evex wroteMhdskr wroteI've been running an online business in Lebanon for a few years now. I'd be glad to help if you have any questions. DM me.
Hey Mhdskr, I'm new to this forum, I want to start an online business,
I've tried to do payoneer with paypal when it got trending, got locked out of paypal then
tried to signup with atlas stripe, but there was so much fees, $500 setup fees for stripe and >$700 to register a business in Lebanon,
whats the cheapest way to go around this?
Thanks for the help
The cost to register a business is unavoidable if you want to work legally, plus you need to have a business registration in order to get POS and a payment gateway from any bank. Personally, I looked into setting up a payment gateway on my website but haven't done it. Based on what I learned asking a few local banks and financial institutions, the cost for a payment gateway is around 350$ setup fee, 35$ monthly fees, and 3.5%/ transaction, which I found too much for my line of business. That's why I only accept cash on delivery and POS payment on delivery. Based on my experience, most people still prefer these 2 methods and are hesitant to fill their credit card info on a Lebanese website.
Regarding the Paypal account, I'm trying something soon. I'm expecting to get my AMEX card in a week or so, and since AMEX cards here are issued from Bahrain, I think I can create a Paypal account and link it to this card without issues (fingers crossed). I'll try it and can report back if you're interested. The Paypal account will be for my personal use though (ebay and walmart purchases mostly). I'm not planning to accept Paypal payments in Lebanon; what's the point if nobody has it?
One option you may wanna consider is PinPay, which I find interesting. You can start accepting remote payments with little hassle. Their fees is still 3.5%/transaction though if I remember correctly.