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Ask HN: Do BillingCircle, Spreedly, Chargify, Cheddargetter need Authorize.net?

13 points by breck ↗ HN
I'm comparing the 4 services above, but don't yet have an Authorize.net account. Would it be better to get an Authorize.net account first?

The end goal is to move off of PayPal to manage our subscription billing.

Can someone explain exactly what I need? It seems like at least Authorize.net, one of the services above, and maybe also a merchant bank account. Thanks!

9 comments

[ 286 ms ] story [ 1472 ms ] thread
jasonlbaptiste
From what I can tell, yes. There's 3 parts to this equation:

1- Logic engine that handles all the complicated stuff (chargify, zuora,etc.) 2- Merchant processor that handles the actual processing of the charges. They're the ones taking 2-3% (or less or more) 3- Bank account that stores your money until you feel like spending it on hookers and blow.

trevelyan
You need a merchant account in the name of your business. Whichever credit card processor you use will send your funds directly to that account. So if you haven't incorporated, you will need to take care of that in order to get a merchant account. Be aware that where you incorporate will affect what credit card processors will do business with you and the rates you will consequently get. Things will be easiest if you incorporate in the United States.
shpxnvz
Both Chargify and Spreedly require a payment gateway of some sort, no idea about the others.

I believe Chargify only supports Authorize.net currently, and it looks like Spreedly supports a few more.

Authorize.net is only the payment gateway, so you'll need a merchant account as well. A merchant account with a bank is where you have the transaction fee (flat fee per transaction) and discount rate (percentage per transaction). The payment gateway is a monthly fee on top of that ($10 p/month or so), and then you have the fees for the recurring billing service as well (and any special services they require, for instance Chargify requires the customer management part of the Authorize.net API which is another $20 a month or so).

As far as the merchant account goes, start with this blog post: http://danieltenner.com/posts/0006-how-to-get-a-merchant-acc...

breck
Thanks, very helpful.
_pius
Payment gateways, merchant accounts ... there's gotta be someone working on simplifying this side of the equation.
ibsulon
Yep... Amazon, Paypal, and Google.
BigDave
Paypal, Amazon FPS, and Google Checkout are all more expensive and require your customer to leave your application to setup another account with on of the aformentioned services. A traditional merchant account/gateway is the only way to go if you want to appear professional and save money.
marcguyer
CheddarGetter does not require a merchant account or gateway while kicking the tires or while you are in the development or testing phase. You will need a merchant account and gateway before you accept real money but the two processes can run concurrently.
gopsig
Yup, we started writing to the CheddarGetter API immediately for ScheduleThing. All of the payment gateway stuff is simulated nicely until you're ready to go live.