[Hidden-tech] Three topics...

[Sheldon F. Finlay]

Hello David,

Merchant Accounts...

I've been using ECHO, Inc. (http://www.echo-inc.com) for the last 5 
years. They are both affordable and flexible and supposedly have one of 
the lowest discount rates in the industry.

I am not sure if they still have this policy, but when I was 1st 
starting out they would waiver the usual monthly fees if I did not 
process any cards in a given month. This was especially beneficial to my 
strained cash flow during the startup period of my business.

ECHO negotiates the lowest rates with Visa and MasterCard by strictly 
adhering to the Visa/MC rules. For that reason, they are very 
comprehensive in their application process requiring you to provide them 
with copies of your ordering and refund policies and potentially making 
changes to these policies to satisfy the regulations set by Visa/MC. But 
in the long run the extra hassle pays off.

ECHO offers a virtual (online) terminal combined with a gateway for 
integrating into a web site. They also have a very strong developer 
network (http://www.openecho.com/) including OpenSource code for 
integrating ECHO into PHP, ASP, JSP, and other programming technologies.

I have worked with clients that used Authorize.net and the Authorize.net 
setup is very similar (virtual terminal and web site gateway). But 
Authorize.net rates tend to be higher and they don't include the 
developer tools as ECHO. Also, Authorize.net, being one of the larger 
online merchant company is often a target for hackers.

I hope this helps. I don't have any suggestions for #2 and #3. But I'm 
sure someone out there does.

Best Regards,

Sheldon F. Finlay
----------------------------------------------------------
Outer Limits Media, Inc.

email :: sheldon at outerlimitsmedia.com
web   :: www.outerlimitsmedia.com
Phone :: 413.253.0051
Fax   :: 413.425.6423 



>
> 1)  Credit Card Merchant Accounts...
> I need an inexpensive Merchant Account vendor that provides on-line 
> virtual terminal for phone orders and with whom I can set up a web 
> site shopping cart account in the future. (one vendor that does both?) 
> Right now I just need virtual terminal.
>
> I've been pointed to Retriever and to Authorize. Anyone have 
> experience with either of them?
>