Comparisons of Low-Cost Funds Transfer Systems
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson, E-Commerce Consultant
http://www.wilsonweb.com/wmt6/pay-compare.htm

The tremendous popularity of eBay and other consumer auctions in the
last few years created a need for low-cost means of transferring
money that protect both the seller and the buyer. This has spawned a
number of new solutions -- PayPal, BillPoint, Yahoo! PayDirect, C2it,
eMoneyMail, and BidPay. Of these, only PayPal has really matured to
the point where it is of much use to serious online merchants outside
the auction arena.

We've also listed three e-commerce systems -- CCNow, ClickBank, and
DigiBuy -- that handle the entire credit card transaction. They
require little or no set-up fees, but charge transaction rates from
7.5% to 13.9%. Because of the high transaction fees, these are useful
only for products with a high mark-up.

Finally, we've compared these prices to typical fees paid by
merchants that have both a merchant account and a payment gateway.
These typically require substantial set-up fees, and minimum monthly
fees in addition to a discount rate (percentage of the transaction
amount) and a flat transaction fee.


Overview of each entry-
Restrictions
Percent of Transaction
Transaction
Fee
Monthly Fees and Set-Up Fees
International
US funds are transacted by all these systems

PayPal Premier or Business Account
www.paypal.com
None
2.2% for high-volume "merchant" accounts, 2.9% for newer "standard"
accounts. (Takes effect 7/14/01)
30¢
None
Yes, buyers and sellers in 43 countries, 8 countries can deposit to
local bank.

BillPoint
www.billpoint.com
eBay and Wells Fargo
Standard account limited to $500 transactions, $2000 for merchant
account. Currently limited to eBay sellers.
For transactions over $15, 2.5% + 0.5% (1.75% + 0.5% for high volume
sellers), 1.5% + 0.5% for electronic checks (0.75% + 0.5% for high
volume sellers).
35¢
None
Sellers must be US or Canadian residents. Payments can be received
from 50 countries.

c2it
CitiBank
www.c2it.com
Limited dollar amounts.
1.0%, 50¢ minimum
None
None
No, US residents only.

eMoneyMail
Bank One
www.emoneymail.com
Improvements being made until end of August.
None
$1.00
None
No, US residents only.

BidPay
Western Union
www.bidpay.com
2.25% on funds over $100
$5
None
Yes. But mails checks only to countries with "good" postal systems,
not to the Caribbean, Central & South America, & most African &
Middle Eastern Markets.

Yahoo! PayDirect
paydirect.yahoo.com
No fees currently.
None
None
No, US residents only may be sellers or buyers.

CCNow
www.ccnow.com
Tangible goods
9% (8% in Nov. and Dec.)
None
None
Yes, all countries. Payments may be mailed by regular check or
cashier's check, or wired. Direct deposit for US sellers.

ClickBank
www.clickbank.com
Digital goods, ebooks, or services
7.5%
$1.00
$49.95 set-up fee
Yes, payments mailed by check.

DigiBuy
www.digibuy.com
Digital goods or ebooks, with download service
13.9% or $3, whichever is greater.
None
$29.95 set-up fee
Yes, payments mailed by check.

Merchant Account

None
2.5% discount rate.
10¢ to 30¢
$5 to $25 per month plus often a payment gateway fee of $30 to $60
per month. Application fees vary from $100 to $200+.
A merchants must have a merchant account in his or her own country,
or corporate presence in the US. Exception is Planet Payment and
World Pay.