Do I need Soholaunch?

[poolmech]

I operate a service business and my website is currently used only for promotion. I am updating it now and would like to offer "merchant services" where my customers can go to my site to pay their monthly bills. I'm not sure how to go about setting this up or what I even need. Quickbooks offers "merchant services", but if i Understand correctly Vodahost does too. How can I allow my customers to log onto my site to view their balance and make a credit card payment.
Thx

[Karen Mac]

Re: Do I need Soholaunch?

Hmm... Youd first need a merchant account that allowed this kind of activity and there are several strict industry rules governing this.. and im not even going to try to lecture you on this. Paypal wont cut it. Not to mention the bonding, accreditation, SSL, licensing etc. Secondly.. check with voda host for their TERMS of Service before attempting this. 3rdly.. SOHO wont do this for you..even with customization.

In cpanel is a php billing service type software.. i dont know whether this would fill the bill or not. If not .. you would need to google a scripting software solution that you can install to do this.. having it customized would be BIG BUCKS. You most likely would need a dedicated server to run this as well as cold fusion.

Karen

[poolmech]

Re: Do I need Soholaunch?

Thanks for the info. I was afraid of an answer like that. I just don't have the know-how to pull of something of that magnitude. Maybe I just need to take the credit card numbers and enter them manually with a basic Merchant Services account. I can set that up through Vodahost can't I?

[Karen Mac]

Re: Do I need Soholaunch?

You can set that up at your local bank.. however, ....Its technically illegal to take credit cards and then PAY SOMEONE ELSE if you arent a bank of sorts. This falls under the category of MONEY LAUNDERING and can get you in DEEP kimchee quick. EVERY HEAR OF RICO? And manually theres even HIGHER RISKS. Theres quite a bit of differences in a virtual terminal.. ONLINE and CARD PRESENT SALES and then MANUALLY ENTERING CARD NOT PRESENT SALES. Once that terminal notes the KIND Of processing you are doing, you are going to be LOOKED AT. You can get away with entering numbers manually by specifying to the bank what you are doing and why you would have manually entered transactions. You can APPLY to the merchant bank that vodahost offers you.. however, you MUST DISCLOSE what you are doing. Dont be surprised to get turned down flat.

Karen