Newbie needs helps in accepting online payments

[RiverBud]

Hello all - this is my first post here and I hope this is the appropiate place for my question.

I am a software developer, but a web newbie. I have developed some software that I am trying to market via the net.

Here is what I am looking for. I currently allow my users to download a trial version of my software from my site. I would also like the ability to allow the users to pay for the full version online. If payment is accepted, then I would like to allow them to access a restricted area of my site to download the full version (or updates). Could the fine folks here give some suggestions on how to set this up?

This is a small niche product, so I don't expect a lot of traffic. Therefore I don't want to spend a lot to get this set up. I HAVE been doing research, but am very confused by the sheer volume of information out there - much directed at large, full fledged commercial operations.

I'm probably just not seeing the forest for the trees - would something like PayPal or the like be all I really need? Thanks in advance for all comments and suggestions!

Bud

PS I have found a GREAT web host in www.akashik.net (just because I'm sucking up doesn't make it any less true ) who has been very helpful with my questions, but by asking here maybe someone else can use the information I get.

[JTY]

I'd suggest checking out a service like http://www.ibill.com/ for the payment acceptance... which can be setup to integrate with a password protected directory for your customers to download the software.

[Mr Chunder]

Or you can be a developer and put a system together yourself - advantage being

1. Show you can do it
2. Customise its functions to work exactly to your business needs.

e.g. You can have your own customer database with a login and when they login, they get access to only the downloads that they paid for etc. Also, you can set it up so that customers are repeat billed for support or upgrades etc.

This whole thing is not difficult to do, just need a scripting language like ASP or PHP, a database - MySQL comes highly recommended, and above all a merchant account to accept credit cards. There's lots of discussion on finding a merchant account around this forum.

Put the lot together so that your merchant should hold your customers credit card details and return you a ref id. DO NOT store credit details in your database since if your database got hacked, your customers will just give you hell.

[Design R]

I'd reccomend setting up a merchant account for online ordering and having a member only section to your site. Once your client has paid for the software, issue them with the password(s) so they can download the software. As Mr Chunder said..."Do not store credit card details" on your database.

[Jaiem]

I agree. It's not hard to setup passwords to areas on your site and then deliver the password if the CC charge goes through.

[paypaldamon]

You might want to check out PayPal subscriptions (recurring billing). This might help you in what you need. Please let me know if I can provide a link with FAQ.

[RiverBud]

Thanks for the many helpful replies.

1) I agree with those that suggest I learn how to do it myself - it is a skill that I need to master in the long run. I do have two problems I must overcome before trying to implement that though:

a. I am good at following directions and figuring things out, but the real tough issue for me is finding the right instructions to follow and what tools I should be looking at. At alashik I have access to MySQL and other tools, but I'm not sure what I should use. Any suggestions are appreciated. Book suggestions are very helpful - I'm an old style book learner.

b. Searching for merchant accounts left my head spinning - most everything seems to be geared toward big merchants with many possible options and features. The setup fees looked to be more than what I would gross in a month.

I am only selling one item and that is software geared towards dedicated whitewater paddlers who are anal enough to track all details of their trips - definitly a niche market . So for right now I am moving to step 2


2) I did some more checking around here and found, not to anyone's surprise here, I'm sure, that this was a rather common question in one form or another. I found one thread particularly helpful since it listed urls of several sites to consider. The link is below.

http://forums.webhostdir.com/showthr...&threadid=1075

MerchantSeek provided the most urls and I checked them all out. I narrowed my list down to 5 providers. Here is a listing of how they compare - setup fee, transaction fee, how much I pay on a $15 transaction, other fees, withheld reserve amount, and other comments:

ClickBank : 49.95 setup fee, 1.00 + 4.5% per transaction (My cost 2.13), Payout fee - 2.50 per check, reserve: 10% w/h for 90 days. Excellent explanations as to what is involved.

Verotel : No setup fee, 15% (on items between 10.00 to 19.99) per transaction (My cost 2.25), no other fees mentioned, reserve: 10% for 6 months. Can also accept checks.

Revecom : 49.00 Setup fee, $1.00 + 3.95% per transaction (My cost 1.59), no other fees mentioned, reserve: 5% for 90 days. Can also accept checks. After 35 days or so your company name appears on customer bills instead of Paycom.

2CheckOut : 49.00 Setup fee, $0.45 + 5.5% per transaction (My cost 1.28), ?No other fees?, Reserve: Amounts over 1000 w/h until next pay period (15 days). Check acceptance "coming soon".

PayPal : Premier acct - No setup fee, $0.30 + 2.9% per transaction (My cost 0.74), Payout fees - Can w/d anytime with PayPal ATM ? 1.00 per use Or 1.5% rebate on charges Else 1.50/check mailed. No reserve w/h on open accounts. Not sure about check acceptance.

So PayPal is by far the least expensive, but doesn't seem to me to be quite the same type of service for some reason. Something about it is a little off-putting. Am I wrong in this?

Otherwise Revecom or 2CheckOut seem to be very good choices.

Any comments on my findings? Also any "Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!" warnings (with flashing lights and flailing robot arms) are greatly appreciated.

Finally, of the sites that didn't make my cut, some clearly weren't aimed at me, but more often I eliminated them when I couldn't find answers to my questions about services or rates easily. If you can think of someplace I should take a second look at, please let me know.

Once again, thanks for all help!

Bud

[avara]

We use 2checkout.com, and have been very happy with them. You can take a look at the order page on our site to see how they work if you want.

[Keighley]

We chose 2checkout based on their support personel.

They customized some backend features for us to cover our services.

Their ability to go the extra mile made the choice clear for us.

Good luck finding a suitable solution.

[Valai]

I use 2checkout too.. they are very professional and getting better by the day..

You can also look at charge.com

Cheers & Good Luck

Balaji

[akashik]

2checkout is a newest darling on the block and is becoming pretty well recommended, though I haven't used them myself. Revecom is still good, even if they tend to be a little quirky at times, while paypal is the easiest solution.

With one product, there's no reason not to use paypal. In fact some people often prefer to pay for things this way. Not being a hosting site there's not much of a need for you to go out of your way to provide a merchant system. As long as it's secure people are generally happy to use whatever you offer. Unless I'm mistaken people don't need to have their own paypal account to use that service anymore?

Of course you're welcome to buzz us at support if you have any questions about getting set up...

Greg Moore

[RiverBud]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I've signed up with 2checkout - it was very high on my list before and the good recommendations made the choice easy. So far I've found it very easy to use and I like the look and feel of the layout.

Once again thanks. I'll be lurking for awhile - this is a good place to learn things.

Bud

[Brad]

Yes, 2checkout.com is one of the best new ones available right now, with international orders it works nice. We just setup a new site the other day for a client on our and they love it.

Can't go wrong, good luck!

**edit your 'customer' shares the same mailing address as you so I edited your post for self promotion...
- moderator

[Curtis Stevens]

Check out this place: www.gotmerchant.com That site should help a lot.

Curtis

[Webbb]

hello!!

i am running an online store. my sales are pretty good now. i am using ccnow, but thir 11% charges are worrying me now.

I am planning to choose 2checkout or paypal.
can anyone tell me what difference i would experience or my client would experience or should i continue with ccnow.com

Is there any other good option.
I need -
less money to be kept as reserve
low interest charges
excellent customer support
very secure and liable payment gateway
must accept all credit cards in all currencies
15 days pay out


What i am relucatant to go for 2checkout is that they have lot of verification process. they can also create problems in between if there are high sales.
and regarding paypal, i dont know whether they can make wire transfers to otehr than US accounts. I dont want to receive large amounts through check

Looking forward for suggestions
John