eWay shakes up bank-dominated online e-commerce systems

DOING e-commerce the ‘eWAY' is getting many Australian retailers, new to online transactions, up and running in a fraction of the time it has been taking under traditional banking systems.

Matt Bullock, founder and CEO of eWAY, with some of the awards the e-commerce system has won.

Matt Bullock, CEO of eWAY, said his system has drastically reduced the timeframe for Australian merchants to get up and running to accept payments online, down from typically weeks or even months to just days.  He said it removed a significant barrier for many retailers who had shied away from transacting business on the Internet.

"A massive 72 percent of Australian business still don't take payments online," eWAY founder Mr Bullock said, quoting digital economy research by the Federal Government.

"eWAY Merchant Services solves this problem, by removing the complexity of the bank set up and offering businesses a turn-key solution to selling online fast."

Dealing with the major banks has been a stumbling block to businesses attempting to set up a merchant services account, often involving multiple conversations and much paperwork, he said.

Four weeks or more until approval was not uncommon.  eWAY Merchant Services streamlines the process to as little as four days from the time the website is ready, and there is no need to speak to a bank.

"Business owners tend to be time-poor.  eWAY Merchant Services takes the pain and time out of having to talk to the bank," Mr Bullock said. 

"We're not dragging them kicking and screaming, it's a very smooth, one-stop process.  This is perfect for startups, making it faster and easier to get setup to process transactions online."

Importantly for local retailers, eWAY offers local round-the-clock support by phone, email, live chat, and social media, and requires no term contract. 

He said eWAY supported various gateways, including recurring, token and shared.  "And eWAY doesn't redirect consumers away from your company's website," Mr Bullock said.

He said eWAY plans to reduce the setup process even further, to just hours, in the next year. 

Eventually, Mr Bullock hopes to provide near-instantaneous approval provisionally with detailed processing coming afterward.

Australian-developed eWAY is now a global online payment provider with operations in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Singapore.

The company focuses on customer service and innovation, with more than 13,500 clients processing more than $300 million each month.

www.eway.com.au

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