a flat rate for debit card transactions. Once you have a trading history and have established a relationship with your acquiring bank, you will be able to negotiate these rates.

Protx is an accredited provider of the following acquiring banks:

Lloyds TSB Cardnet 0870 901 7915
Barclays Merchant Services 0800 616161
HSBC 08457 585150
Halifax Bank of Scotland 0383 743734
Natwest Streamline 0800 010 166

Arranging an Internet merchant account with one of these banks will enable you to accept the following card types using Protx: Visa, MasterCard, Switch, Solo, Electron and Delta. If you also wish to accept American Express, you will need to arrange a separate Internet merchant account directly with American Express.

American Express 0800 339911

Should you need further advice about how to approach these banks, Protx will be happy to advise you.

The Payment Gateway

Once you have set up your Internet merchant account, you will need a payment gateway. Payment gateways provide a secure method of linking your website to your acquiring bank for processing payments. It works a bit like a PDQ machine, in that it connects to the bank networks for you, since you cannot do this directly yourself. It can also collect the credit card numbers if you do not wish to pay for an annual website security certificate or add encryption to your site. In addition, it takes care of daily settlement, which is something you would have to do yourself if you ran the software from your own site. You can also check transactions and give refunds via reporting screens which Protx host.


Why Choose Protx?

Protx is the most cost effective payment gateway for the majority of e-commerce merchants. We currently offer two services, depending on the size your business:

Small Business Service: This is priced at a flat rate of £20 per month and includes up to 1,000 transactions per quarter for free. Corporate Payment Service: If you process over 1,000 transactions per quarter, we will charge you 10 pence per transaction, and no other charges.

The minimum transaction level for corporate users is 200 transactions per month, so if your volume falls below that, you will still be charged £20. If your volume remains below 1,000 per quarter, you will be automatically moved over to the small business service in the following quarter.

There are no set up costs, no annual feels, no integration costs, in fact, there are no other costs at all.

As part of the service, Protx offers free integration and support, free integration kits for a variety of platforms, and reports, including bank reconciliation reports. You can also receive free access to VSP Terminal if you sign up for one of the other services.

Protx is able to keep these costs so low because we work on volume model. We have already invested in our payment structure, and it costs us the same amount to maintain this structure whether we process 100 or 100,000 transactions per day. We currently process transactions for well over 1,500 merchants, and this number is rising daily. We are the fastest growing payment gateway in the UK, because we have challenged the traditional pricing structure without compromising on the service you receive.

Applying with Protx: Selecting the Right System

Once you have your Internet merchant account and have decided that Protx is the right payment gateway for you, you will need to complete the application forms. Protx does not refuse any application. Our only requirement is that you have an Internet merchant account with one of the banks listed above.

The Commercial Application Form will ask you to select which of our payment solutions you wish to use: VSP Server, VSP Direct, VSP Form, VSP Terminal or VSP Wallet. The most suitable option for you will depend upon your website set up and your hosting requirements. We suggest that you refer to our website, or alternatively we can provide you with a document entitled "Selecting the right VSP System for your site."

In general, VSP Direct is most suited to companies who wish to retain their own branding during the payment process, taking credit card details and passing them to Protx in the background so that customers are not directed away from their pages. VSP Server is for companies who wish to outsource credit card security to Protx and VSP Form is aimed at merchants who host their servers with a third party or use an off-the-shelf shopping cart. VSP Terminal is useful for companies who take credit card details over the telephone, and VSP Wallet is designed for companies who take micro-payments.

Payment System Features

All the payment solutions Protx offers have the following features:

Real-time Payment: This is a simple card payment and is used by our systems as default. There are two stages to every payment: authorisation and settlement. Authorisation is obtained from the bank in real-time at the time of the transaction. In order for the money from this transaction to get to your bank account, Protx sends a batch settlement file to the bank on a daily basis. It then takes the banks 3 to 4 days to pay this money into your account.

Deferred Payment: When a customer buys a product from your website, you may not have it in stock. Deferred payment allows you to accept the order, without taking any money from your customer's credit card until you are ready to ship the product. In this model, our system will still obtain an authorisation at the time of the transaction, which leaves a 'shadow' on your customer's credit card. This means that, for a certain period of time, those funds are reserved for your transaction and may not be spent on anything else. We will not release this payment for settlement until you tell us to do so.

Pre-Authorisation: This model allows you to check that the credit card is valid and that it has sufficient funds available at the time of the pre-authorisation. You can then settle the payment at a later date. Please note that not all banks support this model.

Repeat Payment: You may wish to use repeat payments if you offer a subscription service, or if you have regular orders from the same customer. Through the reporting screen, you can make a repeat payment against any previous payment without needing the credit card details of your customer. All you will need to make the payment is the original unique transaction code supplied to you by Protx.

If you use repeat payments after pre-authorisation, it works in a similar manner to a deferred payment, except that it does not leave a shadow on the customer's credit card.

Refund: You are also able to process refunds through the reporting screens. You can refund any amount up to, but not exceeding, the original amount of the transaction.

Security

Protx has been audited and approved by APACS, Visa and MasterCard. We are an accredited provider of major UK banks and all our systems use high levels of encryption to transfer sensitive information. We have private lines into the banks to ensure all information is completely secure. Our secure servers are hosted with Globix to provide maximum physical security and uptime. In fact, no one can access the rooms where our servers are located without fingerprint ID. If you would like to assure your customers that their credit card details are safe, you can use the Protx logo on your site and refer them to our website to read about our security measures. You may also wish to add the following paragraph to your website for your customers' reassurance:

We do not store any credit card details or other sensitive information at [insert your web address here]. All transactions are processed by Protx, who use bank-approved software and the highest level of encryption to ensure that your credit card details are kept secure at all times. The Protx certificate may be viewed by clicking on the padlock at the bottom of the payment pages.

Fraud Screening

E-commerce is generally a safe and convenient way to buy and sell goods. However, because transactions occur with the cardholder not present, there is a higher risk of fraud than there would be if the cardholder were present. Currently, under UK law, the merchant is liable for any chargebacks made against them. To help you prevent this, Protx provides the latest banking fraud screen techniques at no extra charge.

AVS: this checks that the postcode and address entered during the transaction match the address of the cardholder. Even if someone has obtained a physical credit card, it is unlikely that they know the cardholder's address.

CVV2: This asks for the three digit PIN number on the reverse of a credit card. This prevents the use of credit card numbers obtained from receipts, or any case where the actual credit card is not present at the time of the transaction.

Protx allows you to set up your own rules for AVS and CVV2 so that you can adjust them to the needs of your business.

Visa and MasterCard have recently introduced schemes to shift the liability of chargebacks from the merchant to the card issuer in the event that a customer denies making a transaction. Protx is fully compliant with Verified by Visa and MasterCard SecureCode. These will be available to Protx customers within the next few months once integration with the banks is complete. We will provide further information about how these schemes work in due course. In the meantime, please see www.visaeu.com for further information.

Should you wish to take further measures, The 3rd Man is a risk management specialist, with many years experience in helping merchants protect against Cardholder Not Present fraud. Protx has partnered with The 3rd Man to provide this service at a competitive rate. For further information, please contact info@the3rdman.co.uk.

Free Support

Protx sales team are happy to answer any commercial questions you might have. We also have a dedicated support team who will be happy to advise you on any technical questions you may have, during and after integration.

The easiest and quickest way to get in touch with us is via e-mail. All e-mails we receive are logged and answered as soon as the relevant adviser becomes available. It also gives our team an opportunity to assess your questions and find the solution without wasting any time. For general questions, contact info@protx.com and for technical queries, contact support@protx.com. Our office is open 7 days a week, 8am-7pm on weekdays, 9am - 5pm at weekends.