Which E-Commerce service should I use?

[ChrisP]

I don't trust Paypal. I have an account, but use it only when absolutely necessary, and keep my balance as small as possible. They closed my old account permanently* after I "got the password wrong" too many times (I was certain that it was the correct password). I was glad I'd decided not to leave any money in there!

* I did have the option of faxing a bunch of documents to them to prove my identity, but I really couldn't be bothered. Too much work for $1!

The main reason, though, is that the full vendor services (Plimus, BMT, etc.) do all the commerce junk for you. I like knowing that all the complicated shopping cart and tax and fraud-prevention crap has been outsourced and I don't have to worry about it. The last thing I want to be doing is figuring out how much VAT I have to charge someone and dealing with fraudulent transactions and so on. It's worth a small percentage to be free of all that.

[Escapee]

I try to limit my account balance to less than **** at any given period , I would spend the fund on stuffs ( that sometimes i don't really need ) or advertisement just to keep the balance below **** with fear that i may get locked up for reason that's beyond my imagination.

Just do search on paypal *&*^ you know what i meant ( it's scary) .

http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=e...G=Search&meta=

http://www.google.com.my/search?hl=e...e+Search&meta=

[jetro]

The main reason, though, is that the full vendor services (Plimus, BMT, etc.) do all the commerce junk for you. I like knowing that all the complicated shopping cart and tax and fraud-prevention crap has been outsourced and I don't have to worry about it. The last thing I want to be doing is figuring out how much VAT I have to charge someone and dealing with fraudulent transactions and so on. It's worth a small percentage to be free of all that.

Does this hardness of VAT-stuff apply only to you who live in US, having to cope with states and VAT rules when selling to EU?

Or do you, who live in EU, think that the VAT is enough of an hassle not to handle it yourself? If I have understood correctly, VAT is fixed rate when selling inside EU and no VAT when selling to non-EU contries (selling electronic goods in internet), when your business resides in EU.


In practice, how the fraud handling is better with commerce providers like bmt/plimus, compared to e.g. paypal? You end up paying anyway for chargebacks, don't you? How big problem this is nowadays? I have a feeling that the criticism against PayPal might be slightly exaggerated, coming from a small but loud minority of people who have had unlucky stuff happening to them.

[ChrisP]

Does this hardness of VAT-stuff apply only to you who live in US, having to cope with states and VAT rules when selling to EU?

Or do you, who live in EU, think that the VAT is enough of an hassle not to handle it yourself? If I have understood correctly, VAT is fixed rate when selling inside EU and no VAT when selling to non-EU contries (selling electronic goods in internet), when your business resides in EU.

The world is bigger than the United States and the EU, you know. ;-)

I'm in Australia. I don't know what the VAT rules are for me selling things in the EU, and frankly I don't want to have to care. I want to be a game developer, not an international tax expert. :)

I have a feeling that the criticism against PayPal might be slightly exaggerated, coming from a small but loud minority of people who have had unlucky stuff happening to them.

That's what I thought. Then it happened to me.

Sorry to be so melodramatic, but them's the facts.

[GolfHacker]

I'm in the process of switching to Plimus, and it looks like one of the payment options they accept is PayPal. So customers who prefer to use PayPal can still do so.

I've had my own merchant account for the past 4 years, but I'm switching for several reasons.

• VAT - I didn't have to worry about this before because my annual company revenue was small enough that it was under the EU radar screen (I think the legal threshold was 10G), but that is no longer the case. Don't want to deal with the nightmare that is VAT by myself - this is a good thing to outsource.
• Fees - factoring in my merchant account, shopping cart, payment gateway, and fraud detection package fees from last year, it exceeded the 10% base fee Plimus offers. So Plimus is now cheaper for me.
• CD - Plimus offers CD on demand, which I like because my CA business license prohibits me from selling physical product unless I get a Resellers Permit, which would require quarterly tax statements - more paperwork, ugh!
• Payment options - With my merchant account, I only accepted MC and Visa because accepting other cards increased my fees. With Plimus, I can accept a much wider range of cards and payment options.
• Affiliates - Through Plimus, I can sign up affiliates.

Once I have Plimus set up, I'm thinking of looking into BMT for backup.

[cliffski]

In practice, how the fraud handling is better with commerce providers like bmt/plimus, compared to e.g. paypal? You end up paying anyway for chargebacks, don't you? How big problem this is nowadays? I have a feeling that the criticism against PayPal might be slightly exaggerated, coming from a small but loud minority of people who have had unlucky stuff happening to them.

BMT reply within 24-48 hours to any email in my experience. Paypal do not, if at all. Also, i tend to deal with the same people at BMT each day (Kim and Barb).
that makes a huge difference.

[lennard]

I wish BMT would add a few more things to their service - primarily I would like to be able to contact all buyers of a piece of software with one swell foop, I mean, mass emailing - but otherwise I have to give a big thumbs up to BMT. I used to use PayLoadz and PayPal - never had a complaint but the pay structure was better with BMT so I switched and haven't looked back.

[papastiffy]

I am also all freeware but I'm looking to get into shareware. I had a peek at Google Checkout but haven't seen it as an example in this thread yet. Is there something wrong with using Google Checkout?
It also seems simple enough, flat rates per transaction and discounts for using Adwords(which I was going to be using anyway).

[realtime44]

Hey Everyone!
I just wanted to say, great thread! Extreamly useful stuff here!!!

Thanks,
Realtime

[DanFromFastSpring.com]

Here are results from a survey of 166 software vendors:

http://successfulsoftware.net/2009/1...tware-vendors/

[Acord]

Paypal's never done me wrong, but I only need something that does donations :D

[AbhinavC]

I registered with BMTMicro and it was easy to setup. They also provide custom layouts and can pay you both by wiretransfer and paypal.
I will know once I start selling (hopefully soon)

[GnadeGames]

I agree that BMT have the best Customer Service around. Their one problem is that they do not have some of the features and customization of Plimus....sure you can contact them and get them to set it up on their end, but I always liked how Plimus handled bundling, promotions, etc.

[RichHW]

We've just started using BMT - and so far they have been very flexible.

[DanFromFastSpring.com]

Be sure to take a look at FastSpring as well. You've never experienced this type of customer service as a game developer.

[DanFromFastSpring.com]

FastSpring works with various gamers like:

Studio Eres (Immortal Defense)
Nifflas (Saira)
Distractionware (VVVVVV)
PomPom games (Astro Tripper)
hermitgames (Leave Home)
Alastair John Jack (Arvoesine)
Arcen Games (AI War)
Ludosity Interactive (Bob Came In Pieces)
Data Realms (Cortex Command)
Backyard Ninja Design (The Great White Destroyer)

[DanFromFastSpring.com]

I accidentally posted multiple times. My apologies.