[nycbug-talk] Internet billing

[Hans Zaunere]

> Has anyone else been down this road before?

Of course... just doing it now, actually :)

There are two ways to bill on the Internet (web):

-- processors (2checkout,paypal,etc)
-- merchant account

The former handles a lot of the gooey work for you; reoccurring
payments, interfacing with credit card gateways, etc.  However, their
fees are higher, and there can often be hidden charges, strange
behavior, delays in getting payment, etc.

If you're really doing e-commerce, you'll want a merchant account with a
gateway backend (like authorize.net).  This is what I'm setting up now.
It gives you total control, instant access to the money, but has much
more complexity, and is harder to get (there's an approval process, bank
accounts, etc).

---
Hans Zaunere
President
New York PHP
http://nyphp.org