[ic] RE: CyberCash Bankruptcy

Carlc Internet Services mvu@carlc.com
Sun, 4 Mar 2001 18:52:42 -0500


> Date: Sun, 04 Mar 2001 11:31:33 -0500
> From: Eric Paul <epaul@spellbook.net>
> Subject: [ic] CCVS and CyberCash Bankruptcy
> 
> Could someone who has done a CCVS integration drop me a line 
> with some 
> pointers as to "required reading"? 

Eric,

	My company has done CCVS integration to Minivend 4.04a. We
used 4.04a due to the hacker testing (its been proven safe). If
EWeek does another test session against IC, I'll move my customers
up at that point....

> With CyberCash filing 
> Chapter 11, some 
> of my customers have contacted me about other alternatives.

CCVS has some good sides and some bad sides.

First off, you will need a modem and $500 for the license. THAT
license is for ONE VENDOR (one merchant account). This is not
a good/bad thing in itself, its just a fact. The modem must be
capable of 1200 baud, NO ERROR CORRECTION!. So, if you go use
a new modem, you better find out how to kill error correction
in it. Oh, each additional vendor (where your putting the money
into another bank account) is gonna be $300 per account. Its
reasonable, and I recommend the yearly support (new versions,
call for programming help, etc).

Second, there are not many merchant connectors who know what
CCVS is (let alone how to spell it). In fact, they will fight you
as they want to sell you their product. Be careful, CCVS is WAY
more powerful than their products (and that's what ticks them off,
you have FULL control over every transaction). Check around with
NOVAS, First Data. Again, Redhat has the page that shows who
they are compatible with.

Now for some GOOD stuff. With CCVS, you can get a cheaper rate
for your credit cards (and I mean a LOT!). That's how I was
able to startup my business and stay ahead of all the others.

To connect CCVS into Minivend (or IC), you can do so using the
Globalsub. Check out Redhats pages. There are some on PERL.
You will have to make CCVS emulate the Cybercash calls to a
point, but it will work. I don't remember, but most were in the
Util.pm file. Actually, I have a PERL guru who did the work,
I'm more a systems/network monkey myself.

Ah, and one more bad thing... Bank Debit cards are a real pain
in the u-know-where. Here's why. If you "auth" a visa CREDIT card,
it just checks to see if the balance is available (They want
a T-shirt for $20, sure, they have a credit limit of $5000).
The is NO charge YET. You have to make a "sale" against a previously
authed charge.... Ahhh, but look what happens with a DEBIT card,
the minute you do a "auth" to see if the card is good, the bank
TAKES the money then and there! If you don't do the "SALE", the
money is in limbo and you've got one P.O.ed customer! In fact, you
will get a call from customers saying "Hey, you have my money".
IN fact, you dont, the bank is "HOLDING" it (now you see why I
was complaining about the banks <grin>).

BUT WAIT, THERES MORE! The banks are evil mean Mo-fos. They will
auth a card but DENY the AVS (Address Verification) THEREBY making
you, the merchant, responsible to take the sale... If it fails,
your out the merchandize... In fact, minivend can see that the
AVS failed and wont let the sale go thru, YET the card is charged
during the auth... NASTY NASTY!!!!

I am not trying to discourge you, but you have a lot to do. Obviously,
I can not give out all my secrets (like the integration), right now,
its giving my business a lead over cybercash. I will say this, once
you have it working and tested, its a joy. You can also write your
own connector via PHP, C code, Python or TCL.

> In case you had not heard, here's the press releases from CyberCash:
> 
> http://www.cybercash.com/restructure/

Eric - Between you and me, its music to my ears. My business is 
picking up fast due to them. Thier rates were WAY to high (my 
opinion).

Carl
http://www.carlc.com/