Merchant account for Shopify - USA

Hi guys,

I am looking into an alternative to Shopify Payments. Why? Well, we own an LLC in the US and have a business bank account and a street address, however, we are two owners and neither of us is an american citizen and we don't reside in the US. So, as per Shopify Payments TOS, the cannot authenticate our identity for lack of an SSN.

Is anyone in this situation? What merchant account are you using that will accept us as customers?

Thanks!
Daniel

Hi Daniel,

What about just using PayPal?

I'm not a Shopify expert by any means, but I know Shopify offers PayPal. My understanding is that they do also charge a small transaction fee (on top of the PayPal fee) for using it. So perhaps not the most economic option, but it's an easy way to get around your current problem.

Thanks, Mark.

The problem with paypal, besides the higher fee, is that some customers prefer a direct credit card checkout. My plan was to offer different options to cover many preferences (PayPal, Amazon Pay, and a merchant account.)

Every customer is going to have their own likes and dislikes, but I think on average, you may well find more customers preferring to use PayPal's gateway over a standardized checkout. The big thing about PayPal is the trust factor and that plays a big role with a lot of online shoppers.

With PayPal, they aren't so concerned about using their credit card details.

So it doesn't give you the complete flexibility you are wanting in regards to payment options, but I doubt it would actually hurt your chances of converting sales and it's an easy option for you.

Mark, thanks for your comments. I see the flexibility myself (as a consumer.) However, I noticed various comments in the eCommerce industry regarding some lowlights of using PP as your unique payment processor.
I will do it as a last resort, but given the high fees I would prefer a more convenient merchant account.

I have also heard about paypal freezing accounts when/if you have a change in sales behavior, which I don't like at all.

Any experience using other of the merchant accounts available?

I suggest you can use Stripe.

They support credit card payments well.

And if you have a U.S. company, registration is very convenient and the fees are low.

Thanks FashionTIY. But Stripe is actually what is in the backend of Shopify Payments, and they require SSN identification.

I am looking into 2Checkout and Authorize.net as options now. Has anyone used them?

Dan.

I noticed Authorize, the same function and Stripe, but never used.

I've never used either myself, but both have a very solid reputation.

Thanks for all the replies to this.

Adding to the initial arguments of why to use a merchant account besides PayPal, it has come to my attention that PayPal uses to put a hold policy when you start doing volume. This policy goes from 10% for 30 days to crazy stuff like 35% over 180-days rolling period. This is specially possible for drop-shippers.

Has anyone found this challenge with Paypal? It would be great if you can share how you dealt with it.

Happy new year!
Dan.

Hi Dan, yes, that is something that everyone faces with PayPal.

There is no guaranteed way of getting around it, but it can help, at least a little, if you contact PayPal and tell them what you are doing and provide them with a list of your DS suppliers.

The trick to dealing with PayPal, especially early on, is to try and eliminate as many system red flags as you can. You may well be surprised at how helpful they can be when you speak with them about thee types of issues.