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Question of the Day: What's the most interesting small town you've visited in South Africa?
nelwa
Expert Member
Great! I love to sit at home in my pj's and shop for anything I want...
We really do need a cheap and reliable courier service in SA though...
We really do need a cheap and reliable courier service in SA though...
pkid
Expert Member
It is imminent ;-)
Turiko
Banned
yip, like everything else, imminent for the next 10-15 years.
Interesting that they think there's a "boom" expected. Service in SA in general sucks, how do they expect this boom to happen when service hasn't improved at the traditional level yet.
Then there's that article from a few years back that said eCommerce was a passing fad.
Interesting that they think there's a "boom" expected. Service in SA in general sucks, how do they expect this boom to happen when service hasn't improved at the traditional level yet.
Then there's that article from a few years back that said eCommerce was a passing fad.
nelwa
Expert Member
From personal experience (don't know if this post will get removed, because I mention company names) when you want to build a site that accepts credit card payments, ensure you have a nedbank account.
Nedbank fees: 5% (negotiable) per transaction only
ABSA fees: 5% per transaction with a minimum monthly of R300 + VAT
Don't know the exact fees of the other banks, but they are more expensive than nedbank, but cheaper than absa.
In addition to this, you need a virtual terminal account from somebody like VCS, which costs around 0.5% per transaction, with a monthly minimum of R125 + VAT. You could also get an iVeri setup, but it's WAAYYY more expensive than vcs, and in my experience VCS's system is quite reliable.
In addition to banking charges which could limit your startup ability, you need to sign up with a reliable courier service, which will probably charge you in the region of R75 + VAT per small package per delivery. Kalahari.net and some others can offer cheaper delivery fees as they can guarantee a monthly minimum delivery count in the thousands, which is required by the couriers to qualify for lower prices.
My point is that although I wish it was as simple as dropping bandwidth prices to ensure e-commerce growth, there are lots of other factors most of which are extremely expensive and sometimes unreliable in SA.
Nedbank fees: 5% (negotiable) per transaction only
ABSA fees: 5% per transaction with a minimum monthly of R300 + VAT
Don't know the exact fees of the other banks, but they are more expensive than nedbank, but cheaper than absa.
In addition to this, you need a virtual terminal account from somebody like VCS, which costs around 0.5% per transaction, with a monthly minimum of R125 + VAT. You could also get an iVeri setup, but it's WAAYYY more expensive than vcs, and in my experience VCS's system is quite reliable.
In addition to banking charges which could limit your startup ability, you need to sign up with a reliable courier service, which will probably charge you in the region of R75 + VAT per small package per delivery. Kalahari.net and some others can offer cheaper delivery fees as they can guarantee a monthly minimum delivery count in the thousands, which is required by the couriers to qualify for lower prices.
My point is that although I wish it was as simple as dropping bandwidth prices to ensure e-commerce growth, there are lots of other factors most of which are extremely expensive and sometimes unreliable in SA.
spykoss
Active Member
I love the convenience of online-shopping & banking but when it comes to shopping I hate the fact that I need a credit card. And on that note, no matter how low internet costs are, I'm staying away from online retailers...
Turiko
Banned
Many of us stay away from e-tailers because we've been burned. Even the members of this forum have, to some extent been burnt.
FNB was charging me a monthly minimum of R400.00.
Plus all the fraud its just not worth accepting credit cards.
Then courier companies...
I have had accounts with couple of them and everyone of them has their advantages but I still have not found a good priced company. So far I am happy with my current one but still to expensive...
Anyone used pricetag? They call themselves an ecommerce super merchant. Basically, with them you don't need a merchant account with a bank to accept credit cards. It runs through them.
Set-up fee, once-off R570-00
monthly fee R199
max transaction fee: 5.7%
Looks appealing.
Looking for info if they're reliable. Thanks
Set-up fee, once-off R570-00
monthly fee R199
max transaction fee: 5.7%
Looks appealing.
Looking for info if they're reliable. Thanks
nelwa
Expert Member
Never heard of them before, but it's more expensive than if you do it yourself...just ensure you use nedbank and vcs...
The problem with the banks is unless you're an established business, you have to jump through so many hoops. I understand the rigorous screening for virtual terminals (Speedpoints) but for internet credit card payments where you are using the payment gateway's credit card page, It's just too much.
I remember back in 2002, when I need to accept cards for one of my sites, the banks were so far behind. They approached online retailers like traditional retailers. "you must have R50000 minimum card sales, you mus ... Actually, it's depressing me. Those were dark days. The banks hadn't even committed to Inetrnet Banking.
What about guys like me who accept credit card or EFT? Or if you're in Jhb, Cash on collection?
I tend to surpass that R400 mark in any case, and FNB offered me a start up rate of 4% so I'm happy with them ...