Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!helios.ee.lbl.gov!nosc!ucsd!sdcc6!sdacs!wade
From: wade@sdacs.ucsd.EDU (Wade Blomgren)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Shareware charges (VISA/MC)
Summary: VISA/MC easier said than done
Message-ID: <34@sdacs.ucsd.EDU>
Date: 8 Sep 88 16:44:50 GMT
References: <24519@teknowledge-vaxc.ARPA> <53@bridge2.UUCP> <753@etive.ed.ac.uk> <10245@reed.UUCP>
Organization: UCSD Academic Computing Services
Lines: 35

In article <10245@reed.UUCP>, barry@reed.UUCP (Barry Smith) writes:
> 
> our bank is probably more helpful than most, so it was not difficult
> to set the handling up.  it would seem that a shareware author
> handling more than, say, 100 dollars/month might look into this method.
> 
> Barry Smith
> Blue Sky Research

One thing to note about setting up a VISA/MC acceptance capability, which
is particularly applicable to most shareware purveyors:

Most (if not all) banks are HIGHLY reluctant to set you up as a VISA/MC
vendor if you do not have a separate office, outside of your home, with a 
lease, and at least some track record of being "in business".  They have been 
burned too many times by people setting up phony mail order houses in 
residences and running up large charge credits, then never shipping any 
product.  If you are well established with the bank, have a stellar personal 
financial record, and beg a lot, they may let you participate.  

There is no way they will play along if they get a hint that your total 
charge card revenues may be 100 dollars per month. At that level of activity 
it is simply not worth the risk to the bank (they will make maybe 4 cents on 
the dollar...a whopping $4 per month )   If you can pull it off, great, but 
be prepared for a bit of a battle.  A friend and I managed to convince our
bank to let us accept charge cards a few years ago for an ill-fated project
to rent computer terminals to students, but only after massive hassle.  We
claimed that without the ability to charge the rental, our average customer
would not be able to handle the expense, or something like that, and the
bank relented.  In our case it turned out we never actually submitted any 
charges, as we came to perceive it as a greater hassle than accepting a check.

This is not meant to be a discouraging message, just a forewarning...

Wade Blomgren
wade@sdacs.ucsd.edu