Credit card processing

Ruby
1

Sorry this is so far off topic, but there are a lot of smart,
experienced people here.

Anyone have thoughts about using credit card gateways vs. something
like the PayPal merchant solution? It seems like the gateways just
pick your pockets clean. Experiences? Recommendations? It seems
like the PayPal solution might be a little cheaper to start with.

2

On Fri, 2005-12-16 at 05:12 +0900, swill wrote:

Sorry this is so far off topic, but there are a lot of smart,
experienced people here.

Anyone have thoughts about using credit card gateways vs. something
like the PayPal merchant solution? It seems like the gateways just
pick your pockets clean. Experiences? Recommendations? It seems
like the PayPal solution might be a little cheaper to start with.

Nothing but good experiences with authorize.net here.

We’re moving to clearing with a ruby script shortly – I’m building some
integration libraries this week.

Paypal is definitely cheaper to start with – getting a merchant account
is a royal pain in the ass, but very neccesary for a large-scale online
business.

3

On Fri, Dec 16, 2005 at 05:12:39AM +0900, swill wrote:

Sorry this is so far off topic, but there are a lot of smart,
experienced people here.

Anyone have thoughts about using credit card gateways vs. something
like the PayPal merchant solution? It seems like the gateways just
pick your pockets clean. Experiences? Recommendations? It seems
like the PayPal solution might be a little cheaper to start with.

If you’re starting from zero with low-traffic implementation, I’d say
that starting with PayPal, and migrating to a “credit card gateway”
if/when transaction volume starts making PayPal too expensive or not
functional enough, would be the way to go. I maintain a “business” type
PayPal account so I can receive credit card payments just for the
convenience of being able to move money around easily.

Your mileage may vary.

–
Chad P. [ CCD CopyWrite | http://ccd.apotheon.org ]

unix virus: If you’re using a unixlike OS, please forward
this to 20 others and erase your system partition.

4

On 12/15/05, Aredridel [email protected] wrote:

What do you mean by “clearing with a ruby script shortly”? What all
is involved with merchant accounts that makes it a PITA?

Thanks very much for the reply.

5

On Fri, Dec 16, 2005 at 06:45:40AM +0900, swill wrote:

Is your PayPal business account hooked to a personal checking account
of yours or do you have a business bank account (would that be a
merchant account) as well?

It’s connected to a personal checking account.

–
Chad P. [ CCD CopyWrite | http://ccd.apotheon.org ]

unix virus: If you’re using a unixlike OS, please forward
this to 20 others and erase your system partition.

6

On 12/15/05, swill [email protected] wrote:

Sorry this is so far off topic, but there are a lot of smart,
experienced people here.

Anyone have thoughts about using credit card gateways vs. something
like the PayPal merchant solution? It seems like the gateways just
pick your pockets clean. Experiences? Recommendations? It seems
like the PayPal solution might be a little cheaper to start with.

Granted my opinion is biased as I work for a payment processor, but if
you are starting a real business as opposed to a hobby then get
yourself a real merchant account. If it’s a small home based business
then there isn’t anything wrong with Paypal at all. I set my wife up
with a paypal business account and it works great for her.

Spend some time shopping around. Different payment processors are
good in different areas. For example the company I work for
specializes in membership sites and recurring billing, and we don’t
have nearly as many features for shippable products. Authorizenet is
good for shippable products but sucks for recurring billing. Verisign
is pretty good at both but you will pay a lot by the time you get all
the features you want.

You should not pay more than $50 or so setup fee on a merchant
account, and total monthly fees of around $25. A good discount rate
for an internet merchant account is around 2.5%. 2.1% is about the
best you can find, and if you see rates below 2% it’s a lie.

One of the main things to be aware of with any third party billing
company is that you don’t own your customers. Technically the
customer is a customer of the billing company. This is especially
important when in the future you might grow out of a solution like
Paypal, and you find out that you can’t take any of the credit card
info with you. If you run a subscription based site this is a bad
thing. If you sell shippable products it’s not so big of a deal.

And lastly, always read the contract. Most people don’t, and they
should.

Chris

7

On 12/15/05, Chad P. [email protected] wrote:

If you’re starting from zero with low-traffic implementation, I’d say
that starting with PayPal, and migrating to a “credit card gateway”
if/when transaction volume starts making PayPal too expensive or not
functional enough, would be the way to go. I maintain a “business” type
PayPal account so I can receive credit card payments just for the
convenience of being able to move money around easily.

Your mileage may vary.

Is your PayPal business account hooked to a personal checking account
of yours or do you have a business bank account (would that be a
merchant account) as well?

Please pardon my ignorance :O)