Options for merchant/payment solution (end-to-end) for international companies based outside of the US?

Agree - use FastSpring, they're very customer focused and their support is second to none.

Paypal is important to accept as well - especially for consumers - but you'll find you need a full service eCommerce provider like FastSpring (purchase order processing, more professional look, more payment options etc) otherwise you'll be losing a significant amount of sales in the business/edu/government markets.

I'm curious, why not PayPal? Their new open API means that other services are plugging into the platform; creating countless other features and benefits that you won't find elsewhere.

Use paypal. It is the most cost effective way if you want to sell online.

Global Collect has always been referenced as the most ubiquitous and complete international payments solution for non-US markets. http://www.globalcollect.com/

I'm not sure if it's the right answer for Jamaica.

For those who recommended Paypal, you should google "Paypal complaints" before doing so. I had a similar question before starting my business and I chose Paypal. I was destroyed and wished I knew how much trouble they had before I signed up.

Your good intention could really hurt some people's business and consequently, their lives.

I live in Brazil and have been using FastSpring successfully for over a year now. Very easy to integrate and customize. Great support. I'm not sure they have recurring billing, though.

Ive always preferred opening an internet merchant account with a local bank. Most if not all banks over here provide their own payment gateway solution with various API's etc to plug in with. If thats not an option then I would look at PayPal, Amazon etc Most payment processors offer some sort of API to plugin to your cart/application, I cant imagine one that wouldn't.

WorldPay has been in the business for quite a long time, has a nice offering at a reasonable price and is now owned and backed by RBS.

PayPal won't give you the users' credit card numbers and do the recurring billing for you. You may also take a look into Google Checkout and Amazon Payments. They all charge very similar rates. PayPal is probably the best now.

Merchant account is much more hassle and costs. It is reasonable to setup only if you are going to receive a lot of money to the account.

Try Plimus. They offer a typical set of payment options (cards, wire transfer, purchase orders, etc). They also have a nice instant notification feature which will call a page on your website when order is processed (so you can create a user account or send a download link). They also support recurring payments so motnhly billing would be easy. We are using them at the moment.

Spreedly?