Over the past year my impression of Media Temple has gone from a pedastal atop other hosting companies to a half-reliable also-ran whose tech support I dread to contact because I know if my question is in any way complex, and mine invariably are, I just get copy and paste answers asking for more info. Like the intermittent fault where uploads were not saved or the site whose files go missing for 5 minute spells and then reappear again, while working fine on other hosting providers.

The final straw showed up in a support ticket today (after several responses in the same support ticket) while working on a project with a company whose sites are still with Media Temple:

By the way, the clause they refer to isn’t on the page they refer to – you have to click on a link to a sub page and read through about 5 paragraphs before you actually find the clause I think they are referring to.

So the work I was meant to complete today is held up until the director gets back from her weekend away to fax a copy of her passport to them.

Thanks Media Temple, you were ok before you got too many customers.

Where have I heard that before?

I have recently been looking at the payment processing options for two projects which will be based in New Zealand.

In both cases, the client will be organising a merchant account with a bank, so it is a matter of connecting those up with an online payment processing service. Here are the ones I have been actively considering:

SecurePayTech

SecurePayTech seems a relatively well established service. I created a Silverstripe payment module for it last year without any issues and has a decent API which allows for integration via SOAP or HTTPS post. SecurePayTech is also a wholly owned subsidiary of Digiweb. I guess that means they are a bit more established then…

www.securepaytech.com

Pricing:

Set-up fee: $30.00 + GST

Black Marks:

• No multi-currency processing (NZD only)

PayStation

PayStation seems like a decent option. Their website has plenty of detailed information on their service and what is needed to get set up etc. Their pricing is quite competitive and is kind to businesses with low transaction volumes but with a very competitive per transaction cost. Good code examples and documentation also.

www.paystation.co.nz

Pricing:

Set-up fee: $200.00 + GST

Black Marks:

• Haven’t had fantastic responses to my queries with them, concerned just how well established they are

Payment Express (DPS)

The DPS service from Payments Express seems to be the most well known Kiwi payments processing solution and is in use on a lot of high profile websites. There is plenty of supporting documentation, test accounts are available etc. As it is the most established, there are also lots of existing payments modules for shopping carts etc.

www.paymentexpress.com

Pricing:

Set-up fee: see table

Black Marks:

• A lot more expensive than the others at lower volumes
• Higest setup fees

Honourable Mentions

Paymex

Paymex is a slightly different animal in it as a payment processing service and combined Merchant account.

www.paymex.co.nz

Pricing:

Set-up fee: free

Black Marks:

• No multi-currency processing (NZD only)
• Per transaction and monthly transaction limits
• Charges appear on customer statements as “Paymex Ltd” – could cause confusion
• Hosted integration method only