You Need To Know About This Company...

As time goes on, more and more third party merchant accounts (or Independent Payment Service Providers - IPSP's) have cropped up.

There are now some 70+ different companies, and we've looked at quite a lot of those.

We've got numerous accounts set up which we use on our other sites which actually sell products rather than simply being "informational".

Up until March 2004, and ever since we'd researched them 18 months before, we had been recommending 2CheckOut as our top pick.

I still believe they are an excellent company and we've never had any problems. They answer emails quickly. They offer very competitive rates. They are cheap to set up. They pay on time every time. It's childs-play to set up an order form. I still think they're great, and wouldn't hesitate to express a positive response if asked about them. We maintain an account with them ourselves and plan to continue to do so.

Except, we've now topped 2CheckOut.

Yes, please note that last sentence.

We haven't changed our top recommendation because of problems with our previous selection - just that we've found something even better.

And that impressed me. It's taken us 3 months+ of research, difficult questions, experimentation and interviews to change my mind.

But now it's changed, and so I'm pleased to tell you about what I believe is the best third party merchant account bar none.

I said it was an improvement, so let me underline exactly why it's the best...

Well, firstly, most third party merchant accounts pay your profits to you once a month. A few, like 2CheckOut pay you once every two weeks.

Our new recommendation - PaySystems - pay every 7 days.

This means you can get your hands on your profits much sooner and, depending on your personality, either reinvest it to grow your business much faster, or spend, spend, spend!

Before we go any further, let me discuss the other side of finances - how much they charge you for the service they provide.

Like most third party processors, they charge a standard setup fee of around $50, but unlike most others who use a "fixed fee" system, PaySystems have a dedicated underwriting team who examine your personal circumstances (time in business, type of products sold, turnover etc.) and make an offer specially for you.

This does vary somewhat, but the table below compares the standard PaySystems processing fees with those of our two other favourite third party processors...

Clickbank	2CheckOut	PaySystems
$1 + 7.5%	$0.45 + 5.5%	3.95%

What that means is that if we were processing an imaginary sale of $10 through our account, from Clickbank we'd get $8.25 after fees, with 2CheckOut that would increase to $9.00, and with PaySystems we'd keep as much as $9.60 after all the fees.

I'm sure you can see how much profit this would add up to with numerous sales over the course of a month.

PaySystems also has the bonus of having a very powerful shopping cart built into their system, which you get to use free with your account.

You can list your products neatly, allowing customers to add to and take away from their cart. You can offer digital coupons to boost sales. It can calculate shipping fees for you. It can even manage your inventory for you so you can keep an eye on your stocks and make sure you never sell out of a top-selling product. And lastly it integrates fast and seamlessly with your site. Most webmasters we've spoken to have said they've been fully set up in less than an hour the system is so simple.

A special setup "wizard" takes you by the hand, asks you for the information it needs then sets everything up for you. No more technical nightmares!

And yes, you get a secure, industry-standard, order page included to for your customer's total peace of mind. This saves you yet more money.

Uniquely, their way of looking at each case at a time means that they are able to accept a vast array of different merchants, and the chances of you gaining one of these amazing accounts is incredibly high.

You can sell digital products such as ebooks and downloadable software.

You can sell hard goods such as toasters or CDs.

You can sell services if you're a web designer or search engine professional.

You can even run a membership site with the ability to bill your customers recurring fees every week, month, year etc.

If you want to be really clever you can even offer a free trial of your product, and PaySystems will automatically bill the customer if they haven't cancelled the order some time in the future.

It's a great way of giving people a "taster" of your product, and in making it risk-free for your customers, increases response-rates considerably.

There is a very limited number of "restricted" items, which consist almost solely of the things you'd expect - firearms, alcohol, adult services etc.

They do, however, allow accounts to businesses otherwise shunned by most processors such as MLM and network marketing professionals, travel companies and some pharmaceuticals suppliers.

They also accept businesses from just about anywhere on the planet.

The following is a list of countries that they won't do business with. If you live anywhere else, you're OK ;-)

Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, Oman, Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan and Palestine.

For those of you outside the United States it's worth me mentioning that PaySystems is a multi-currency processor.

What that means is that you can choose to accept payments in $US, $CA, Euros or £Sterling. This is yet another feature seldom offered by other merchants, and if your business is "local" (i.e. local web designer, community site, accountant etc. just servicing your local area) then you can accept your local currency to increase sales.

Another unusual feature I liked is that not only are there no monthly minimums (so if you have a quiet month you won't get charged a fee like some processors will try), but PaySystems also have an unlimited processing volume, so if you suddenly have a top month after getting featured in Time magazine or something (OK, we can all dream can't we?!) or more likely a super-affiliate starts promoting you and your sales jump hugely, PaySystems won't put a stop on your account like so many others will.

All this adds up to make PaySystems our new "Top Recommendation" for businesses of just about any size. I myself have spoken to numerous happy customers of theirs, including one guy who does over $10,000 a month through his PaySystems account without any hiccups whatsoever.

And let's be honest, you'd have to trust a merchant to put that much money through them wouldn't you?

I think that's just about the lot.

To visit PaySystems website now and read the full story (and the great feedback from others) click here.