Internet & Tech: Micropayment Alternatives

I'm looking for a merchant provider that will allow me to accept small payments, one or two dollars, without killing me with service fees. I've spoken to paypal, which would allow me to use their personal account for free transactions, but I can only receive up to $500 per month, which is way too little.

Another company I found is [url=http://www.bitpass.com]Bitpass[/url] but they seem a little shady. They want 15% per transaction but make you sign in through Microsoft Passport, then create an account with them, then transfer money from Paypal or another online fund into your Bitpass account, just to make a transaction. It's just way too many steps.

So if you know of any merchant providers that offer a secure and customizable API without yanking a percentage from each sale while also charging a service fee, I'd appreciate it if you could direct me their way. Thanks.[/url]

Yeah, Guy's a director for the company. I've found a couple other companies, [url=http://www.peppercoin.com/index.shtml]Peppercoin[/url] and [url=http://www.micropayments.com/index.html]Surfpin[/url]. Neither dive too deep into their services, associated costs or the actual function of their service, so I'll get in touch with each of them this week.

Do you guys think there'd be any alternative methods for me to electronically receive such small payments? One alternative is to offer the service with limited accessability for free and charge ten or so dollars a month for a full-fledged version, which is something that's a little too conventional for this idea.

I will send an e-mail to each of them, but I think their payment procesess and APIs are much too complex compared to a merchant account. We'll see. I'm going to search for cheap merchant accounts and see what I can find. Most of them still want a couple percent plus $.30 per transaction. Which one offering something for $1 or $2 really kills a lot of your potential earnings.

I spoke to Steve, one of two brothers who own and operate [url]www.merchant-accounts.ca[/url], and all I can say is they are the best merchant account provider I've ever spoken to. Steve was great at helping me determine what I need and how to gain the bank's confidence so there's no rollover or currency fees. I'll be applying for my account in a month and half from now and was walked through how to ensure that I get approved for a merchant account.

Steve was a great salesman and spent nearly an hour on the phone with me clarifying all the issues and questions I could throw at them. Definitely check them out, whether you're in the US or Canada, if you're looking for a merchant account.