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Written by Start a WISP Site Admin
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Tuesday, 13 September 2005 |
"I was just wondering what everyone here used for their customers to pay?"
IntraLink:
What, like software or merchant account or service?
We've used PayPal before for small operations.
What
we should have done right from the beginning is used what we use now,
Platypus (or something similar). having an integrated Database based
system is necessary to keep and report metrics of your growing WISP/ISP.
We use Authorize.net and Nova Merchant Services (through Costco).
wysockib:
Paypal is great for small wisp. Low fees and no setup cost.
VariableARK (original submitter):
that is what i am using now, but paypal doesnt let you charge with
credit card if you have opened and closed a paypal account. also paypal
does not have a monthly charge feature for non-paypal users. to a
lesser extent, paypals non-transparency is annoying too. as my customer
base is growing, i need to switch to something more advanced &
useful, yet inexpensive as well.
IntraLink:
We had the same growing pains with PayPal as your having. You could do
what we did and migrate to a Merchant service to process your own
credit cards into your own bank account. That's what I would consider
the next cheapest and easiest step.
The step after that is
integration with an simple online payment e-commerce site which
requires you to host your own code and tie in with your Merchant
account.
We skipped that step and went to the next which is to
have your own integrated payment system with database back end
(Platypus). I would recommend biting the bullet and going straight to a
similar integrate web/client/database provisioning program as soon as
financially possible.
The step after that (when you are rolling
in millions of dollars) is to just hire your own programmer and roll
your own system or integrate with an advanced back end like Great
Plains, SAP etc.
bcbuie:
check out charge.com, get a solid merchant account through card
services international, reasonable fees, money immediately deposited
into your account, and easy approval
nwn:
Now that you ask, I am not sure that Authorize does the actual merchant
account. I think we use their recommended partner, but I can not think
of the name, though it may be Cornerstone. Seems to me when I set this
up a year ago, it was less expensive than some, maybe not the cheapest,
but also has the interface to my billing software, BillMax, and to my
online osCommerce store.
Original thread location
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Business Operations 
