I've only done this for websites and I've only done the custom
version (our custom page, access to the gateway via the gateway's
software) but there are usually non-custom options available. In
particular, you can forward the user at the time that they need to
enter their credit card info to a page provided by the gateway. They
will capture the data and run the card, returning the user to your
website. Usually, some customization of their page will be possible.
They capture credit card data, you don't.
I think there is usually an intermediate solution, i.e., your page,
their form (in an iframe or the like).
On a related note, there are more organizations issuing merchant
accounts than there are flies in summer. There are a small number of
actual gateways running out there, I think my research turned up
three enterprise-grade ones the last time I researched this. So you
are choosing someone to price and provide service for your merchant
account and your are choosing the gateway that they use. Might be
good to look at the gateway first, then choose the provider from the
vast array using the gateway you prefer. Cardservice International is
one of the largest merchant account providers, I've used them a
couple of times and both they and the gateway were fine. I don't have
an opinion about the other providers.
Tom
On Dec 23, 2009, at 8:28 AM, Daniel Jalkut wrote:
> Does any of the merchant's account services offer a similar
> convenience to PayPal, where the merchant service provider takes
> responsibility for storing the credit card number of your customer?
>
> That is the biggest issue in my view, when considering a merchant's
> account solution. You'll be taking on new responsibilities with regard
> to storing sensitive customer data, and there is a significant
> liability there.
>
> Daniel
>
> On Dec 23, 2009, at 5:07am, Tom M. Blenko wrote:
>
>>
>> Actually not (lots of moving parts).
>>
>> You get your merchant account (which may be some paperwork, they want
>> to know that you are who you say you are). They provide a library/jar
>> that you can load into your application/website. Maybe a little code
>> to interface theirs to yours, set a few configuration parameters, do
>> some testing, and you're done. They provide instructions for doing
>> all the software integration/configuration/testing.
>>
>> Tom
>>
>> On Dec 21, 2009, at 5:21 PM, Stefan Reitshamer wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone know of a write-up on how to set this up?
>>> I'd like to do it, but it seems like there are a lot of moving
>> parts.
>>>
>>> - Stefan
>>> http://www.haystacksoftware.com
>>>
>>> On Dec 21, 2009, at 10:58 AM, Ryan Britton wrote:
>>>
>>>> A full merchant account setup is fairly cheap and easy, so I'm not
>>>> sure why that hasn't been thrown out there as an option. My rates
>>>> are 2.2% for qualified (i.e., AVS matches) Visa/MasterCard
>>>> transactions, 2.9% unqualified, and American Express/Discover
>>>> slightly higher. These are full merchant accounts tied into the
>>>> Authorize.net gateway and run $15/mo + $0.20 per transaction fixed.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Dec 20, 2009, at 8:19 AM, David wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>
>>>>> I can appreciate that the CEO of Fastspring was attentive enough
>>>>> to respond directly to emails and web postings, but their rate is
>>>>> extremely high IMO. We were paying a net (ie, with fees) 5-6%
>>>>> with a merchant account provider that worked out fine
>>>>> (Cardservice International) and was easy to integrate into our
>>>>> own shopping cart. But I felt that was too high a rate, and
>>>>> switched to the paypal merchant account (which was a tough
>>>>> process to get into, compared to the regular paypal payments
>>>>> processing, but worth it). For November our total fees from them
>>>>> were under 4% so I'm happy with the move as it's saved me several
>>>>> hundred dollars a month.
>>>>>
>>>>> If you're looking at an alternative to Paypal, I'd do your
>>>>> homework as there are many providers around the 4% + fees rates
>>>>> which seems to be a lot cheaper than what you're looking into
>>>>> there, and that can add up quick!
>>>>>
>>>>> --- In [email protected], John Fox <j...@...> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hello:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Just wanted to chime in. Back in 2008, I posted on the list
>>>>>> about having my PayPal account frozen because I withdrew ~$10K
>>>>>> at one time. This happened the morning of Macworld starting,
>>>>>> which was not fun. After getting my account unfrozen, I've not
>>>>>> had any problems, but I have been very nervous.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This past Thursday, I started looking into FastSpring, and have
>>>>>> been blown away by their professionalism and responsiveness.
>>>>>> While they do have direct Aquatic Prime support, you can't add
>>>>>> custom key/value pairs, which is delaying my using them right
>>>>>> away. I have to echo the sentiment that it's worth having
>>>>>> multiple payment processor options. I suspect that in the near
>>>>>> future FastSpring will be my primary with PayPal as the backup.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6
>>>> Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: http://groups.google.com/
>>>> group/macsb-talk
>>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------
>>>
>>> MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6
>>> Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: http://groups.google.com/
>>> group/macsb-talk
>>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> MacSB email guidelines: http://tinyurl.com/2g55d6
> Use MacSB-Talk for off topic messages: http://groups.google.com/
> group/macsb-talk
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
