RE: Credit Cards - Best Practices

[Kevin Barber]

Neal,   It also depends on the company's business structure.   Many online e-tailers will 'pre-auth' a card. Then when the product ships, capture the sale. (or at least that is the 'protocol' for such a business. something about taking people's money before you ship an item is 'frowned' upon.)   If you are selling downloadable software, then you can capture right away.   Kevin -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Bailey, Neal Sent: Monday, March 08, 2004 11:12 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Credit Cards - Best Practices Hello CFers�   I was wondering what are the best practices for credit card processing over the web. Should you pre-authorize a customer�s card during check out and then run a batch transaction at the end of the day? Or should you run the card as a final sale and gather the funds immediately.  Just as I have heard people doing it both ways and I am in the process of converting my cart over to an automatic Card processor API.   What are the pros and cons of both�   Also I have noticed that many shopping carts store their Credit card info in the database. I have a little utility (MS Access) that transfers the customer�s info to my system at home and then deletes all credit card info. This usually runs twice a day. Is there a better way to keep the card info secure?   Thanks Neal Bailey Internet Marketing Manager E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]