
Ask HN: What's the cheapest ACH payment processor for marketplaces? - apelin
I am trying to figure out the cheapest way to integrate payment processor for the following use case:
User1 pays User2 by $500 1-4 times a month via ACH.
Platform charges subscription fee to User1.<p>I looked at Stripe.
Looks like their only product that can power this is Connect Express which will charge:
0.8% ACH fee
0.25% transaction volume fee
$0.25 transaction fee
$2&#x2F;m to User2
0.15% for direct debit (subscription)<p>This really adds up.
I was wondering if anyone found a cheaper way to do this.
======
m_km
Your best choice would be Dwolla -
[https://www.dwolla.com/pricing/](https://www.dwolla.com/pricing/)

You probably might want to start with the 0.5% Pay as You Go plan and as you
go bigger, you can switch to a fixed-fee model. Once you switch to the other
plans, you will be paying a flat ~$1 per transfer (both sending and
receiving).

Handling fraud and chargebacks for ACH is more complicated compared to
processing payments via cards. You probably should look into this before going
live.

Source - Have built payment flows with ACH and cards for multiple
marketplaces. Not associated with Dwolla at all. Just a happy customer.

EDIT:

Alternatives (that I have not tried) are Synapse -
[https://synapsefi.com/ach](https://synapsefi.com/ach) and Finix
[https://www.finixpayments.com/](https://www.finixpayments.com/)

~~~
apelin
Thanks for this. Thinking about Dwolla, but their onboarding time for Pay as
You Go is 60-90 days.....

~~~
m_km
This ‘on boarding’ process - does it have something to do with Compliance?

~~~
apelin
Yes, it's their application review time.

~~~
bpmilne
Shouldn’t take that long. Drop me a line at b at dwolla.com if you go this
route. Happy to assist.

~~~
apelin
I appreciate it, will do! P.S. great to see you here B ;)

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shoo
What option is cheapest will depend on volume of transaction value you expect
to process. May also depend on how risky the transfers are.

For very low transaction volume your costs to set up the integration in first
place may dominate the total cost, not the per transaction fee.

If you have high transaction volume you could shop around different payment
providers for customised quotes.

For sufficiently high transaction volume it might be cheaper for your business
to internalise some or all of the work to process the payments, but at that
point you would need to be setting up systems to solve many of the problems
that payment processors deal with.

~~~
apelin
We are hoping to cut costs at the beginning where we can, before we reach high
volumes. Dwolla is has interesting offers, but they have long due diligence /
onboarding and approval process (30-60 days) and will lock you into a 2-3 year
contract.

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pbrumm
It may take volume first. But you can negotiate with stripe to get better
rates. You take on more of the risk though.

~~~
apelin
Thanks! That would come down the road. Looking to cut costs at the beginning
:)

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jblake
A few years ago I was using Beanstream and paying $0.25 per transaction, no
percentage points.

~~~
apelin
Thanks, just looked them up, looks like they only support "regular" online
payments for purchases and such.

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smarri
Also take a look at GoCardless

~~~
apelin
Looks like they offer a subscription solution. I didn't see anything on theior
website about marketplace transacations. Thanks for the suggestion.

------
kull
Check Braintree

~~~
apelin
I appreciate it. I spoke with them earlier, they don't support payments in our
industry (real estate).

