Guys, There's a lot of incorrect information being tossed about here -- but that's understandable because it's a seemingly complicated subject that no one ever seems to explain well enough. That's why I created this page on our site:
http://www.productivityenhancement.com/services/HowMerchantAccountsReallyWork.cfm which still doesn't explain how some parties are comglomerated, what fees may be involved, etc. I'll try to expand on this in the coming weeks. I invite you to read the page I mentioned above, and understand that as long as you are using an Internet gateway that you will always be working through each of the parties I show in that diagram. It's just that some companies may provide more than one service, or may do so through a strategic relationship with another company (like a payment processing company affiliated with an acquiring bank), so you may not think you're dealing with an acquiring bank because "our merchant account handles all that," but there is no such valid statement like that to be made. For example, I know of one company that provides everything you see in that diagram under one roof, but that may not necessarily mean they have the best fees or that their fees are any less complicated. In fact, many times the companies you deal with are just fronts for the same few companies on the back end. Respectfully, Adam Phillip Churvis Member of Team Macromedia http://www.ProductivityEnhancement.com Download Plum and other cool development tools, and get advanced intensive Master-level training: * C# & ASP.NET for ColdFusion Developers * ColdFusion MX Master Class * Advanced Development with CFMX and SQL Server 2000 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ben Rogers" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "CF-Talk" <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2005 4:46 PM Subject: RE: SOT - Ecommerce > > I highly recommend that you find a bank and use the service that they > > provide. If you start with the 3rd party, you of course are going to have > > an additional level of fees. > > By level, you mean that it will be broken down more, not that they will > necessarily cost less, correct? > > > Otherwise, your bank should have a workable > > solution with the service company that they use. > > I've only worked with a couple of dozen companies in this respect, but it's > been my experience that most banks do not offer payment gateways. Those that > do generally have very convoluted solutions that are not very friendly in > shared hosting environments. I much prefer the https based payment gateways > offered by companies like Authorize.Net. > > > They will bundle all of > > the fees into a single rate that you might be able to shop, depending on > > how long your merchant has been in business and the average size of their > > transactions. > > One of the difficulties in determining the best solution is definitely the > convoluted pricing schemes including setup fees, monthly fees, transaction > fees, transaction limits, monthly limits, monthly bases, etc. Not too long > ago, I tried to create a spread sheet of various types of payment solutions. > I came to the conclusion that it couldn't represent it in two dimensions. :) > > Seriously, though, I found that I had much better luck calling companies and > talking to human beings than relying on their Web sites. And I'm a person > who hates talking to sales people. > > Ben Rogers > http://www.c4.net > v.508.240.0051 > f.508.240.0057 > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Find out how CFTicket can increase your company's customer support efficiency by 100% http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=49 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:4:195497 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/4 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:4 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.4 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
