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cdrees
Posts: 42
Joined: 8/4/2004
Status: offline
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Billing Clients - Thoughts? Approaches? - 11/10/2005 17:11:45
Hello Everyone,
It's been awhile since I've posted, so I thought I seek the collective wisdom of the group.
I have a new project (business) that I am assembling, and I'd like some input as to the best way to go. The project involves creating an "umbrella" site that will serve as the main site, and then have a number of "client" sites, that are just a few pages. The main site will be used to get people to the site initially, and from there visitors have the ability to search for providers of services in their area that match what they're looking for.
Each client will have 2-3 pages, and will be able to sign up and fill in most details about what they offer before I begin work on adding them to the site and setting up the little piece of the website. Monthly cost to the client will be small (I'm looking for numbers rather than a huge monthly bill per client).
I will be hosting the site through a hosting company, and won't be housing anything in-house. My question is this:
- Looks like merchant account is the most scalable way to go, although PayPal might be good starting out until money starts coming in.
- What's the easiest way to rebill them?
- Does paypal offer any type of invoice/rebilling (reminder?) functionality?
Thanks again... I look forward to everyone's input.
-Christopher Rees
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coreybryant
Posts: 2479
Joined: 3/17/2002
From: Castle Rock CO USA
Status: offline
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RE: Billing Clients - Thoughts? Approaches? - 11/14/2005 19:49:52
If you are in the United States and will expect to do more than $1,000 a month, a merchant account. Having your own merchant account will give you a bit more control. You will get an electronic payment gateway (LinkPoint, Authorize.net, Verisign) as well. Each gateway has its pros and cons.
The LinkPoint payment gateway is probably one of the strongest out there. It is owned by the First Data Corporation. First Data has been doing electronic money transfers since 1871 and they were the first processor of both VISA® and MasterCard® bank-issued credit cards in 1976. First Data processed 12.2 billion transactions in North America alone in 2003. They do not charge anything extra for transactions or to use their recurring billing module. There is no charge for the virtual terminal, API, or to use their own secure web page to process credit card data.
Authorize.net is probably the most advertised electronic gateway. A lot of people think they can sign up with them and immediately start to accept credit cards. They do not release you need a merchant account as well. Authorize.net even uses the First Data platform to help facilitate transaction processing. They charge extra for their recurring billing and there is a transaction fee of about $.10 on top of what the MAP (merchant account provider) will charge. There is no charge to use the virtual terminal, API, or their own secure web page to capture credit card data.
Verisign also has a payment gateway. Verisign is probably the most recognized name because they also offer other services and products for the internet (i.e. SSL certificates, domain registration, hosting, etc). This gateway is a bit more expensive depending if you want their API or to send users over to their secure web page. They will also give you free transactions as well (500 / 1,000) depending on the service. They also charge extra for the recurring billing.
_____________________________
Corey R. Bryant
Merchant Accounts | Toll Free Numbers | Expression Web Blog
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