Forum Moderators: buckworks
I'm looking for recommendations for a good subscription service, such as Verisign's recurring billing service.
Acceptable services will include:
a) an https:// redirect so I don't have to host my own secure payment page and SSL cert,
b) automatic processing of subs without me having to log in to a clunky manager,
c) zero or low setup fees, low monthly service rates and no monthly minimums (I'm a small shop),
d) the ability to mass edit all subscription in the event that I change the rate,
e) the ability to process or add a-la-carte options to a given subscribers account,
f) optional: a good deal on a merchant account
I have no need for shopping cart software since I'm not selling random widgets, just a membership to my site. Oh yeah, this is in the US.
if you're turning your (currently free) site into a money-making business, you need to treat it like a business and pay for the services you need
if you only want a few $$ to cover basic costs and don't want to spend anything to get it, better to try adsense or affiliate ads etc - much less hassle and zero cost to you
Personally, I don't think I am asking too much. In fact, this is exactly what PayPal offers except for one thing: they require users to sign up for PayPal, but guess what? They have just acquired Verisign so I imagine this requirment will vanish soon. In that case do you imagine small business like mine who's profits are being eaten away by avaricious gateways and banks will go in droves to PayPal?
card processing fees (and setup fees / gateway fees / statement fees / telephone calls / office rental / web hosting / etc etc etc) are business expenses (or overheads or whatever you want to call them)
you must include costs when calculating the selling price - that way you are passing on the costs to the customer
for example:
stock + costs + profit margin = selling price
if your profit margin is 10%, you ALWAYS get your 10% and the customer ALWAYS covers your costs
therefore it doesn't matter if the service you choose costs money - the customer pays, not you.
if you don't do your sums right, you'll fail.
there are also a couple of other points:
card processing services are businesses - they need to make money too
don't choose a service because it's free / cheap / etc, choose a service because it does EXACTLY what you need it to do - then set your prices accordingly - get the wrong system (just because it's cheap) can cost you in the long run
Do you mean as a fee per month? I think $0 would be about right. I think it would be great if I could get everything I listed above with the only fee being a per transaction fee. If a solution involves getting a merchant account, then that is a separate deal with separate costs.
The closest thing I have been able to find so far is 2CO.com. I can do almost everything I want, the only exception being it lacks options d) and e) from above as well as automated canceling of subs, which may be possible and I just haven't dug deep enough to find out how to do it. They also charge a quite high per transaction fee: 5.5%. It's a compromise solution, but one I think I can live with for now.
Now, if anyone has other suggestions please post.
No payment provider has a solution that manages subs as well as a dedicated prog will - its not their business to do so.
Of course amember isn't free, but the time it saves and the control it gives makes the price trivial in the long run, and frankly even in the short run.
I have heard about amember and if it's that good I have no problem paying for it.
The trouble is that I become responsible for storing customers financial information on my server, which means I will require an SSL and a firewall, both of which are not affordable to me right now. In addition, I will have to write a cron to process subscriptions through a provide like Authorize.Net. Time is money, too.
If I had a larger budget for this I would most likely go with amember and Authorize.Net. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
