One-Stop Payment Processing
from Gordon Whyte
A look at iBill Complete
Have you had problems with payment processing? Many small businesses find that this is by far the trickiest part of setting up an E-Commerce Web site. The difficulty is that payment processing usually consists of several elements, which have to be organised and paid for separately. At the very least, there will be a shopping cart/checkout system, a payment processing company and a merchant account. There are, however, one-stop solutions such as those offered by Internet Billing Company, Ltd (iBill). About iBill
iBill is one of the best-known and most successful companies providing payment processing services to small businesses in the US. The company has been around, in one form or another, since 1986 and has been involved in on-line transaction processing since 1997. iBill has around 120 employees and is based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
There are currently two payment processing services offered. Processing Plus is a comprehensive service for businesses that choose to use a merchant account and offers features such as shopping cart functionality and fraud control.
iBill Complete is a totally outsourced solution that handles the entire payment processing process,. It looks ideal for small Web-based businesses.
IBill Complete
For businesses selling tangible products (i.e. products that have to be physically shipped to the customer), iBill Complete comes in two versions. A shopping cart version, which can be integrated into an existing site using some simple HTML and a completely hosted version ($9.95 monthly hosting fee) for businesses that don't have a Web site. Both have the same robust payment processing facilities with fraud control to reduce the risk of chargebacks, as well as marketing tools including RevShare and Loyalty Discount. Multiple payment options are offered, including credit cards, on-line checks, and telephone billing.
Intangibles
iBill Complete is also suitable for selling intangible goods such as downloadable software or reports and subscriptions. Many small Web-based businesses operate this way, but it's usually difficult to sell intangibles using conventional shopping carts and payment systems. In this case, though, there are a range of payment options available that should cover the requirements of most businesses. One-time and recurring payments can be collected and there are options for password and PIN systems to cope with charges for subscription or hosting services.
Overall, iBill Complete looks like an excellent solution for many small Web-based businesses. Unfortunately, there is a downside and, not surprisingly, it's cost. iBill will charge 15% on each transaction, although there are discounts for volume. This is quite high when compared to conventional merchant account solutions, and may not be acceptable to small business trying to compete in low-margin markets, if indeed there are any still trying to do this on the Web. For many small businesses, especially those selling intangibles and subscriptions, removing the hassle and worry of collecting payment will be worth the additional cost.
