[10818] in Commercialization & Privatization of the Internet
Re: Billing on the net (was Re: Internet vs Minitel)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Stephen Williams)
Thu Mar 10 21:38:05 1994
From: sdw@meaddata.com (Stephen Williams)
To: brad@looking.clarinet.com (Brad Templeton)
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 14:21:27 -0500 (EST)
Cc: com-priv@psi.com
In-Reply-To: <9403100110.aa10995@looking.clarinet.com> from "Brad Templeton" at Mar 10, 94 01:10:20 am
>
> All credit card merchant agreements, with a few special exceptions, forbid
> you making charges on behalf of another party. All it takes is one complaint
> to get caught.
>
> I got merchant accounts with no storefront and no history in the USA at
> all, but that was 2 years ago and I'm told it's a bit harder now.
>
If there is a business relationship, it must be possible and legal.
Let me mention something I just found out and was amazed at:
My wife decided to try selling Mary Kay Cosmetics. They do bizarre
things with sales tax (charge you wholesale+retail sales tax, then you
just keep all the money you get), but the real nifty thing was credit
card processing.
Each 'consultant' is assigned a number and given a little card with an
800 number on it. If you get a credit card sale, you call the number
and touch tone in your id, credit card #/date, and the amount. The
clearing house immediately mails you a check (minus a bank-comparable
4% I believe).
One thing that might help is that they have a 100% money back guaruntee.
Couldn't be easier. Almost nothing to setup, file, keep track of,
credit checks, etc. Not even any sales tax returns to file, since
it's prepaid. (I think this is bizarre because it seems to guaruntee
you will sell at list price.)
Now, why can't we do this? I'd be happy with the following terms:
Up to 5% overhead. Preferably fall automatically as number or
amount of transactions increase. Suitably low to account for
electronic transfer instead of paper or phone call.
For trial period (1-6 months), hold receipts for 30-60 days to
make sure there is no problem. I'd like to see a variety of
options, since hardware sales are high overhead/low margin and
undisputable.
Savings deposit freeze for risky situations. (Possibly only
for trial period.)
Alternate verification for large purchases.
Now all we have to do is all sign up to be Mary Kay Consultants.... :-)
sdw
--
Stephen D. Williams Local Internet Gateway Co.; SDW Systems 513 496-5223APager
LIG dev./sales Internet: sdw@lig.net sdw@meaddata.com
OO R&D Source Dist. By Horse: 2464 Rosina Dr., Miamisburg, OH 45342-6430
Comm. Consulting ICBM: 39 34N 85 15W I love it when a plan comes together
