2checkout in v4

[louad]

I noticed 2CheckOut wasn't a payment option in the v4 demo, Is this the actual case? I planned on using only 2checkout as a payment provider. Is that a bad idea?

[Eric Barnes]

We are still going to support 2checkout but it needs to be rebuilt and I haven't had a chance to get it completed yet. It will be available in the official release if not sooner.

[louad]

Is 2co a good provider?

[louad]

Anyone using Google checkout?

[Eric Barnes]

Here is a post I dug up that briefly describes the reason we stopped using 2Checkout. Keep in mind this was from 2005 so I am not sure if it still accurate.

Over the last few months, 2CO has become more strict about being referred to as a reseller of products. They used to be just another payment gateway but, for whatever reason, they now require that you refer to them as a 'reseller'.

We were contacted a couple of months ago (after using 2CO as a payment gateway for almost a year) and told that we were going to have to change our terms of service to refer to them as a 'reseller'. I responded by saying that they don't pay wholesale for our products, stock our products, retail our products, don't provide product support or do anything else required of a retail merchant (or reseller). Therefore, it would confuse our customers to identify them as a reseller and I wasn't going to do it. I never heard back from them.

But since then we use Authorize.net and Paypal and have been 100% happy with authorize.net.

[louad]

Thanks for the reply. No exp. with google checkout?

[Blair]

Wayne-

If you take a look at 2CO's terms of service, you'll see that they don't consider themselves a payment gateway provider. They consider themselves a type of "Online Shopping Mall".

Here's an interesting read meant for the end-user (your customer): https://www2.2checkout.com/documenta...haseterms.html

A couple of years ago, we had some "inaccurate verbage" in our Terms of Service (we were referring to 2CO as a payment gateway). We were contacted and asked to change our TOS to "more accurately reflect 2CO's role" by referring to them as a reseller. I flatly refused. It was misleading to our customers and wrong.

Here's why...
A reseller purchases products at one price (wholesale) and sells them at another price (retail). They also stock the items in anticipation of the sale to the customer. Also, resellers are responsible for customer service if the customer has a problem later. 2CO provides none of these services. Period.

For all intents and purposes, 2CO IS a payment gateway. Yet you're not allowed to refer to them that way. It's misleading and, personally, I think they were probably contacted by one of the big boys (VISA, MC, etc.) who called them on it.

Anyway, the disagreement over verbage in our Terms of Service was the final straw and we closed our account over two years ago. Thankfully, they sent the money that was in our "2CO account". (I've heard horror stories of small business owners NOT receiving the funds after closing their account!)

Not only that but, in my experience, about 2 out of 3 "customer service associates" had no clue how to help with my questions. Also, about 2 out of 3 of them had poor attitudes.

And their "Customer Relationship Methodology" is completely disjointed. Our accounts been closed almost two years and we recieved a newsletter from them a few weeks ago asking if we had any questions about our account.

I'm amazed that they are as big as they are.

So, no, I can't recommend them.

[louad]

Thanks for the info. I know of the "verbage" issue very well. I been looking at 2co for months and have contacted them for the go-ahead on my services. I didn't really look at that as a problem in my case.

I do however look for feedback about their service and attitude and I am glad I got it before I decided on 2co. I don't want more than 1 or 2 payment services and I don't think I'll go with 2co now. They want too much per transaction anyhow.

Guess I'll take a look at Google Checkout now.

[louad]

Looks like you might need a server running 128-bit SSLv3 or TLS to use google api???

[civ]

That's not as difficult as it sounds louad. We are using Google Checkout on our site with a standard Geotrust SSL cert. There are 2 different ways to use GoogleCheckout with 68C and we chose the one that works most like Paypal. We have it working with 68C's built-in Custom Payment Provider feature.

Also, one of the great things about GoogleCheckout right now is that they are charging ZERO fees through 2007!

Good to see a fellow Kentuckian! I was born and bred there!