
Intro to Processing Online Credit Card Transactions - unfoldedorigami
http://particletree.com/notebook/processing-online-credit-card-transactions/
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zkinion
I've had to setup cc processing for my past business before. Its not that hard
at all and can be done cheaply. You can use curl in php and send all in the
background so that the user doesn't have to see some generic "check out" page
that looks nothing like your site.

The big thing to watch out for is hidden charges, cost of chargebacks (You'll
get a few of them no matter how great your service is, mostly out of "friendly
fraud"), gateway fees, etc.. These costs can rack up really fast and can turn
you upside down. I'd say almost 90% of merchants out there are paying too much
for their processing services.

Finally, go for a dedicated merchant account, not some 3rd party trash thats
basically a reseller. With a dedicated account, you get paid almost right away
into your bank, instead of weekly. Also, a 3rd party biller is many times more
likely to wait until your balance gets high, then terminate your account for
some make believe breach of service, possibly destroying your company in
minutes. Theres very little you can do to stop this, lawsuits take forever,
and even big name billers will do it to you. Be careful.

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naish
Can you outline specific providers to consider and/or avoid?

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zkinion
I used card service international (owned by linkpoint), which had some hidden
charges but wasn't too bad in the end.

That was over 2 years ago. I don't know what is good now. ccbill, epoch, ibill
and many others are all 3rd party and charge sometimes near double digit
discount rates when all the fees are factored in.

