Setting up online subscriptions

[jimmykav]

I want to allow people to subscribe / purchase membership of an organisation.

I am looking at paypal and 2checkout and was wondering if people had advice / opinions on their services.

The only gotcha I can see at the moment is that I live in Europe. I can accept US cheques if neither allow deposits into accounts outside the US.

What are the fees like? Customer service? etc.

[chris_f]

Hi Jimmy,

I have never used any of the services you describe, however, if you use the site search I know there is plenty of information that will give you what your looking for.

Chris

[jimmykav]

Thanks chris_f, i was getting worried that people were deliberately ignoring me ;)

I was hoping to collate the info into one thread which is why i posed the question.

[Jenstar]

I have used the subscription option with PayPal, and it transfers the money when it is supposed to each month. Fees vary depending on the type of account you have, if you already have an account you should be able to login and find out the fees you pay. I have never had a problem with PayPal and have used it for years.

Sorry, no experience with 2checkout and their subscription option.

[jimmykav]

Thanks Jenstar

[Ankheg]

I've used PayPal for subscriptions for about a year, mainly because of their low rate ($0.30 + around 3%, IIRC), which makes receiving payments $5 and under a realistic proposition. I've looked into 2checkout, and a couple others, but the rates are always higher for, for example, a $5/month subscription.

I do wish there was a reasonable alternative with low up-front fees; I've been examining a lot of the "micropayment" processors, but the few I've seen that allow subscriptions have either hefty annual/monthly fees or charge a higher rate than PayPal.

A lot of people poo-poo PayPal, but for subscriptions they're really a de facto industry standard.