Forum Moderators: buckworks
I have a small website that currently offers a free online service serving a very local market, I only have about 150 account holders. I am upgrading the site to serve a national (US) market (UK/Canada possibly as well) and am now seeking options for easily managing paid subscriptions to the site.
I need something that is easy to configure, is invisible to my users (unless you think it's not a big deal) and is more or less completely automatic. By automatic I mean new subscriptions, upgraded subscriptions and canceling subscriptions are handled on both ends and tie in seemlessly with my system. In other words, if a user logs in to my system and hits the "cancel account" button, my "cancel" script simply executes a line of code which sends a message to the payment processer to stop charging them after the current term (user IDs on my system must therefore be linked to users on the gateway's system).
One other point, it must be cheap or free.
I was looking at Versign's PayFlow Pro API and the LinkPoint API, but I'm just not sure it's what I want. These aren't that cheap anyway. And are these APIs software that I must maintain on my server? And I have to get a SSL certificate right? I would kind of prefer to avoid that whole scene.
Does anyone have experience with PayPal Website Payments Pro?
My website already creates and manages user accounts. I just want to add the membership fee and have my system link with the gateway's system in terms of managing subscriptions automatically. I need to offload the SSL and CC storage to the gateway (i.e. I can't store it myself).
What products do you recommend?
So far I am leaning towards Verisign PayFlow Pro, but it's expensive. Authorize.Net doesn't handle automatic subscriptions, so they're out. What about PayPal's website Pro deal? Anyone?
as for cheap etc, why?
firstly, credit card processing companies are businesses, not charities - they need to make money as well
secondly, if you're running the site / business properly, you'll be passing on the costs of credit card processing to your customers / members, just the same as you would pass on any other overheads - in reality, it won't actually cost you a penny
I should have been more specific. When I said cheap, I meant low startup costs or setup fees. I've been doing this online service for free so far so I don't want to have to dig into my own pocket too much. Of course, I will if I have to. I know some providers, like PayPal, don't charge any setup fees, but I guess they are not a real gateway, are they?
Anyway, I guess I'm just looking for recommendations on gateways and merchant account providers for a US based business.
