Re:Ask HN: How to collect payments on a small website?
by progtick on Tuesday December 14, 2010 @08:28PM
(#2006606)
As far as my understanding is, they both require you to go to their website, right? (Unless you pay monthly fee for paypal). I wonder if there is a solution which lets you accept payment on your own website with no redirect to any other site and only charges per transaction.
Re:Ask HN: How to collect payments on a small website?
by mikeknoop on Wednesday December 15, 2010 @12:06AM
(#2007128)
I forget the name, but Paypal has a system where they will handle transparent CC transactions (ie, user enters CC into your form and you submit to Paypal). The catch is you must also offer Paypal as an alternative to manual form entry. I found it through the Paypal developer resources... check there.
Google Checkout and Paypal have exactly the same terms:
http://checkout.google.com/sell/ (click on "Costs and fees")
https://merchant.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/?cmd=_render-content&...
Monthly Sales Through Google Checkout Fees Per Transaction
Less than $3,000 2.9% + $0.30
$3,000 - $9,999.99 2.5% + $0.30
$10,000 - $99,999.99 2.2% + $0.30
$100,000 or more 1.9% + $0.30
Old articles say Google Checkout has different pricing, so it must have changed.
Paypal makes you call for >=$100K.
Paypal also has a micropayments program which is 5% + 5c. If you do the math, for <$3K in sales, that's cheaper if a purchase is <= $11.90. Weird cutoff, but there you have it.
Paypal also has more payment options (you can link a bank account) and is available for international payments:
http://inventorspot.com/articles/zyngas_social_media_games_g...
I'm a Google fanboy, but Paypal looks to have the edge.
Here's an in-depth comparison of Paypal, Google, and a couple of smaller services:
http://foliovision.com/2010/01/21/paypal-google-checkout-dig...
Note: Lots of crabby blog posts when Paypal arbitrarily shuts down their accounts.
Anyone have practical experience?