For example: "Credit card" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_card "Bankcard 101" http://www.npc.net/merchant/bankcard101.htm "Payment Services Glossary" http://www.verisign.com/products-services/payment-processing/glossary.html "What are Interchange Fees" http://www.vantagecard.com/lessons/lesson12.html "How it Works" http://usa.visa.com/business/accepting_visa/new_acceptance/how_it_works.html?it=l2|/business/accepting_visa/new_acceptance/index%2Ehtml|How%20It%20Works
["Level II" and "Level III" processing: http://www.gotmerchant.com/payment_services/level3/ ]
This is ridiculously complex. Some of this is for legal/regulatory reasons. For example, anti-trust laws in the U.S. prevent a processor from also provinding gateway services. In practice, this means that often a processor owns a separate company that provides gateway services (for example, First Data, a processor, owns CardService International, which provides gateway services). Also there has historically been strong sentiment, if not actual law, against banks participating in various kinds of commerce (the Glass-Steagall act was aimed specifically at investment banking, and in any event it was repealled in 1999 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act).
Start with figuring out what software you are going to use to run your web site and your accounting. Don't start with what your bank is.
With regard to comparing the sizes of gateways and processing networks, you need to be clear whether they are counting merchants, the number of transactions, the total monetary value of the transactions, and whether they count both internet and non-internet transactions.
Corey Bryant (and Russell Gottlich)
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/
John Conde ("stymiee")
co-founder of http://www.jnawebservices.com/
several articles including:
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/money-where-mouse-is-gateways
http://www.platinax.co.uk/about/contributors/john-conde/
Curtis Stevens
http://gotmerchant.net
Chris West
CEO of http://cdgcommerce.com
You also want to google in http://www.webhostingtalk.com and http://www.sitepoint.com/
http://www.transactionworld.com/ often has informative articles; for example http://www.transactionworld.com/articles/2003/august/coverstory.asp has some interesting history.
http://www.greensheet.com/ also follows the industry.
http://www.merchantseek.com/merchant_account_comparison.htm
big comparison table
run by Jim Conley who works for ECHO.
UPDATE 2007: now owned and run by thompsonmerchant.com
http://www.mgoldmine.com/
cheesy looking
a "maculator" automatic comparison
domain owned by Ray Cruz
same content at: http://www.cardsettle.com/MG_main4payment_solutions.htm
http://www.comparemaps.com/
another Corey and Russell site.
links to http://www.getauthorize.net/ (owned by lightbridge.com)
$20/month for recurring: http://www.getauthorize.net/recurring_billing.asp
see also http://www.comparegateways.com/ also owned by them
http://www.cardbridge.com/
bidding site where MSPs bid for your business
"CardBridge has four partners for each of our risk categories."
"We keep our partners identities confidential to insure your privacy and maintained." huh?
[There is a distinction between "front-end" processors, which provide authorization and settlement to merchant banks, and "back-end" processors which actually move the money from the issuing bank, and also interface with the Fed.]
[each bank participates in only one? why is compatibility dictated by the acquiring bank, not the issuing bank?]
These are the ones that facilitate the transactions between issuing banks and acquiring banks: the "Inter Bank Exchange" (Interchange).
Some pages listing processing networks: http://www.mainstreetsoftworks.com/p/12.html http://www.911software.com/Processors.htm http://www.aircharge.com/account_comp.htm http://www.icverify.com/webauth/networks.asp http://www.radiantsystems.com/industry/hospitality/tsr/pos_edc.htm http://www.gosoftware.com/products/pccharge_certs.htm http://www.acesystems.biz/html/with_credit_card.html
These hook up directly to the processing networks, bypassing any gateway. They basically do the same thing a dedicated swiper (Verifone, Hypercom) would do. You might think that this would be fertile territory for open source, but it so far hasn't been. The payment processors want any software or device that talks to their network to be certified, which is not unreasonable. Any terminal (such as made by Verifone, etc.) also has to be certified for every network it talks to. Allegedly in some cases payment processors and won't give you specs to their protocols except under NDA; I don't know if that is true.
The protocols have names like FDR-7 (for "First Data").
"PC Charge Pro" (Verifone/GO Software)
"IC Verify" (CyberCash/Verisign).
Interesting docs: http://www.icverify.com/files/webauthbankguide.pdf
Owned by First Data. (CyberCash split when Verisign bought it?)
still alive? First Data also owns Linkpoint
also: WebAuthorize (MacAuthorize and PCAuthorize are cancelled in 2001, along with unix variants of ICVerify)
WebAuthorize is windows-only
http://www.911software.com/CreditLine.htm
software for embedding in POS systems.
Monetra (previously MCVE) from http://www.mainstreetsoftworks.com
they claim (probably correctly) to currently be the only such solution for unix
note that they require cryptographically signed modules: http://www.mainstreetsoftworks.com/f/14.html
PowerPay (http://www.powerpay.biz/solution_ecom.htm) is an ISO/MSP that offers merchant accounts specifically for Monetra
Super-Charge http://www.super-charge.com/products_se_internet.htm
CCVS ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/ccvs/
closed source, HKS (Hell's Kitchen Systems) acquired by RedHat in 2000, who have basically killed it. no work since 2000.
"Red Hat has decided to discontinue its support of the CCVS credit card payment processing software" http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/ccvs/
OpenCCVS ftp://ftp.psychosis.com/OpenCCVS/
seems as dead as CCVS http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=00/10/02/0049223&mode=thread
FDR7
FLAPCard http://www.underflap.com/ec/creditcard.html
no work since 2002?
http://www.redplc.com/red145.asp
software or service?
http://www.protobase.com/products.htm
says windows or unix
http://www.cashcow.dk/
LGPL open source for one payment processor in Denmark (PBS)
CISP - validation for merchants and service providers (anyone manipulating credit cards).
assessed by independent companies such as Ambiron
(Cardholder Information Security Program)
http://www.visa.com/cisp/
PCI - guidelines
PABP - Visa voluntary validation for software vendors
(Payment Application Best Practices)
http://usa.visa.com/download/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk_management/cisp_Payment_Application_Best_Practices.pdf
C = CISP certification (Visa)
Z = zen-cart support
R = free recurring support
r = pay recurring support
to add: setup/cancellation/monthly/txn charges; fraud features
ZR iTransact
CZr Authorize.net
CZr Verisign
CZR eProcessingNetwork (docs for recurring support is hard to come by). authorize.net emulation.
CZ? Plug n' Pay (QuickBooks integration. limited recurring support.)
C ? Shift4
Z? Paradata
C ? Cybersource
http://usa.visa.com/download/business/accepting_visa/ops_risk_management/cisp_List_of_CISP_Compliant_Service_Providers.pdf
list of CISP-certified providers
parameters:
support by OS shopping carts (zc, osc, interchange, Business::OnlinePayment, EPI) and by commercial ones (H-Sphere http://www.psoft.net/promo/merchants.html)
Verified by Visa
recurring billing
payment from foreign cc's
CISP certification
size of company
quality of API
extra per-transaction charges
lists of gateways:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/ebooks/gateway_list.htm
http://support.storefront.net/mtdocs/payprocs.asp?proc=WP
http://www.xauthorize.com/software/xauthorize/gateways.asp
http://www.zen-cart.com/modules/mydownloads/viewcat.php?cid=25
http://famguardian.org/Subjects/MoneyBanking/Articles/ePaymentServices/EPaymentServices.htm
(both 3PP and gateways)
iTransact http://www.itransact.com/merchant/prices_credit_card_processing_online.html
http://www.itransact.com/merchant/rates.html
$295 registration
$25/month, with no charges for the first 500 transactions (then $0.10/txn)
does recurring (no extra charge) and one-time
does EFT
requires a merchant account; works with several networks: http://www.itransact.com/support/card.html
CARDNET, FIRST DATA, PAYMENTECH, NDC, NOVA, VITAL, CONCORD
not CISP-certified as of 10/7/04
CISP certified
has an authorize.net emulation (though not the recurring part)
recurring billing (free?)
free setup
$15/month. 250 free, thereafter $.10/txn
free recurring. offset starts
recurring does not emulate auth.net
fraud scrubbing
Verified
Bank Card resellers
fraudgate
EFT/ACH
Authorize.net like iTransact.net ant others it accessess your own merchant account, which they can help provide through OnlineDataCorp. They have their own per-txn fees over and beyond the gateway (though typically first 250/month are free). They charge extra ($20/month) for ARB Automated Recurring Billing. lot of anti-fraud tools, everything costs extra. has been vulnerable to denial of service attacks.
Now owned by eBay. Verisign acquired signio and CyberCash. Payflow Pro supports recurring; Payflow Link does not lots of extra ala carte fraud prevention services
CISP-compliant has its TCLink API what processing networks do they support? no public pricing used by lwn
only supports FirstData as a processing network (no NOVA support, for example)
check support via VirtualCheck
only sold through resellers.
110,000 merchants
owned by First Data.
"LinkPoint" = is really made by clearcommerce.com: http://www.clearcommerce.com/press/FDC.html
some sort of partnership with Wells
http://www.cardservice.com/
http://www.cardservicemerchantaccount.com/servicesmain.htm
$20/month (gateway only)
$2.39%, $0.25
http://www.clearcommerce.com/partners/partnerlist.html#affiliate
Paymentech is 3rd largest payment processor (by merchants? by number of txns?), and also issues CCs.
NPC is 2nd largest gateway processor (airlines, petroleum, etc.)
First Data is largest?
ClearCommerce customers include Chase, EDS, Orbit Commerce, and Cardservice International
some consumer complaints
CSI settlement: http://www.cardservicewiconsettlement.com/
complaints about csi cardservice international :
http://www.bncomputing.com/cardserviceinternational/
http://www.hallofshame.org/cardservice.shtml
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/business/cardservice.htm
http://www.plugnpay.com/ limited recurring support. has a QuickBooks integration, among other features (membership management), mostly extra.
a spin out from software.com/beyond.com
allegedly better at fraud prevention than others
CISP-certified
largest volume of any due to Fortune 500
no NOVA support (except maybe through Vital first). no Global Payments support.
http://www.cybersource.com/products_and_services/networksolutions/apply/
Set-up: $99.95
Monthly: $29.95
Discount Rate (Visa, MasterCard): 2.39%
Transaction Fee: $0.35
WorldPay
Will help provide a merchant account through "WorldDirect"
WorldPay http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/thread/49560-1.html
holds funds for a long time?
initial/small customers can't use the api?
ePDQ charges 3.65?, cheaper than WP above $2k http://www.epdq.co.uk/epdq_frameset.htm
Note that it is against Visa/MC rules for a merchant to ever process credit card transactions for another merchant, this is called "factoring". As long as credit card data is not shared (and the actual company with the merchant account is clearly identified) then things are ok. This is how 3rd party payers work: you never see your customers' credit card data. In fact, technically, they aren't your customers :) -- they are the customers of the 3PP. Note that with a 3PP you also can't directly enter credit card numbers on behalf of your customers.
Certain kinds of "high risk" businesses (dating, gambling, adult, etc.) are subject to significant up front charges. 3rd party payers that shoulder the responsibility for certain high-risk customers are considered "Internet Payment Service Providers" (IPSPs) by Visa. Visa has imposed new rules regulating their business; their customers are termed "Sponsored Merchants".
These generally have no or low monthly fees, and no termination fees, but may have higher per-txn fees.
lists at: http://www.merchantseek.com/3rdparty.htm
paypal.com
The paypal rate is 2.9% + $0.30/txn, with no application or
monthly fee. This is actually pretty competitive.
Not exactly like the other 3PPs because they act like a bank.
EPOCH / Paycom
ibill.com
ccbill.com
http://ikobo.com/
foreign alternative to paypal. visa only among CCs
http://www.shareit.com/index.html
2checkout.com
Any Merchant Account Provider (MAP) is supposed to state either: that they are an ISO (and what the sponsoring acquiring bank is), or if they are an agent/reseller, what their ISO is.
parameters: Company/URL age size monthly fees minimum term cancellation fees txn percent/fixed chargeback funds holding offers check processing Bank Gateways Processors
Curtis Stevens
http://www.gotmerchant.com/
registered ISO
good general info, by Curtis Stevens
sells Authorize.Net, Intellipay, Verisign among others: http://www.gotmerchant.com/payment_services/internet/gateway/
%2.19 + $.25
$9.95 gateway + $10 service
has $99 cancellation fee: http://www.gotmerchant.com/internet_merchant_accounts/processing_fees/#10
has minimum of $20/month of txn fees
http://www.cdgcommerce.com/
presence on webhostingtalk
Chris West,
ISO/MSP for Provident Bank
mostly through resellers, who set their own prices
affiliate https://secure.cdgcommerce.com/onlineapp/onlineapp.php
qualified %2.25 , unqualified %1.60 $.25 per item AVS $.05. Amex/Discover $.35, $10/month statement.
CDGGateway or Authorize setup $49, month $15. CDGGateway 0-500 free, $.10 thereafter. Authorize.net is $.10/txn.
Annual Service Fee:$0.00 * Termination Fee:$0.00
Batch Header Fee:$0.25 * Chargeback Fee:$25.00 * Retrieval Fee:$25.00
http://www.cdgcommerce.com/affordablehost.php
%2.25 + $.30, $10/month statement, $15/month gateway, $49 gateway setup
http://www.cdgcommerce.com/ikesys.php
%2.30 + $.35, $10, $15/month gateway
http://www.cdgcommerce.com/whtpromo.php
%2.30 + $.35, $10/month statement, $15/month gateway, no gateway setup
http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:wRKu3yX-BvwJ:www.experts-exchange.com/Web/Hosting/Q_20998366.html+coreybryant+cdgcommerce&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
refers high risk customers to corey
http://www.cdgcommerce.com/news.php
suggests that they are using iTransact (for gateway software), and that it had a DOS problem
gateway choices: http://www.cdgcommerce.com/services/payment.php
sells Authorize.net, iTransact (CDGGateway), Verisign, Plugnpay, Shift4, eProcessingNetwork, paradata, CyberSource
http://merchantaccounts4less.com/
various promos such as:
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/promo/spf.asp
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/promo/wpw.asp
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/promo/geek.asp
$99.50 setup $10 statement $15 gateway 2.39%+$.25 $.05 avs $25 minimum
Reseller for CardService International
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/merchant_account/online.asp
Corey Bryant
reseller for Cardservice - not a ISO/MSP themselves
list prices: http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/merchant_account/online.asp
bank says: $2.39% + $0.25 + $10/month, with $25/month minimum.
plus $15/month gateway fee: Linkpoint, Authorize.net, or Verisign Payflow Pro
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/archive/thread/269322-1.html
offers nova gateway only?
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:qNsV3C5LUu8J:forum.weblamp.net/index.php%3Ftopic%3D1397.msg8607+%22Corey+Bryant%22+cardservice&hl=en
affiliate program
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/affiliates/default.asp
%2.30 internet, 1.55% brick
no setup or application
http://wmhf.com/forums/showthread.php?t=755&goto=nextoldest
%2.25 + $.25 internet
2003-9 http://communitybuilding.com/apps/searchengine.forums/action::thread/thread::1060448088/forum::ecommerce-tools/
2003-9 http://www.hosthideout.com/archive/index.php/t-2944.html
2003-12 http://geekvalley.com/showthread.php?t=1103
2.25% + $0.25 GEEK promo code
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/promo/geek.asp
http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com/promo/spf.asp
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:vEDylYkOW8UJ:www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php%3Ft%3D146720++site:www.sitepoint.com+%22corey+bryant%22+2.25%25&hl=en
gateway $10, service $10, %2.25 + $0.25
http://www.vantagecard.com found through googling. no online rates. Registered ISO/MSP of HSBC Bank USA no cancellation fee. sells Plug n Pay, Authorize.net, Verisign, BluePay, EC-Linx good info about actual rates.
Merchant Services Inc http://www.msihq.com/ http://merchantservices.com Merchant Services Inc. (MSI) http://www.greensheet.com/cprofiles/merchantservicesinc.html 890 Mountain Ave New Providence NJ - 07974 40,000 businesses.
Another (different?) "Merchant Services": http://www.ebaymsi.com/faq/ http://stores.ebay.com/Merchant-Services http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=merchantservicesinc corporate accounts in new jersey: 08 Commerce Center, 1001 Lower Landing Road, Blackwood, NJ 08012 distribution center in texas 10,000 accounts on ebay "authorize.net": $10/month statement $15/month gateway 1.99% + $.19 /txn banks: Regions Bank, Montgomery, AL, US Bank, NA, Minneapolis, MN, Key Bank, NA, Cleveland, OH, and National City Bank of Kentucky. platforms: First Data (FDMS,Omaha and Nashville), Vital (VisaNet), Global, NDC, MAPP, Concord, Buypass and Nova no minimum term, no cancellation AVS is free
Yet another eBay seller
seller merchantgm
http://stores.ebay.com/Merchant-USA_Credit-Card-Terminals
http://stores.ebay.com/Merchant-USA_W0QQsspagenameZl2QQtZkm
another one.
MerchantUSA part of Acies http://merchantusa.net -> http://www.aciesinc.com/solutions_online.asp
Authorize.net
ePNCart
YourPay
works w/Chase and First Data
%1.98 + ? + $6.99/month, no minimum, no annual fees, cancellation?
$50 rebate
Sigh, no published rates, and no indication of whether they are an ISO. but seem straightforward folks http://paymentlogistics.com/svcCosts.htm
http://www.cocard.net/ ISO/MSP with National Processing Co. (NPC) recommendation from a Joel on Software comment seems focused on supporting agents, not customers
ECHO http://echo-inc.com/
no monthly minimum
monthly $10 ($0 if no txns) offer at http://www.merchantseek.com/echo.htm
2.69% + $0.30 (though they no longer publish rates)
http://www.merchantseek.com/non_profit_merchant_account.htm
says 2.25% + $.30/txn + $19.95/month for a nonprofit
charge backs: 5 free/month, then $5
check services are free: XpressCheX
supports recurring payments: http://www.echo-inc.com/recurring-payments.html
bank: Merchant America
network: ECHO
they do the whole thing.
application process a bit more onerous than others. maybe because they lost a consent decree in 1993 for aiding telemarketing fraud?
does U-Haul.
transfer between their bank and yours requires check writing, apparently.
$99 setup
1.99 to 2.49% discount rate (fixed number in this area)
30 Cents Trans.
$10 Support/Statement fee.
no gateway fee, no monthly minimum
ECHO has 60,000 customers, 15,000 is U-haul Rep
Curtis Stevens likes ECHO too
but see: http://echo-inc.com/echonline_rates.html
$20/month Merchant America fee
Jim Conley II works for them. Notes that resold accounts do not have reporting access: http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139173
http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/member.php?userid=7540
jconley2 = http://www.merchantseek.com/index.shtml
Apparently has a long contract?
Uses First Data and Authorize.net?
resells Authorize.Net, Verisign and Cybersource: http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/About_Payment_Gateways.htm
http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/internetmerchantaccount.htm
"Internet Merchant Account"
they provide a merchant account for your separate processing gateway such as authorize.net
http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/merchant-account-services.asp
$99setup, $29/month, %2.35 + $.30
http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/acceptcreditcards.htm
http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/accept-credit-card.htm
$149setup, $35/month, %2.4 + $.30
"SecureSource Suite"
takes checks, includes own payment gateway
Wells http://wellsfargosecure.com/SSS_Summary_Pricing.htm
has an application/setup fee ($149).
uses Wells gateway
http://www.thompsonmerchant.com/
agent of 1st National Merchant Services (owned by iPayment Inc), a Registered ISO/MSP of JP/Morgan Chase Bank
UPDATE 2007: now directly registered MAP with JP Morgan Chase Paymentech
linked from http://www.merchantseek.com/merchant_accounts_rates.htm http://www.merchantseek.com/thompson-merchant-services.htm
offers the "PCCharge Payment Server" on Windows
active forum: http://www.thompsonmerchant.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6
offers Authorize.net, Plug'n Pay, ParaData, QuickCommerce (uses Authorize.net?): http://www.thompsonmerchant.com/services/gateway/gateway.html
quickcommerce/authorize.net:
$39 setup
$10/month gateway, $7/month statement
2.27% + $.28
no monthly minimum
Oh, and remember that typically you pay an extra $.05/txn for an AVS check. But if you don't do the AVS check, then you get stuck with the non-qualified rate, which adds even more to the txn.
Gateway APIs generally suck for recurring management.
The alternative is your own local program to manage recurring payments.
$59.95 setup
%2.44 + $.23/txn + $17.95/monthly
No terminal leasing fees, no minimum fees, no cancellation fee
For Windows QuickBooks http://www.quickbooks.com/services/mas/
http://www.quickbooksmerchantservice.com/services/index.php?p_prioritycode=qbcom05
Same rate as above, but may have a monthly minimum? supports recurring billing states explicitly it isn't intended for web site sales Done by Innovative Merchant Solutions, owned by Intuit http://www.imsmerchant.com/about_us/index.php Limite to only use within QB?
Monetra Payment Connector http://www.mainstreetsoftworks.com/p/63.html plugs in to QB.
See http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/whitepaper/qualifying_criteria.doc http://www.hillsbank.com/bankfiles/MasterCard_Visa_Interchange_Rates.pdf