Payment processors are the most important component of this industry. This week we saw a new entrant into this arena, Regal Pay. Now do we need new payment processors? Yes a good reliable payment processor is always needed.
I have been using Alertpay, Liberty reserve, Solid trust pay, Strict pay and off recently started using Perfectmoney. Of the present lot of payment processors, my most favorite has been Alertpay simply because they are most reliable of the lot. Before I get carried away talking about my favorites let us try and take a peek at what this new processor Regal pay has to offer, and how reliable and usable it can be.
I did signup an account with Regalpay yesterday, only to find that I did not receive a single email either to confirm validity of my email ID or an email with my account details which usually is so expected and is a norm. I had a chat with the support and I was told that there must have been some error with the DNS which would be corrected today. This is not what I would expect form a fully launched payment processors, but I will still give some leeway here since it’s their first week online.
Regalpay like Alertpay has an optional verification and dose not really follow the Know Your Customer Regulations like Solidtrustpay or Strictpay, which requires every customer to verify their information before they can use the account. Comparison to Alertpay is not justified as Regal is just an infant and has long way to go to prove its real merits. For your information you can get account for yourself and start using it right away without verifying, however there will be certain restrictions imposed on the daily, weekly or monthly transaction till all verification is completed. The fees do not vary no matter you are verified or not. Don’t be surprised if you don’t find information on how to get your account verified, because there is no option in your account to upload your documents and neither is it specified on the site. The only information you will find regarding verification is that you would need to contact the support, which is kind of strange and gives you a feeling of something amiss.
Features and services: Regalpay is free to join like any other processor and you can send money for free with fees of 1.5% charged for receiving money. It does offer a unique inbox where in you can send and receive messages form other members and this service is free, so it’s like an inbuilt email account. The difference between a normal and a verified account is not much since the sending and receiving money is unlimited in both, just that the exchange out is limited to $5000 in a normal account. Now that makes me think, having hardly any restriction on a normal account I wonder how many would really verify. Also there is no clause for business account verification if any admin wants to use this processor for his program, so this makes Regalpay kind of a mix between Alertpay and Liberty reserve. At this juncture I would like to remind you that you cannot charge back any of your payments and so please consider this more as Liberty reserve or Perfectmoney kind of payment processor and not a business verified payment processor like Alertpay. So just be sure about the payments you make since they just stayed paid and you cannot revert it back. I personally like the verified payment processors since they give you a better sense of security and there is an option to charge back or ask for refund. The shopping cart interface (SCI) and application process interface (API) are free for use.
Regalpay uses a script designed by Monetary soft, a company which is known for its HYIP scripts. However the first look at Regalpay does remind you so much of Monetary script site not just for the script but the site design and color used is similar too. Regalpay is hosted on dedicated server with DDos protection from Blacklotus. The site does have a SSL certificate registered, however the amount of SSL encryption in bits is not know at this moment. Well such protection for a payment processor is a must no doubt about it. However on second thought a site such as a payment processor should be hacker safe which can be verified by the likes of Macfee and the reliability of the site accredited by BBB certificate or Verisign. Anything short of such verification just makes it all the more difficult to garner the confidence of a common man. I did see that the site has been verified by VFS. VFS network is known to accredit exchangers and payment processors such as Perfect money and Solidtrustpay. This made me curious to find out more about VFS but alas there is hardly any information on the VFS site. I found no detailed information about VFS about their network and the only information I found from my search was that VFS site came into existence only in February 2009 and is probably owned by some Muhammed Majeed. I am really not sure that VFS is any reliable accrediting authority and is pretty much as new as this processor so that aspect of validation from them does not quite impress me. So Regal pay does need better verification like BBB accredition and Verisign which are more reliable and well regarded in the market.
There are few other shortcomings that I noticed in the Regalpay processor. The processor does not have a “About us” page, which I find quite intriguing because most business use that page to introduce themselves to their client, and that very page is not seen here. The terms and conditions are not very well laid out and are quite concise. It lacks few important points about the sites that are not allowed, about actions on money laundering, and about verification process, something I would want to see in a processor.
Regalpay as per the website is registered in Belize, a country in Central America, formerly known as British Honduras. Now why of all the places did they register this processor in an unknown country as this? I am clueless. Also there is no official address yet provided on the site, which is another important point which is necessary to gain the confidence of the investor. Any investor would definitely want to make sure he knows as much possible about the company when he wants to entrust his hard earned money with them so providing details like an official address and telephone numbers are so much important. Missing such important information surely is not in favor of Regalpay.
Also there have been rumors about this new payment processor on forums and sites on the net. It has been a norm for people to be suspicious about new payment processors, especially that 2 payment processors have closed in span of 2 years. There have been few names mentioned and few conclusions drawn but since there are no convincing evidences they are just to be considered as rumors and gossips. However staying informed and safe is never harm, so feel free to feed yourself with all the information you can lay your hands on, which will help you make good choice.
Last but not the least; I just experimented with the site today since I did not receive any confirmation email yesterday. I tried to register another account using the same email id I used yesterday and guess what? I was able to register another account. I was really mortified as how is this possible. There must really be some mistake with the script yet, I would consider this as highly unprofessional on part of the management to start a payment processor without getting such kinks smoothened out in the first place. These shortcomings really don’t help the confidence of the clients and Regalpay has a long and hard journey to cover to prove their real merits as a usable and trustable payment processor. I for sure will wait till they are up and running with all their shortcomings ironed off and proved that they are here to stay before I would entrust them my money. What is your take?
{This was just a bird’s eye view account of this processor and there might have been few points uncovered. I made this review this early on so that my readers just stay better informed and should not be considered as solicitation from OIG. All comments are welcome.}
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