@bshep: A bit offtopic, but how has your experience been with PayPal so far?
I'm investigating payment gateways for a SAAS offering (I'm based in Canada), and despite all the negativity surrounding PayPal, it seems to be the easiest way to go. I can't afford to go with Braintree, and I'm not quite sure they even deal with Canadian companies.
You might want to consider Beanstream -- they're based out of Victoria and offer services broadly similar to Braintree (data vault for CCs, etc).
IIRC, it is possible for a Canadian company to use Braintree and other US based payment processors, but you need:
a) A US EIN number
b) A US chequing account
The US chequing account is easy -- you can get that through Harris (www.harrisbank.com). They are actually a subsidiary of BMO, and so are used to opening US accounts for Canadian individuals and companies. You can work with them entirely by mail/e-mail (including the account opening process). I know foreign companies can apply for an EIN -- but it's not something we've done, so I can't speak from experience there.
>I can't afford to go with Braintree, and I'm not quite sure they even deal with Canadian companies.
There's a link (it's an ajaxy modal window or I'd give the link) on their pricing page for people outside of the US. If you don't have a legal US presence "you can work with one of their partners for a merchant account" but you have to be "processing at least 3 million in volume or will meet those thresholds within 12-18 months." So even less of an option.
FWIW I've been quite pleased with PayPal, both standard and "pro." They get a bad rap (somewhat deserved), but for ease of setup and low barriers to entry, they're the best I've found.
For one customer (a music festival) I set up paypal integration for ticket sales three years ago and haven't had to change anything since.
I've also had a good experience with paypal. I've also tried google wallet (much cheaper) but google does not allow for subscriptions which I need for my business.
The only thing with paypal is that if they decide your business is somehow in a legal gray area they will take your paypal balance and you have very little recourse. At least this is what I have always heard in Paypal horror stories.
Have you ever integrated PayPal in a way that requires a PayPal account for purchase (ie: turning the "PayPal account optional" setting off)? How many people bounce when they have to pay with their PayPal account? I was looking into their Adaptive Payments API, but it requires both sender and receiver(s) to have a PayPal account. I'm not sure if that's a good idea.
I'm investigating payment gateways for a SAAS offering (I'm based in Canada), and despite all the negativity surrounding PayPal, it seems to be the easiest way to go. I can't afford to go with Braintree, and I'm not quite sure they even deal with Canadian companies.