33 ms·

Amazon's Simple Pay Subscription launches

42 points by lsb 18y ago

satyajit 18y ago
Nice! Will it also work for donations? Like Paypal donations! My guess is yes, but reading some more ...
- satyajit 18y ago
  Oops - spoke too soon - without checking the link on the same page: https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/donation https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=pa...
  - satyajit 18y ago
    Once again - I didn't understand, why is Donation restricted to 'Non-profit 501 C3 organizations' only? What if I create an online free service, and want to accept donations?
    - patio11 18y ago
      Sell "Supporter" accounts. 16x16 pixel marking on your user page, now only $24.95. We'll color it gold if you chip in $49.95 instead. (And because I enjoy flailing at equines which have ceased to be, charge money for value.)
steelhive 18y ago
This page is a superbly clear summary of the service. Someone at Amazon should be proud.
- jgrahamc 18y ago
  Especially since they managed to describe it without mentioning the price.
patio11 18y ago
I love you, Amazon. If the integration on this works fairly decently (at least as well as Paypal's) I think I'll try that for my upcoming SAAS project. Things I'll be looking at: * Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this? (This is the #1 gotcha with Paypal recurring payments.) * Is it easy to modify a subscription midstream? Can I give customers free months, discounts, etc? * Administration tools? Administration API? (I want to click Refund on my site, not your site.) * Can I conveniently work with multiple price points at once? * Reporting: can you make my bookkeeping/accounting less painful? * Migration: here's something Paypal has never done right -- suppose you sell the website or, for another reason, need to change what account receives payments. Do you have to cancel all subscriptions? * Rails integration: can I get out of actually writing and testing as much of this as humanly possible?
- zhyder 18y ago
  "Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this?" Certainly looks like it. "Administration tools? Administration API? (I want to click Refund on my site, not your site.)" Curious, why? I'd rather avoid integrating one more API.
  - patio11 18y ago
    Currently I use Paypal/Google Checkout, which don't give me the option of refunding algorithmically. I also do my stats tracking on my site. This means that when a customer asks for their money back I have to find their record in my system, click refund, then find it again in Paypal and click refund. Am I lazy enough to spend 15 minutes once to save myself 30 seconds 30 times a year? Oh heck yes I am.
    - zoopertrip 18y ago
      Yes, Amazon FPS / Simple Pay allow you to refund algorithmically. They have a Refund API which you can call.
- nreece 18y ago
  >> * Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this? (This is the #1 gotcha with Paypal recurring payments.) Step 2: Subscriber signs in to their Amazon account
numair 18y ago
This hasn't launched yet. It's in the "sandbox," which means you can test it. I submitted a question asking if they had any sort of timetable on launching Subscriptions - nothing definitive in their response.
joseakle 18y ago
Is it expected to launch internationally?
- lux 18y ago
  I'd like to know as well. Amazon FPS seems like one of the best/most comprehensive solutions for payments, but from what I can gather from their site, it's currently still limited to companies with a physical address, bank account and credit card in the US. I'd love to use their services as a Canadian company...
- gommm 18y ago
  Yes that's what I want to know. My company is incorporated in Hong Kong and apart from paypal I haven't found other payment processors I could use (that are not too expensive)... BTW, if anyone has some tips on that I'd be interested.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
physcab 18y ago
On a somewhat related note, has anyone read the OReilly book on AWS? I haven't looked into Amazon's documentation yet, but I'm wondering if the investment in that book would really help the integration process.
snprbob86 18y ago
Can someone with experience processing payments themselves or with a similar service comment on the pricing? Thank you. https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/pricing https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=pa...
- zacharydanger 18y ago
  It looks cheaper than most of the payment gateway solutions offered by most banks (i.e. Chase Paymentech). And there doesn't seem to be a monthly fee.
  - snprbob86 18y ago
    If I understand correctly, you need to pay a percentage and base transaction fee to process credit cards anyway. This service from Amazon bakes their cut into those two charges already. The Amazon charges are cheaper than competing services, but how do they compare to doing it yourself? Is that even an option? This service sounds highly attractive except for the requiring of an Amazon account. Hopefully, that problem can be mitigated somehow. I'd have to have a good hard think.
    - timf 18y ago
      I think doing it yourself is an option. You can integrate with something like authorize.net which I see mentioned a lot. But they, in turn, integrate with what are the I guess actual processors: http://www.authorize.net/solutions/resellersolutions/resellerprogram/processorlist/ http://www.authorize.net/solutions/resellersolutions/reselle... (note that I have no direct experience here yet)
      - timf 18y ago
        I'm confused now, at the link above Chase paymenttech is listed as a processor connection. But they are listed as an authorize.net reseller at this link? http://www.authorize.net/reseller_dir.asp?page_id=148721&reseller=46256 http://www.authorize.net/reseller_dir.asp?page_id=148721&#38... I guess I have a lot to understand yet, sorry.

42 points by lsb 18y ago

satyajit 18y ago

Nice! Will it also work for donations? Like Paypal donations! My guess is yes, but reading some more ...

satyajit 18y ago
Oops - spoke too soon - without checking the link on the same page: https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/donation https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=pa...
- satyajit 18y ago
  Once again - I didn't understand, why is Donation restricted to 'Non-profit 501 C3 organizations' only? What if I create an online free service, and want to accept donations?
  - patio11 18y ago
    Sell "Supporter" accounts. 16x16 pixel marking on your user page, now only $24.95. We'll color it gold if you chip in $49.95 instead. (And because I enjoy flailing at equines which have ceased to be, charge money for value.)

steelhive 18y ago

This page is a superbly clear summary of the service. Someone at Amazon should be proud.

jgrahamc 18y ago
Especially since they managed to describe it without mentioning the price.

patio11 18y ago

I love you, Amazon. If the integration on this works fairly decently (at least as well as Paypal's) I think I'll try that for my upcoming SAAS project. Things I'll be looking at: * Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this? (This is the #1 gotcha with Paypal recurring payments.) * Is it easy to modify a subscription midstream? Can I give customers free months, discounts, etc? * Administration tools? Administration API? (I want to click Refund on my site, not your site.) * Can I conveniently work with multiple price points at once? * Reporting: can you make my bookkeeping/accounting less painful? * Migration: here's something Paypal has never done right -- suppose you sell the website or, for another reason, need to change what account receives payments. Do you have to cancel all subscriptions? * Rails integration: can I get out of actually writing and testing as much of this as humanly possible?

zhyder 18y ago
"Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this?" Certainly looks like it. "Administration tools? Administration API? (I want to click Refund on my site, not your site.)" Curious, why? I'd rather avoid integrating one more API.
- patio11 18y ago
  Currently I use Paypal/Google Checkout, which don't give me the option of refunding algorithmically. I also do my stats tracking on my site. This means that when a customer asks for their money back I have to find their record in my system, click refund, then find it again in Paypal and click refund. Am I lazy enough to spend 15 minutes once to save myself 30 seconds 30 times a year? Oh heck yes I am.
  - zoopertrip 18y ago
    Yes, Amazon FPS / Simple Pay allow you to refund algorithmically. They have a Refund API which you can call.
nreece 18y ago
>> * Do you require customers to have an Amazon account to use this? (This is the #1 gotcha with Paypal recurring payments.) Step 2: Subscriber signs in to their Amazon account

numair 18y ago

This hasn't launched yet. It's in the "sandbox," which means you can test it. I submitted a question asking if they had any sort of timetable on launching Subscriptions - nothing definitive in their response.

joseakle 18y ago

Is it expected to launch internationally?

lux 18y ago
I'd like to know as well. Amazon FPS seems like one of the best/most comprehensive solutions for payments, but from what I can gather from their site, it's currently still limited to companies with a physical address, bank account and credit card in the US. I'd love to use their services as a Canadian company...
gommm 18y ago
Yes that's what I want to know. My company is incorporated in Hong Kong and apart from paypal I haven't found other payment processors I could use (that are not too expensive)... BTW, if anyone has some tips on that I'd be interested.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

physcab 18y ago

On a somewhat related note, has anyone read the OReilly book on AWS? I haven't looked into Amazon's documentation yet, but I'm wondering if the investment in that book would really help the integration process.

snprbob86 18y ago

Can someone with experience processing payments themselves or with a similar service comment on the pricing? Thank you. https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=paynow/pricing https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=pa...

zacharydanger 18y ago
It looks cheaper than most of the payment gateway solutions offered by most banks (i.e. Chase Paymentech). And there doesn't seem to be a monthly fee.
- snprbob86 18y ago
  If I understand correctly, you need to pay a percentage and base transaction fee to process credit cards anyway. This service from Amazon bakes their cut into those two charges already. The Amazon charges are cheaper than competing services, but how do they compare to doing it yourself? Is that even an option? This service sounds highly attractive except for the requiring of an Amazon account. Hopefully, that problem can be mitigated somehow. I'd have to have a good hard think.
  - timf 18y ago
    I think doing it yourself is an option. You can integrate with something like authorize.net which I see mentioned a lot. But they, in turn, integrate with what are the I guess actual processors: http://www.authorize.net/solutions/resellersolutions/resellerprogram/processorlist/ http://www.authorize.net/solutions/resellersolutions/reselle... (note that I have no direct experience here yet)
    - timf 18y ago
      I'm confused now, at the link above Chase paymenttech is listed as a processor connection. But they are listed as an authorize.net reseller at this link? http://www.authorize.net/reseller_dir.asp?page_id=148721&reseller=46256 http://www.authorize.net/reseller_dir.asp?page_id=148721&#38... I guess I have a lot to understand yet, sorry.