Ask HN: Best payment gateway for storing credit cards?

8 points by krobertson ↗ HN
I'm needing to implement a pay as you go service where you'll put in $5 and that amount gets used up over time as you use the service. Then the user can have an option to auto-refill when they run out.

With this, I'd need a payment gateway that supports storing credit card info and billing at irregular times. Gateways like Authorize.Net can support recurring billing, but it is only at fixed intervals like a day, week, month, etc.

I'd also like a payment gateway that has low monthly minimums. This isn't going to be doing a lot of volume.

Some options I've seen...

* Authorize.Net's CIM service... haven't seen pricing on it, probably varies with each reseller.

* Braintree's Vault... comes highly recommended, but last I heard they still have a minimum of $200 in monthly transaction fees.

* TrustCommerce's Citadel service... read it is $10/month with $0.10 per stored card per month. With a "pay and refill" type service, that could get costly if the user uses the service once then disappears. Would perhaps remove old card after 6 months.

Anyone know of any others?

3 comments

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I use the authorize CIM for this purpose. It works well. It's just an additional monthly fee on top of the other stuff you pay, so it's not any more expensive to charge cards you have stored.
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