[Hcoop-discuss] Google checkout

[Justin S. Leitgeb]

I agree that we should work towards accepting credit cards on the 
internet, while working away from PayPal if some members object to their 
policies and practices for any reason.  If google is problematic because 
of their policy, there are lots of companies who act as a middle-layer 
between us and the credit card companies' API, including the following 
that I found after looking on google for a couple of minutes:

* monstermerchantaccount.com (a network solutions company)
* http://www.firstnationalmerchants.com/mark/home.asp

The page at  
http://www.west-wind.com/webconnection/MerchantProviders.asp provides 
links to a couple of merchant processing sites that seem to be popular.  
Finally, as a quick solution that allows us to use credit cards but 
obviously doesn't get around the PayPal issue is that Verisign (a PayPal 
company) offers merchant accounts as well.

This may not be realistic now, but once we reach a certain size we can 
write software to interface directly with an API at various credit card 
companies.  This would obviously cut out the commision with services 
like PayPal, so I think we should keep it in mind as we grow.

Let me know if I can be of any help in looking at one or more of these 
companies in more detail.

Justin

Nathan Kennedy wrote:

>Franklin Gordon Bynum wrote:
>  
>
>>I hope I'm wrong, but it seems that we fit (loosely, at least) in at
>>least a couple of the "unacceptable product categories" here:
>>https://checkout.google.com/seller/content_policies.html
>>  
>>    
>>
>Good spot.  They do have annoying policies.
>  
>
>>Buyer/discount clubs-- could be us, it's a stretch though
>>  
>>    
>>
>This is not what we do at this point.  We are selling services, at no 
>profit.
>  
>
>>Prepaid goods and services-- this is the kicker
>>  
>>    
>>
>You are correct.  I have looked through the prohibited products and the 
>terms of service.  Not only do they not allow google payments for 
>prepaid services or funding balances, they also forbid using it to 
>collect on debts owed for services already rendered that are not billed 
>through google payments.
>  
>
>>If the second really is a problem, maybe we can set up an invoice
>>system?  Of course there are disadvantages to that.
>>  
>>    
>>
>This seems like the only real solution that stays within the guidelines 
>of google payments.  We wouldn't really have to set up a new system, 
>just require that the user fund their account through paypal or a check 
>to establish an initial balance, and then periodically (e.g. monthly) 
>bill the user for their accrued account debits on MoneyMatters through 
>google payments.  doing this automatically would require some basic 
>amount of coding though.
>
>The other option is ignoring this contractual restriction.  Google is 
>free to interpret this list however they like, and forbid things not on 
>the list (by their own terms), likewise to permit things on the list.  
>If they don't get upset (and I'm sure they appreciate their 
>commissions), and we don't abuse the service, they are very likely to 
>let it slide unless they receive nasty complaints  Their only remedy 
>under the terms is to suspend or terminate our service, and they would 
>then give us a check for any payments already processed.  If we do this 
>it would be best to keep this as a short-term measure moving towards the 
>invoicing system.
>
>Given this twist and the fact that we already have a hosting arrangement 
>on our plate this could go on the back burner, but it would be nice to 
>accept credit cards (and/or have a PayPal alternative) at some point in 
>the near future.
>
>-ntk
>
>_______________________________________________
>Hcoop-discuss mailing list
>Hcoop-discuss at hcoop.net
>http://hcoop.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/hcoop-discuss
>  
>


-- 
Justin S. Leitgeb
System Administrator
HCoop - The Internet Hosting Cooperative
http://www.hcoop.net

Phone: (585) 507-9547
Fax: (716) 883-0409
Email: leitgebj at hcoop.net