

Ask HN: What's the most cost effective payment processor for $1 transactions? - mmaunder

Right now we pay 32 cents fixed cost per transaction and 3% to 4% variable cost through Merchant Warehouse and use Authorize.net as the gateway. We're launching a product with a $1 price tag. Paying 36 cents on the dollar for processing seems excessive. Any suggestions for a cost effective payment processor for low value transactions? Thanks!
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whichdan
[https://www.paypalobjects.com/IntegrationCenter/ic_micropaym...](https://www.paypalobjects.com/IntegrationCenter/ic_micropayments.html)

PayPal Micropayments would be 10c/transaction.

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mmaunder
Thanks. Looks like Amazon FPS is the same price:

<http://aws.amazon.com/fps/#pricing>

I'm not sure either offer the level of integration I'm after which is to store
credit cards using a system like Authorize.net CIM and allow one-click
ordering. Am researching both.

Thanks for the replies all! Much appreciated!

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whichdan
If you want to expose Amazon or PayPal to your customers, anyone with an
account on either respective site could use their previously-stored
credentials to make a payment, which would get you halfway there. I'm not sure
if either offer what you're looking for, but having someone create a PayPal
account could be an easy way to get your service running cheaply and quickly.

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flabbergasted
Have you considered adding bitcoin as a payment option? Seriously, it's nearly
free and easy to manage, even with the rapid price changes. Plus you get extra
attention by adding your store to the growing directory of merchants who
accept bitcoin.

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mmaunder
I love the idea of bitcoin, but it's not mainstream and startups are risky
enough without adopting startup currencies. ;-)

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adrianwaj
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2573096>

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fastspring
I'd look at the microtxn service from PayPal.

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joyce_ampah
I like to meet a hacker that i like to work with

