After calling PayPal up and discussing everything with them, I blogged about calling PayPal and this was followed by over 100 comments of pure information and discussion.
A company which came up in discussion was PayFast, created by the founder of BidorBuy, Andy Higgins. After visiting the website the other day, they list what you’re able to do with PayFast on the home page, here’s what they report:
What is PayFast?
PayFast is a payments processing service for South Africa similar in offering to PayPal. We make it safe for buyers to send money and easy for sellers to receive money.
For Buyers
- Shop Online without disclosing your financial information
- Pay using EFT with the ease and speed of a Credit Card
- Shop with Confidence online
For Sellers
- No monthly fees! Only per transaction fees
- Accept EFT payments with the ease & speed of credit cards
- No manual reconciliation required to accept EFT payments
- Reduced fraud through effective use of technology
I must admit, the website doesn’t look anything like a source for trust, but after hearing a number of the local bloggers talking about it in good faith, I’ve decided to look a little more into it! I’ve signed up for an account and here’s what I’ve found..
Upon logging into the system, there are a number of links accessible to an account holder: summary of account, profile, security, account info, history, payout and integration! It seems very primitive, but they have stated that they’re in beta phase, so hopefully we’ll see good movement with this.
I’m excited to see the progress of PayFast.
I am very sure that there is a huge market in SA for this. We are a bit isolated when it come to things like this. If it is related to bidorbuy than I am sure there must be some credibility to it. I would suggest they get their certificates from banking institutions ready. Personaly I only use shopping and paying when I feel comfortable in handing over my credit card details.
Rustig, I agree with you, when it comes to making payments online, I would only use a source which is very much well known as well. It’ll be interesting to see though, because PayFast is done by the founder of BidorBuy, which is a very trustworthy source..
I agree if Andy is involved then it could be trustworthy, he already have bobpay but it is only for credit cards and also a escrow service, but my question still is, is it international, if not it is useless, then I stay with alertpay, even national.
Another thing is it ends .co.za so I don’t think international it will be successfull, because with ebay you can’t even use a email addy that end .co.za, and paypal already say we are 419, so for international customers to use it, we will have to see. But as I always say lets stay positive.
Agreed Jacques, I would like to know if the website allows us to easily pass our email address over to someone overseas and have them quickly and easily transfer money – thanks for bringing it up, let’s hope someone in the know comments here.
I also saw the domain extension and worried about it, but I’m sure they’ve got a plan, people are comparing them to PayPal, there’s no way such a comparison could be made if they’ve not got what it takes! That would be like comparing my site to LifeHacker.com – haha, I wish!
Optimism is definitely the way to go!
I’m register on bid or buy forum and did a search there to see if there is anything mention about this, but nothing, I’m also a well known shit stirrer there in the forum, because I stand on my rights, and it help alot with marketing of my own auction website, where I start to do not to bad (stole some good sellers from bob, and offer more features, like a free store) anyway, what do you say must I start a thread there on payfast, I know Andy read from time to time the forum and his operational manager is very active in the forum, maybe we get some more light on the subject, I know many people that will ask alot of questions over there.
the privacy policy is almost identical to that of paypal.
No SSL certificate,
http://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/our_service
https://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/faq
these two pages crack me up. 3 FAQ’s when dealing with other ppls money, cmon u must be abit more savvy if u’ve run bid or buy… i think its a rumour cos these guys seem to have no idea on professionalism. infact, this looks a high school students attempt at phishing
The privacy policy looks 95% like PayPals, doesn’t seem like they’ve hired a lawyer to write their own.
Some of the links don’t work
https://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/privacy-policy.php
They have only 3 FAQ’s when they dealing with other ppls money.
https://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/faq
Rather talented design and usability with their services link https://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/our_service
they do have a Thawte certificate though, and i kinda like the ajax popups on their homepage.
Even if ANYONE from Bidorbuy was involved, i think they wud have SOME sense of business savvy and wudn’t launch a site looking like that!
Honestly, it looks like the work of a high school kids phishing scam.
Hmmm, I was thinking of waiting a little bit and seeing how long it’ll be until they come out of beta phase, because while it’s in beta, I personally would not use it and I’m sure a lot of people are thinking the same thing.
At some point, it’s going to hit the press and let’s hope that’ll be sooner than later!
Well, I kinda like the approach these guys have got. Start it simple and make sure it works, instead of all that flashy stuff that does nothing but flash. I think there’s something here. I registered for an account and can’t wait to see where they take this. They’ve got my vote.
Ye Ron, it looks like it’s going to be a good service, I just think it’s going to take a little time to get it going completely, but I look forward to it :)
Thanks for this post. I’m going to check them out
When is this site going to improve. Its still looks the same as always. They definitely need to improve their design, I am to scared to let them keep my money.
We need something like this in South Africa. Maybe there is to much red tape involved, so SA and all their laws needs to wake up and smell the money.
I’ve also signed up, but haven’t used it yet to sell anything. Has anyone done so. I don’t mind how pretty their site is, just if its effective. Maybe if lots of people start using it, they’ll work on it:)
Only South African users can buy from you, via EFT
http://www.payfast.co.za/c/std/v/faq#pay_usecreditcards
Doesn’t have Credit Card capabilities yet. Oh, well, the search continues :)
Hi Chris (apologies if this is flogging a dead thread….)
Having spent a good while yesterday reading through all of the comments and suggestions on this thread, I am still no closer to identifying the best option for my client.
He wants to set-up a small online store, selling physical items both locally and abroad. His is a small operation, not expecting to do huge volumes or revenues online (at least not initially) and not able to afford the monthly bank fess for a fully-fledged merchant number (even if he could apply – when he enquired, his bank told him that they won’t even consider a merchant application if the account is less than 6 months old and shows positive activity.)
9 months have passed since the last comment was made on this thread, and I was hoping that you (or someone else) might be able to update the opinions of the various providers mentioned in it?
Oops… meant to post here: http://imod.co.za/2008/02/13/i-called-paypalcom-today-from-south-africa-and-asked-wasssup/#comment-3720
Please feel free to move & remove if needed…
I’ve just signed up with Netcash. They’ve got a R500 sign up fee, R150 a month plus transaction fee and no contract.
My only problem is finding a module to talk to the shopp WordPress ecommerce plugin.
Chat with me via my site if you want to know my experiences with them. If anyone here knows php programming and can write the payment module for me, please contact me too :)
This post is not getting as much attention as he paypal one on this site but O just got an email from Payfast about accepting credit cards on their site, I think I’ll build a joomla virtuamart site and use them as payment gateway.
@Haroun – Ah yes, I also got that email, just haven’t had a chance to take a proper read yet..
This is the most exciting news South African website owners have recieved in a long while.
I just signed up for my account. I’m curious to hear if anyone has used it as yet. I know that http://www.atoz.co.za uses this service.
@Llewellyn, I’ve not tried it, but would love to know if you find out..
We have used PayFast now for a number of months on our hosting site and for more than a year on another site and we are very happy with the service the functionality, the no hassle set up and great support. Well done PayFast!
Hi Folks,
I’ve created a Facebook Page so we can all collab in one area easily and round up the troops – http://www.facebook.com/pages/PayPal-South-Africa/388473619362
Come and chat :)
I have just had a look at this site and notice that all the comments are a bit dated. I would like to support a home grown company and will probable join. A comment on Pay Pal. I have been with them for a few years and as a South African money is easy to move both ways if you have an FNB account.