DudeMiester
Regular
I'm developing the IT side (and a lot else) of a new company. I won't say more then that, because we're trying to keep things quiet until we're ready to do a proper beta test. In any case, I need to decide on the mechanism for online transactions, and I'm absolutely lost.
The basic problem is that there are way too many providers out there, some of which are scammers, and no review sites that I can find. I've spent all day googling and searching, but to no avail. If anyone could point out a few high quality review sites that would be fantastic. Personal recommendations are also welcome.
For the website I'm working on, I need to be able to support all the major credit cards, major debit cards (if possible) and major stored credit systems (e.g. PayPal, eCash, eGold, etc...). I also require the ability to do both macro and micro-transactions. Implementation of this can be staggered, stored credit then credit cards then debit, and macro then micro-transactions. I don't need a cart or accounting system, just transactions, so a good API is important. Initial costs should be no more then about $2000, but given the competitiveness of the market this shouldn't be an issue. Ongoing/transaction fees should be as low as possible as always, but I realise that this depends on the nature of your transactions, so I've described that below.
The volume of transactions will of course be low at first, but should (hopefully) ramp up quickly. In these transactions, we act something like an escrow service, accepting payment from the client, holding the funds in trust, and delivering the payment minus our cut to a 3rd party upon completion of the transaction. If the client doesn't do their part then there probably won't be any refund, but if the 3rd party doesn't do their part there probably will be a full refund. The exact nature of this remains to be decided. In any case, these situations will occur with non-negligable frequency, so any fees associated with refunds must be minimised. Our current goal is 1000 such transactions per month with an average of $30 each, so the system must scale to at least that and rate/fee judgements should take that into consideration.
What I know I will be supporting so far:
PayPal
Interac Online (Interac is used more often then cash here in Canada)
Google Checkout (probably)
I realise that for credit cards I will require a merchant account and then a system to actually do the transactions, and there are many people who provide both. However, I'm curious as to how the credit card, merchant account and transaction software interact, so if you know anything feel free to spill it. Again, I'm sure as the company's financial needs evolve and grow, we will likely move through a progression of such accounts and services. If anyone has an idea of what such a roadmap would look like, I would be interested in hearing about it.
I guess my question here is highly specific, and probably not fully answerable in a forum such as this. However, if you know where I should be looking, what I should be reading and who I should be talking to that would be a great help. Plus, maybe I can give you insider access to our future beta test.
The basic problem is that there are way too many providers out there, some of which are scammers, and no review sites that I can find. I've spent all day googling and searching, but to no avail. If anyone could point out a few high quality review sites that would be fantastic. Personal recommendations are also welcome.
For the website I'm working on, I need to be able to support all the major credit cards, major debit cards (if possible) and major stored credit systems (e.g. PayPal, eCash, eGold, etc...). I also require the ability to do both macro and micro-transactions. Implementation of this can be staggered, stored credit then credit cards then debit, and macro then micro-transactions. I don't need a cart or accounting system, just transactions, so a good API is important. Initial costs should be no more then about $2000, but given the competitiveness of the market this shouldn't be an issue. Ongoing/transaction fees should be as low as possible as always, but I realise that this depends on the nature of your transactions, so I've described that below.
The volume of transactions will of course be low at first, but should (hopefully) ramp up quickly. In these transactions, we act something like an escrow service, accepting payment from the client, holding the funds in trust, and delivering the payment minus our cut to a 3rd party upon completion of the transaction. If the client doesn't do their part then there probably won't be any refund, but if the 3rd party doesn't do their part there probably will be a full refund. The exact nature of this remains to be decided. In any case, these situations will occur with non-negligable frequency, so any fees associated with refunds must be minimised. Our current goal is 1000 such transactions per month with an average of $30 each, so the system must scale to at least that and rate/fee judgements should take that into consideration.
What I know I will be supporting so far:
PayPal
Interac Online (Interac is used more often then cash here in Canada)
Google Checkout (probably)
I realise that for credit cards I will require a merchant account and then a system to actually do the transactions, and there are many people who provide both. However, I'm curious as to how the credit card, merchant account and transaction software interact, so if you know anything feel free to spill it. Again, I'm sure as the company's financial needs evolve and grow, we will likely move through a progression of such accounts and services. If anyone has an idea of what such a roadmap would look like, I would be interested in hearing about it.
I guess my question here is highly specific, and probably not fully answerable in a forum such as this. However, if you know where I should be looking, what I should be reading and who I should be talking to that would be a great help. Plus, maybe I can give you insider access to our future beta test.
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