Payment charges bigger problem than fraud for 68% of UK online retailers

The high cost associated with payment acceptance charges has become the biggest single pressure point for UK e-commerce, ahead of website technical glitches and card fraud, according to the E-Business Benchmark Report, an annual survey of over 2,000 UK-based internet retailers conducted by payments services provider, Sage Pay.

With payments fraud unexpectedly not making the top spot, the findings suggest that most online businesses are confident that they can keep fraud at bay.

Joe Robey, Sage Pay's in-house Fraud Specialist, said: "The findings demonstrate that payments fraud is no longer the number one concern for online retailers. Merchants are becoming increasingly familiar with the tell tale signs associated with fraudulent activity and, provided they have the right tools and processes in place, they now have the confidence to tackle fraudulent activity and keep card crime at bay."

This report correlates with findings from the British Retail Consortium, as it calls for the UK government to intervene and reduce payment card acceptance fees charged to retailers by the banks. Figures from the BRC show that accepting a payment by debit card costs the retailer four times more than if a customer used cash to pay for a purchase.

The report also identifies that the banks' debit card handling charges have almost doubled in the past five years.

With the cost for face-to-face retailers under scrutiny, it won't be long before e-tailers join the debate.

Sage Pay customer Mark McKenzie from GuitarGuitar.co.uk, the UK's largest dedicated guitar retailer, said: "With online card acceptance fees, how do you know the rates you're paying aren't through the roof compared to your competition? If you already have an established business and are moving online for the first time, your rates should be comparable to what you are paying for face-to-face transactions. You really need to shop around and negotiate to get the best deal. Sage Pay has saved me thousands of pounds in transaction costs."

Other frustrations cited by internet retailers in the E-Business Benchmark Report include losing customers during the checkout process, 3D Secure and payment card industry data compliance. Sage Pay offers payment processing to businesses of all sizes, from small start-ups to established brands and has just hit their 30,000th customer mark with textile designer Celia Birtwell's online store.

In March 2010, Sage Pay carried out a survey among its UK customers, as well as non-customers, with the aim of benchmarking what factors were contributing to above average performance in e-commerce terms. Over 2,000 online businesses contributed to the report. The results of the survey have been incorporated into The E-Business Benchmark Report.

Sage Pay is a division of FTSE 100 business software company Sage. It is the UK's fastest growing independent payment service provider and is one of the most trusted e-commerce brands.