A long, long time ago (measured in internet seconds) MyPR chose Payfast as their payment processor. High on the reasons for doing so was that Payfast WAS a local company based in Hout Bay, Cape Town and that they supported subscription payments.
We used to use Payfast for Monthly Subscriptions to our Featured Press Release product.
As a result of good service we also deployed Payfast on our Stratlec Online shop as well as a few other client web sites.
As is inevitable Payfast was then sold/merged/pick your term to become “payfast by network” and then our problems started.
Network made one big change by insisting that all merchants use MFA to access their accounts and gave a deadline. As early adopters and rabid promoters of Payfast we made the change immediately. This led to a small problem as our chosen 2 Factor APP only allowed ONE site. So, in January 2025, we asked Payfast to please temporarily remove the MFA from our merchant account whilst we explored other options.
Every new APP we tried failed to connect to Payfast so we were in a bit of a quandary and, of course, when the Payfast MFA deadline hit we found ourselves LOCKED OUT of our merchant account when trying to access via desktop. The Payfast Mobile APP continued working but, with it’s pared down operational ability, we can just see incoming funds and schedule payouts – nothing else.
Our first request for assistance with this was at the end of January 2025.
Since then we have tried to have this solved via their helpdesk and via their ticketing system – at least 32 times and despite promises and assurances still cannot access the Payfast Desktop APP.
So we then began the search for another payment processor.
Our brief was simple:
- Must have local roots
- Must support recurring subscriptions
- Must have a WordPress Plugin to bolt onto Gravity Forms, WooCommerce and MemberPress.
We have deployed Yoco on the Stratlec Online shop as it has very attractive costs and we already have a Yoco machine for Point of Sale. The only problem is that Yoco do not support recurring subscriptions.
So, disappointment over, we then embarked on a search. Our first attempt – Peach Payments – was a bit of a fail as they say that they support recurring but we fail to see that on our dashboard. Also the support seemed to be a little bit on the ‘iffy’ side.
After looking at a myriad others we ‘found’ Paystack – a Nigerian led payment processor with offices in Cape Town, Lagos, San Francisco, Accra, Dubai, Nairobi and Abidjan.
Paystack was founded in 2015 by Shola Akinlade and Ezra Olubi and acquired by Stripe in 2020 for over $200 million.
At the end of the day which Payment Processor MyPR uses is neither here nor there to our subscribers whereas it is very important to us as it is part of the journey people take with us and, as the first step in our client’s journey, it needs to be seamless and painless.
If you have been considering signing up for MyPR’s Featured Press Release service then give Paystack a bash by signing up here: https://mypr.co.za/save-with-myprs-monthly-flat-fee/
Video: Goodbye Payfast, Hello Paystack
Boilerplate and Editor’s Notes.
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Alan Straton
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