To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2004 03:08:54 -0500
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Re: The End of Austerity?
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 22:22:32 -0500 (EST) "Keith F. Lynch"
<kfl at KeithLynch.net> writes:

  We could have a "secure
> shopping cart" to sell convention memberships, books, etc. online
> to
> anyone with a credit card or a paypal account.  (I would need some
> help setting it up.  Anyone here have any experience with CGI
> scripts?
> With billing credit cards?)
>

Possibly the easiest and cheapest way to arrange to accept credit card
payments on the web is to get a PayPal business account, which is free
(or nearly so) for small businesses.  PayPal provides a link which
redirects a buyer using a credit card to a secure PayPal interface.
PayPal processes the charge, and transfers the money to the PayPal
account.  There is a small fee imposed on each transaction.  I think
PayPal also provides a basic shopping cart interface.

Another option would be for an individual club member to get a business
PayPal account in their own name.  PayPal requires having a street
address, a U.S. bank account and a credit card.

Traditional merchant credit card accounts are available for small
organizations such as WSFA, some for a monthly maintenance fee of as
little as about $10, and they usually require opening an account at a
designated bank to receive the funds.  But that would not necessarily
include a web interface for accepting credit card charges - such a
feature might cost substantially more than $10 per month, from a
traditional bank, as opposed to from PayPal.

Another advantage of using PayPal is that people can pay using their
Paypal account, if they have one.

Ron Kean

.

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