Pricing in the Payment Service Provider (PSP) industry can be misleading.  While some PSPs appear to offer their services at very low prices, it will soon become apparent that you get what you pay for.  And while some PSPs charge very low fees that reflect their low operational costs, others appear on the surface to offer their services at a low rate, only for the prices to rise steeply if a merchant wants to add anti-fraud features, additional payment methods or additional currencies.

As an independent PSP SecureTrading delivers a high quality service, outstanding technical excellence and all its other standard product features – including all anti-fraud measures – at one fixed annual fee (typically £195 per annum), and processes its merchants’ transactions at a low monthly processing fee (typically 1.5% of settled transactions).  While this pricing may not compare favourably to some other PSP charges on the payment comparison tool, because SecureTrading does not charge additional fees for any product features it can work out more cost effective than other PSPs while delivering a far superior product and service.

Alternatively some PSPs offer excellent starter packages to help you begin trading online. Another independent PSP, SECPay, is a good example. SECPay provide a Starter 10 service that has no set-up fee and only a £10 per month service charge that includes upto 100 transactions, after which each subsequent transaction will be charged at 39p. This competes well with other PSPs and is a low risk route to testing the online market.

The main caveat with PSPs is that no business can afford to sacrifice quality for cost, so make sure you know exactly what you’re paying for before you sign your PSP contract. Always double check that the service meets your minimum requirements and offers overall value for money.