Can I charge non-UK customers? You can charge anyone with a UK bank account. Very soon you will be able to charge anyone with an EU bank account.
Source: https://gocardless.com/faq
In any case, this looks like a useful service with or without card processing, and the more "instant" payment alternatives there are to paypal, the better. Also +1 for some innovation on this side of the pond.
We currently accept UK bank-to-bank payments - customers enter their account number and sort code on the checkout page. We'll work on making this clearer on our landing page - thanks for the feedback. We'll be rolling out across Europe in the next few months.
GoCardless is particularly good for subscriptions & regular variable payments, as we're based on the UK direct debit network.
People are really used to buying stuff with a card online, but a direct debit? Not so much. Does anyone have any figures on how GoCardless affects conversion rates?
(I'm aware that it would always be possible to have GoCardless as an option, but that would have its own impact on conversion rates).
So yes, whilst one-off payments are significantly larger, I'd still be wary of a reduced conversion rate through GoCardless. Of course, if I had a very narrow margin, your incredible rates might easily redeem the difference in revenue, but without hard numbers it's difficult to make a business decision.