While working on our web-app, we’ve been looking for a payment solution. From what I’ve gathered, there are middleman type solutions (such as Amazon Flexible Payments Service) and gateway type solutions like Authorize.net. It sounds like middleman-style services are easier to integrate and a better cost-wise at the start for a low volume of transactions, and it is always easy to gateway-style services later on. We are also using Satchmo, which has some integration with Paypal and Authorize.net.
Gateway Solutions:
- Advantages
- Integration with Satchmo
- Receive funds more quickly through merchant accounts
- Can figure out best pricing through different merchant accounts
- Disadvantages
- Need SSL certificate
- PCI Compliance (for recurring payments)
- Reliability issues (have heard about problems with Authorize.net)
Middleman Solutions:
- Advantages
- Easier handling of all sorts of credit cards
- Offload security issues for storing credit card numbers
- Better developer API support(e.g Amazon FPS and Paypal)
- Disadvantages
- Not purely integrated into website(but co-branding is available)
- Fees are not negotiable, may be higher for high volume
We’re leaning towards the latter. Anybody have any experience with other solutions or have any recommendations they can offer ?