Peter wrote:
>> Compounding the horror of these payments is the fact that we have
>> three separate companies with which to deal: BankBoston (our bank),
>> First Data (their card processor), CyberCash (our gateway to First
>> Data). If there is a problem with our merchant account,
One of our clients has been dealing with this end of their project. It has
been a nightmare for them, compounded by the fact that they have two
separate sites, identical except that each uses a different ecommerce set
up. Fortunately for me, I've managed to stay distant enough from the
problems that I can't give you all the gory details. I only know enough to
advise you that if you have an ecommerce project coming up, quote HIGH.
The original plan was to have one site link to ViaWeb. At the last minute,
ViaWeb announced that CyberCash was falling apart and that they would no
longer accept clients using CyberCash. The client had signed with Card
Services International, which had told them that they had to use CyberCash.
I think they finally broke their contract with CyberCash and eventually
abandoned ViaWeb also.
That version of the site eventually ended up linked to Americart, but I'm
not sure what they replaced CyberCash with. They have been very satisfied
with Americart. IMHO it's not the prettiest interface in the world, but it
works, they're happy, so I haven't stretched their budget any thinner to
work on customizing it.
The other site was created as part of a marketing deal with the company
that owns WebRing. WebRing has a licensing agreement with MerchantPlanet.
The deal provides banners on WebRing's Next Five pages and in compensation
for banners, WebRing's owners supposedly getting something like a 10% sales
commission (in addition to Merchant Planet and the credit card processing
fees). That arrangement has been a fiasco from the get-go. First, it made
the client crazy that it took several extra days to get the MerchantPlanet
links operational because the person who needed to deal with problems was
out of town. They've also noticed that their banners get moved around
without their being consulted, and that WebRing has gone down and stayed
down over one or two weekends. Also, the client originally was promised
some kind of large "billboard" ads instead of simple banners, but the
WebRing people still haven't gotten their act together on that.
The click-through rate on the banners has been exceptionally high (as high
as 6%), sending thousands of users to the site in the month or more that
the site has been online. However, there have been only TWO sales. At the
same time, there has been a steady trickle of sales from the other version
of the site, which has been promoted *only* with press releases. The people
at WebRing keep finding fault with our web site, suggesting additions and
changes. The client doesn't take criticisms too seriously since the other
version of the site is generating sales. Our thinking is that WebRing is
delivering thousands of users, but few visitors in a serious shopping mood.
Personally, I think that the WebRing/MerchantPlanet connection has been a
colossal waste of time.
Suz
Suzanne Stephens, Dave Stephens Design; Ashland, Oregon
541-552-1190, 541-1192 http://www.KickassDesign.com/
CyberCircus Grand Prize Winners http://www.thecybercircus.com/
Web Page Design for Designers: http://www.wpdfd.com/wpdres.htm
Clip Art: http://www.freeimages.com/artists/
Tender Loving Care Interactive DVD movie: http://tenderlovingcare.cc/
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