Question

Topic: E-Marketing

Recurring Online Payment Processor?

Posted by Billd724 on 2/11/2006 at 7:51 AM ET 100 Points
We (are preparing to) offer an online service that will be paid for on a recurring basis -- monthly, quarterly or annually.

As a majority of our current / local clients have told us they'd opt for a 'monthly' option (and simplicity for us is important) I would like to find a company / source that would allow us to accept credit cards online AND re- bill periodically once an account is set up.

We do have a merchant account (MC, Visa, Amex) now but the merchant processing company is not interested in / willing to take billings off a website. And the issue of 'recurring' billings setup was met with even more dismay.

Any suggestions on a company or contact we can talk with to help us find a solution to this situation?

Thanks!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Billd724 on 2/11/2006 at 7:16 PM Author
    Vince --

    Thanks for your input.

    www.2checkout.com is EXHORBITANT in their fee structure and precludes further interest on my part. They make AMEX fees look attractive. Need I say more?

    I'll check out authorize.net . . . they're not revealing their fee structure, but I'd still have to use my merchant processor as well as them. The resulting combination of fees to both companies seems unnecessarily redundant. I'll check it out further but I'd still like to find ONE company that can 'do it all'.

    Still looking, but thankful for your kind input.

    Bill
  • Posted on 2/12/2006 at 3:56 AM Member
    Why not use PayPal www.paypal.com?

    Pat Divilly
  • Posted by Billd724 on 2/12/2006 at 7:52 AM Author
    Pat --

    Good thinking! Actually, I checked into PayPal.

    As I understand it, they require each 'sale' to be formally initiated by the buyer and preferably via a 'shopping cart'. This requires our recurring billing clients to go through a new 'hoop' each month in order to continue or renew their service. (Oh yeah, that's gonna fly!)

    Also, the kind of information that PayPal needs to know about a buyer to make a payment -- even using an AMEX card with 'no limit' -- either irritates or concerns a number of people.

    Personally, I believe that, more than anything, it makes a statement about both the seller and buyer -- not professional enough to have a true merchant account if you're the seller and not financially accomplished enough to have a real credit card if you're a buyer.

    I appreciate that's changing since EBay bought PayPal. But perception lingers and perception is reality. Behavior (of the buying kind) follows reality -- for the better or worse. Pat, I'm very concerned about the perception PayPal would make both about us and the clients we're seeking to attract and retain over time.

    Any other ideas?
  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 2/12/2006 at 10:31 AM Accepted
    Do you have a relationship with your local bank? I currently am talking to my own bank about setting up a merchant account with them. One thing, I do have a long and successful relationship with them. And, they haven't said yes "officially" but I believe it would be worth a phone call.
  • Posted by Billd724 on 2/12/2006 at 11:09 AM Author
    Carrie -- I tend to agree with your sentiments as they reflect what I personally have experienced and hear from many people of means who believe PayPal is problematic.

    Frank -- you may be onto something. My bank does offer merchant processing but I never thought about them for online sales. Odds are good that if they did my billing, I could integrate the billing into my accounting software rather seamlessly, too. Good point. Thank you.

    I'll leave this message 'open' for a bit longer in case a specific provider or reseller can offer a 'direct' solution to our challenge.
  • Posted on 2/13/2006 at 2:17 AM Accepted
    I use PayPal as a merchant a/c and I find them excellent. Any time I have a query their customer service responds within 30 minutes to my email with a real email, not an auto response. As I buyer, I pay a recurring hosting fee every month using PayPal. I made a normal purchase (no shopping cart) just once. I do NOT need to initiate each purchase. Each month when the payment is processed I get an email statement stating the amount of the payment, merchant's name etc.

    I hope this clarifies the issue around initiating the recurring purchase each month.
    Regards
    Pat Divilly
  • Posted on 2/15/2006 at 10:55 AM Member
    Can you give more specifics, volume, dollar amounts, countries I know of a vendor but not sure if they are a match. I will check there requirements.
  • Posted by Billd724 on 2/15/2006 at 3:52 PM Author
    To everyone -- you've been most helpful (as usual!).

    I'll agree to disagree on PayPal, Pat. You're seeing it from the buyers standpoint. The merchant's experience is quite different.

    Based on all your input, we're going to use Authorize.Net and our existing merchant account. Seems like the best of all worlds.

    Your combined input has been most helpful in clarifying our options.

    Thank you!
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