5 ms·

The elephant in the room with all of those systems (we use Chargify) is that you still have to sort out getting a merchant account on your own, which depending

by wheels 17y ago

The elephant in the room with all of those systems (we use Chargify) is that you still have to sort out getting a merchant account on your own, which depending on how well set up your company is, may be non-trivial. If, as it would seem from your profile, you are in Iceland this will be especially hard since you'll probably need an American entity with a bank account to be able to use many of those systems.

arnorhs 17y ago
Yes, you're correct, I am in Iceland. I was hoping to use a merchant account in Iceland with Authorize.net. I'm still waiting for an answer from Authorize.net's customer support, but I'm hoping it's possible.
- asnyder 17y ago
  Authorize.net should be able to help you. They also offer a subscription add-on to their merchant accounts for around $10 a month. You should be able to start the process through their website now. They've made numerous improvements to the registration process over the past year.
dan_manges 17y ago
Braintree offers managed recurring billing and is also a merchant account provider. http://bit.ly/braintree http://bit.ly/braintree
- wheels 17y ago
  Yep, we talked with you guys as well and liked a lot of things about the organization and product, but honestly, the terms aren't very early-startup-friendly. (Multi-year exclusive contract and high base rates are the ones that come to mind.)
  - stgarrity 17y ago
    We're about to move ahead with Braintree and there's no multi-year contract anymore...the fees are a bit high but so far the integration has been super easy, and I like the lack of needing to deal with PCI-DSS since they do everything on their side (but still within your interface). I figure it's better to move ahead fast with the implementation and optimize fees later once we've proved the model...at least we can get our data out down the road if we need to.
  - bryanjohnson 17y ago
    We (Braintree) have never had contracts or termination fees. Customers can cancel whenever they want and port the credit card data elsewhere. As for our pricing, it's actually very competitive. It may look higher because we disclose all our fees. Nearly every provider we know of obscures fees both during the sales process and in the monthly reporting statements so merchants never really understand what they're paying. Here's an example of pricing trickery http://bit.ly/9NSZCa http://bit.ly/9NSZCa . Prospective customers regularly do thorough pricing comparisons and we are consistently among the most competitively priced.
    - wheels 17y ago
      This is pasted from the terms we were sent in October: IF YOU TERMINATE THE AGREEMENT WITHIN THE FIRST 3 YEARS FOLLOWING THE DATE OF YOUR EXECUTION OF THIS AGREEMENT (THE “PAYBACK PERIOD), YOU AGREE TO PAY DE-CONVERSION FEES OF (I) TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS ($250.00) FOR EACH MERCHANT LOCATION and (II) AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE STORED VALUE TRANSACTION FEES INCURRED BY YOU DURING THE CALENDAR MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING TERMINATION, MULTIPLIED BY THE NUMBER OF MONTHS REMAINING IN THE PAYBACK PERIOD. IN THE EVENT THE PAYMENT OF SUCH DE-CONVERSION FEES IS LIMITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE AMOUNT PAYABLE TO US PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. SUCH AMOUNTS WILL BE FUNDED, TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, ACCORDING TO THE SAME METHODS FOR COLLECTING AMOUNTS DUE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT. We reserve the right to place you or any person owning or controlling your business in the MATCH file (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants) maintained by Visa and MasterCard in the event this Agreement is terminated for cause.
      - tomh- 17y ago
        That definitely looks like an attempt to bind you to them for a period of three years with a termination fee of 250 usd + the remaining monthly fee's due immediately. More importantly, because they wrote it in all capital letters they are super serious and extra aware about this clause ;)
      - bryanjohnson 17y ago
        That's language that one of our sponsoring banks unfortunately has not yet removed from the agreement. It's boilerplate language that is optional for us to enforce. Regardless, we're working with them to get it removed because we maintain that merchants can cancel their services at any time without a termination fee, and that language is clearly inconsistent. Since that language is in there, we have always provided an addendum to the agreement that provides assurance to merchants that they can cancel whenever they want without having any termination fees. The addendum is located right next to application and is completed with every new customer that signs up. It states the following: "WHEREAS, Braintree wishes to assure Merchant that Merchant will not have to pay any termination fees for the Merchant Agreement with Braintree or any of the processors used by Braintree; NOW THEREFORE, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: Merchant may terminate the Merchant Agreement with Braintree, and any processor utilized by Braintree. If Merchant exercises this termination right then Merchant shall not have to pay any termination fees." We have never had contracts and have never charged a termination fee.
- t_crayford 17y ago
  But no options outside the US :(

by wheels 17y ago

arnorhs 17y ago

Yes, you're correct, I am in Iceland. I was hoping to use a merchant account in Iceland with Authorize.net. I'm still waiting for an answer from Authorize.net's customer support, but I'm hoping it's possible.

asnyder 17y ago
Authorize.net should be able to help you. They also offer a subscription add-on to their merchant accounts for around $10 a month. You should be able to start the process through their website now. They've made numerous improvements to the registration process over the past year.

dan_manges 17y ago

Braintree offers managed recurring billing and is also a merchant account provider. http://bit.ly/braintree http://bit.ly/braintree

wheels 17y ago
Yep, we talked with you guys as well and liked a lot of things about the organization and product, but honestly, the terms aren't very early-startup-friendly. (Multi-year exclusive contract and high base rates are the ones that come to mind.)
- stgarrity 17y ago
  We're about to move ahead with Braintree and there's no multi-year contract anymore...the fees are a bit high but so far the integration has been super easy, and I like the lack of needing to deal with PCI-DSS since they do everything on their side (but still within your interface). I figure it's better to move ahead fast with the implementation and optimize fees later once we've proved the model...at least we can get our data out down the road if we need to.
- bryanjohnson 17y ago
  We (Braintree) have never had contracts or termination fees. Customers can cancel whenever they want and port the credit card data elsewhere. As for our pricing, it's actually very competitive. It may look higher because we disclose all our fees. Nearly every provider we know of obscures fees both during the sales process and in the monthly reporting statements so merchants never really understand what they're paying. Here's an example of pricing trickery http://bit.ly/9NSZCa http://bit.ly/9NSZCa . Prospective customers regularly do thorough pricing comparisons and we are consistently among the most competitively priced.
  - wheels 17y ago
    This is pasted from the terms we were sent in October: IF YOU TERMINATE THE AGREEMENT WITHIN THE FIRST 3 YEARS FOLLOWING THE DATE OF YOUR EXECUTION OF THIS AGREEMENT (THE “PAYBACK PERIOD), YOU AGREE TO PAY DE-CONVERSION FEES OF (I) TWO HUNDRED FIFTY DOLLARS ($250.00) FOR EACH MERCHANT LOCATION and (II) AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE STORED VALUE TRANSACTION FEES INCURRED BY YOU DURING THE CALENDAR MONTH IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING TERMINATION, MULTIPLIED BY THE NUMBER OF MONTHS REMAINING IN THE PAYBACK PERIOD. IN THE EVENT THE PAYMENT OF SUCH DE-CONVERSION FEES IS LIMITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE AMOUNT PAYABLE TO US PURSUANT TO THIS SECTION SHALL BE LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT PERMITTED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW. SUCH AMOUNTS WILL BE FUNDED, TO THE EXTENT POSSIBLE, ACCORDING TO THE SAME METHODS FOR COLLECTING AMOUNTS DUE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT. We reserve the right to place you or any person owning or controlling your business in the MATCH file (Member Alert to Control High-Risk Merchants) maintained by Visa and MasterCard in the event this Agreement is terminated for cause.
    - tomh- 17y ago
      That definitely looks like an attempt to bind you to them for a period of three years with a termination fee of 250 usd + the remaining monthly fee's due immediately. More importantly, because they wrote it in all capital letters they are super serious and extra aware about this clause ;)
    - bryanjohnson 17y ago
      That's language that one of our sponsoring banks unfortunately has not yet removed from the agreement. It's boilerplate language that is optional for us to enforce. Regardless, we're working with them to get it removed because we maintain that merchants can cancel their services at any time without a termination fee, and that language is clearly inconsistent. Since that language is in there, we have always provided an addendum to the agreement that provides assurance to merchants that they can cancel whenever they want without having any termination fees. The addendum is located right next to application and is completed with every new customer that signs up. It states the following: "WHEREAS, Braintree wishes to assure Merchant that Merchant will not have to pay any termination fees for the Merchant Agreement with Braintree or any of the processors used by Braintree; NOW THEREFORE, for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which is hereby acknowledged, the Parties agree as follows: Merchant may terminate the Merchant Agreement with Braintree, and any processor utilized by Braintree. If Merchant exercises this termination right then Merchant shall not have to pay any termination fees." We have never had contracts and have never charged a termination fee.
t_crayford 17y ago
But no options outside the US :(