About admin
I am Zaf Rahaman, owner of Forward Multimedia Ltd, a Trinidad based digital agency now in our 14th year. Through my experience acquired on the ground since 2011, I’ve become known as one of the foremost authorities in E-Commerce, especially as it pertains to Trinidad & Tobago.
I began writing blog articles on various topics after observing the lack of online information about local E-Commerce. These articles quickly propelled the Forward Multimedia to the number one position on Google for all major industry keywords, a position consistently held since without challenge.
In 2018 I was an invited panelist in the annual Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum. Also in 2018 I was an invited speaker for the launch of the Virtual Caribbean DNS Entrepreneurship Center (VDECC) an initiative of ICANN- the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, the international body that that coordinates the Domain Name System (DNS) worldwide.
I was also a stakeholder consultant for the Ministry of Trade & Industry’s National E-Commerce Policy which was passed in December 2018, with many of my recommendations making it to the final policy.
Most of all, I love to write AND love to write on everything website and E-Commerce related to help business owners in Trinidad & Tobago get the most out of their online presence.
ALL articles and pages on my site are written by me, in my voice, from the ground up, and for you, from a Trini perspective, using local examples and applications.
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Hi, I am based in Trinidad and my website was built with WIX. Can WI pay or First Atlantic be used?
Sorry, both WiPay and FAC can’t be integrated on their closed system at this time. WiPay has had it as ‘Coming Soon’ for a while now, which I doubt will materialize any time soon.
So there’s this online platform called rev.com where you transcribe videos and you get paid to your PayPal. What I wanna know is if I can link my savings account with RBL to my PayPal so that I can pay myself?
No you can’t, the only bank accounts you can link to is a US bank account.
Hi, great article.The biggest challenge my company has faced are customers who pay at a Lotto booth can change their mind on their way. My personal view is that there is a need for a LINX online payment system. TT debit cards are lagging behind when it comes to eCommerce.
Agreed that the interval leaves room to change mind. The Linx system can’t work like that with its present framework though. Until we get over the USD shortage then banks may resume offering prepaid debit cards.
I have a wordpress website using woocommerce. My business is based in Barbados, Can I use WIPAY?
Yes you can. WIPAY is available in most Caribbean islands and all transactions settle in local currency even if originating from outside.
What about the Ecwid storefront. Can the WiPay API be loaded there?
Yes it can. Ecwid allows for custom gateway integration, they clearly state so: “You can connect your Ecwid store to the necessary payment gateway by building a custom integration with the help of Ecwid Payment API. You can develop the solution yourself or hire someone. Ecwid Customization experts can help you with this task on a paid basis…”
Hi ,I need to know what I have to do to have a paypal ,do I have to apply here
You have to go to PayPal’s website and apply there.
Love what I’m reading about here. To be clear, Can one receive USD earned online from sources such as Amazon affiliates and or the direct sales of a digital product off of one’s website via WiPay?
Sorry, i seemed to have missed this comment over the holidays. The answer is no, WIPAY only settles in TTD so if you sell a digital product through your own website with WIPAY as the payment method, the base currency has to be in TTD. For USD earned from affiliate sources, WIPAY cannot be used as a link to your affiliate account like PayPal as such linking has to be made available by the affiliate company which won’t recognize our tiny indigenous payment company.
Hi Zaf, quick question i have a wix website and a bed and breakfast here in Trinidad, i want to be able to process customers payments when they pay with their credit cards. i am looking at the ecommerce solution from First Atlantic Commerce and also Wipay. Can you tell me if my business model will be suitable with these solutions since my website is a WIX website and also a lot of my bookings come through the channel managers like Booking.com and Expedia.. if my website is not suitable can you advise me further or even create one for me etc,,,Eagerly await your response
Hi. Wix doesn’t support third party gateways except what they have available by default, so FAC and Wipay integration with Wix is out of the question from the get-go. If you want to accept credit cards with either one, you’ll need a supported platform, and the only 2 right now are WordPress and Magento. The next step up for you from Wix would be WordPress. To keep things simple, I would suggest Wipay even if you want to get the ball rolling with FAC as it’s expensive and time consuming. The bookings coming through via Expedia etc. would need some clarification on how it links to the site’s online booking. I have a booking feature on a WordPress site I did with FAC, check it out here: https://www.novelsportstt.com/book-indoor-facility/. Message me privately if you want to discuss further.
This is great! I wonder if this would work on opencart?
Sorry, not on Open Cart platform.
I understand, I will code myself and let you know how it works out.
I prefer to use opencart over magento
Thanks!
I do believe there may be an extension written for Open Cart. Message me.
I have a small business that receives payments/advances for me to do work here in Trinidad from customers who live in the USA, Canada,Germany, England, France, Barbados,Guyana, Grenada. they email me the requests and my next step is to either do the work or/ and receive the money to do the work. This is after quotations have been sent. Because of the nature of my business most of the items has to be purchased either in the states , China, England, which means foreign exchange. We know that problem. I have virtually been pushed out of business by the banking sector and in fact the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago.
I have a paypal account and as of yesterday which is the third time I have spoke to paypal for the week. I have not been able to receive withheld funds from my account, although they said that they would have released the funds yesterday. Each time they spoke to me they said that they were following the guidelines of the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank. And now up comes WIPAY..
Yes I am upset with PAYPAL because they never disclosed the 30 day delay in receiving payments upfront. But I clearly am also cautious about WIPAY.
Anyway my questions to you and WIPAY is:
1 Can I receive payments from my customers in US dollars in my US bank account.
2 How can we be assured that this scenario with WIPAY will not change in the near future.
Hello Mark. Perhaps PayPal holds funds for 30 days before you can withdraw as a measure against possible chargebacks by the cardholder. If immediate funds withdrawal is allowed then they won’t have recourse against chargebacks once you have the funds in your possession.
To answer your questions about WIPAY: You can’t receive USD to your US bank account via WIPAY as WIPAY only links to a T&T bank account. WIPAY is working on separating funds in your WIPAY account denominated in both TTD and USD for USD earned from international sales. There is no assurance for any business to remain a going concern so customers will have to consider their own risk tolerance accordingly.
Hi!
I just came across this website / article and wanted to add my two cents. First I think it’s great news about this WiPay business! I would definitely consider it, but, at the moment, due to lack of time, etc., developing an extension for a joomla website, is not an option for me.
However, what I wanted to mention is I’ve had a PayPal merchant account for years now and I remember in the earlies, I was allowed to sign up for a merchant account, and I had to verify it with my credit / debit card (I used a Republic Bank VTM card), but, then couldn’t link an account to it to withdraw monies to.
As a result I wrote them enquiring about this, and their response was that due to insufficient internet data protection laws (and, I’m guessing, possibly banks in Trinidad and Tobago may not have been permitting it / had not approached them about it), they could not connect to bank accounts in Trinidad and Tobago.
My response was, basically, listen, if there are sufficient data protection laws for you to connect to my (VTM) debit / credit card, withdraw US$1.00 to verify, send me a pin number on my bank statement, and then give me back my US$1.00 when I enter the pin number to verify the account, then there are sufficient data protection laws for you guys to at least allow us to withdraw to our Credit / (VTM) Debit cards.
They couldn’t respond.
Within a month or two, all of a sudden, Trinbagonian Merchants could withdraw paypal funds to their Credit / (VTM) Debit card accounts.
As for the automatic transfer thing, once your card is set up, they do an automatic transfer of all cleared funds once a month. My understanding of the matter is that until you as the seller attains a certain status with them (you have to be paid regularly through them, and your sales have to reach a certain level, and they have to see that your customers hardly ever ask for refunds), you have to wait until the funds clear … that is their protection against the customers asking for refunds … because they also handle the refunds on behalf of the customers.
It is annoying, but, reasonable.
That’s my two cents on this topic.
Hmmm, that’s more like a dollar on the topic and much appreciated:). PayPal is workable as an option but not optimal and still has its place as an additional payment method for those inclined to use it (both merchant and shopper alike). I would still encourage local merchants to make use of our Trini solution as their go-to method even if alongside PayPal. Ideally though I would prefer PayPal not be an available option altogether in the interest of our own E-Commerce ecosystem.
Hi Zaf,
Please get someone good with marketing on board. Buy in is crucial. Here in the Caribbean I have observed you will get tremendous support with lip service. For freelancers such as myself this is a great alternative to paypal and a safe way to receive payment for work done.
Word of mouth is definitely working and one way is getting the buy-in, endorsement and promotion from web designers because of their reach and influence; this article is an example of that. Exposure in the public space is another and there was an article in the Trinidad Guardian back in July titled Start-up out to shake up e-commerce which profiled WIPAY. I’ve been hearing from WIPAY of an imminent public launch all year now but it doesn’t look like it will come off any time soon. Nevertheless, I believe it has the legs to grow organically.
Hello Zaf, trying to get a hold of you on a representative from Wipay so we can start implementing their system onto our website. Do you by chance have a line I can call to get a hold of them, besides the one provided?.
Hi Marc. What platform are you implementing on? They have a WordPress plug-in available for download. Send me an email on details of your implementation and I’ll get them involved if need be.
Hi Zaf,
Does it support subscription payments?
Hi Shem, nice to hear from you. No subscription payments yet, but on their to-do list as a priority.
This is an awesome development! Thanks very much for your review. It has really helped in the understanding of how Wipay works. Thanks again!
No problem, yes awesome development indeed!