[mythtv-users] Supporting schedulesdirect.org

David Brodbeck gull at gull.us
Tue Aug 7 22:03:25 UTC 2007


On Aug 7, 2007, at 2:52 PM, Robert Current wrote:

> On 8/7/07, David Brodbeck <gull at gull.us> wrote:
>>
>> I know a lot of people dislike Paypal, but there really aren't many
>> other realistic options for accepting online payments.  Getting a
>> merchant account is a considerable ongoing expense and a major risk
>> for a small company.
>
> What is this risk exactly?  I've had a merchant account before, it
> really isn't a big deal at all.

Did you read the rest of my post?  That was a real experience.  They  
ended up with thousands of dollars in invalid transaction fees, which  
they had no real recourse but to pay.  Chargebacks can also be a  
problem -- if someone steals a card, then uses it on your site,  
you're on the hook for the money and fees.  This is a major issue on  
the Internet.  Credit card thieves like to set up automated routines  
to test cards against sites with merchant accounts, to find out which  
cards are valid.  That's what happened to the nonprofit I mentioned.   
Accepting credit cards online turned out to be a very expensive  
experiment for them, because the accumulated fees for invalid  
transactions was greater by far than the amount of money they took in  
through the account.






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