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Grex > Coop11 > #94: Accepting Credit Cards on Grex | |
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| Author |
Message |
| 25 new of 29 responses total. |
aruba
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response 4 of 29:
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May 7 21:23 UTC 1999 |
Ah, OK. I get it.
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devnull
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response 5 of 29:
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May 8 00:22 UTC 1999 |
My understanding is that you can enter the credit card number using the keypad
of at least some card swiping machines.
I don't believe it is actually necessary to get a VeriSign
certificate. You only get to get it from them if you want certain
netscape warnings to go away. Maybe someone else knows more aobut this
than me? (I have certainly dealt with non-verisign certificates at MIT.)
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dang
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response 6 of 29:
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May 8 15:35 UTC 1999 |
No, it isn't necessary to get a certificate. However, if we're
accepting credit cards, and don't have a certificate, someone could run
a "man in the middle" attack and steal credit card numbers from our
members. This would, IMHO, be really bad.
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richard
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response 7 of 29:
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May 10 21:50 UTC 1999 |
with credit cards, grex could set up automatic payment options, where
dues could be taken automatically out of one's checking account or
credited to credit card every month. most companies offer some form
of automatic payment options these days, which is often convenient for
those who are forgetful (and forgetting to renew an expired membership
can be quite easy Im sure)
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dang
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response 8 of 29:
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May 10 23:37 UTC 1999 |
If we have someone's CC number, we can do that. Checking, however, we
couldn't do unless they had a Checking Visa, or some such.
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richard
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response 9 of 29:
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May 11 21:43 UTC 1999 |
if the phone company can process automatic payments directly from
one's checking account, why cant grex>?
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pfv
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response 10 of 29:
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May 11 21:58 UTC 1999 |
geezus.. *sigh*
Who owns the transmission systems?
Who owns the technology?
Who has the money to throw at it?
If you answer "Grex" to any of these, you should be shot.
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scott
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response 11 of 29:
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May 11 22:07 UTC 1999 |
If we had the economy of scale that the phone company has... no problem. But
with ~100 members it is a bit more difficult.
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lilmo
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response 12 of 29:
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May 12 02:05 UTC 1999 |
Actually, I don't think automatic debits would be that hard, or expensive (I
could be wrong, of course). I think we would just need an ACH membership,
and a few simple forms. Of course, I have no earthly idea how much it is to
get on with ACH...
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devnull
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response 13 of 29:
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May 22 04:20 UTC 1999 |
My understanding is that grex probably could do ACH. And I'd probably be
happy to use it if grex supported it. This does not, however, imply that
I expect the amount of effort saved from supporting ACH to make the treasurer's
life easier than just getting checks from me.
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danr
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response 14 of 29:
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May 22 17:13 UTC 1999 |
I can't say that I studied completely #0, but I'd be more in favor of something
like billpoint. The transaction fees are higher, but there are no up-front
costs, so our exposure is less. Also, administering this would be less work
for the treasurer.
After we get a feel for how well this works, we could then shift to a program
that was more advantageous financially to us.
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rtg
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response 15 of 29:
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May 23 00:52 UTC 1999 |
For some reason, I've been getting a lot of spam lately which advertises
low-cost ways to get into the internet commerce business, including accepting
credit cards. I refuse to encourage them by responding to spam ads, but if
you're interested, I'll scan my spam files and pull together a list of
contacts..
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scg
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response 16 of 29:
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May 23 01:38 UTC 1999 |
Most of those spams tend to be fradulent, as far as I can tell.
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jshafer
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response 17 of 29:
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May 29 22:21 UTC 1999 |
Agreed, don't do business with anyone who has to resort to spam to
advertise.
Re: keeping track of members' card numbers, I don't know if it would be
a good idea or if it would be necessary. The cards expire often enough
that it might be pointless...
I know I would trust Mark to keep my card # somewhere, but don't know
if many would, or if I'd want to impose such a burden on him.
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aruba
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response 18 of 29:
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Jun 1 15:08 UTC 1999 |
My plan would be to keep all credit card numbers encrypted, with the password
known only to the treasurer. Of course they would be on my machine, not on
Grex.
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srw
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response 19 of 29:
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Aug 1 04:18 UTC 1999 |
It's been two months since the last pasting here. Did this die?
I think we need to focus on an inexpensive way to get payments from
abroad, and not try to use CCs as a way rebill the member for each
payment (although I suppose we could - it's not the main point).
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srw
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response 20 of 29:
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Aug 1 04:19 UTC 1999 |
(err posting)
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aruba
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response 21 of 29:
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Aug 1 14:25 UTC 1999 |
Accepting credit cards is not dead, no. At the May board meeting we voted to
allocate $200 to start an account. dang has been working on this, and just
recently I got a packet from the credit card company we selected (Charge
Solutions). They need a credit card number from us in order to bill fees.
I've asked our bank for a debit card so we can do that. I explained to the
woman what we wanted to do, so I *hope* she understood and is sending us a
card with a 16-digit number, not just an ATM card. We'll see in about 2
weeks.
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janc
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response 22 of 29:
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Aug 19 20:32 UTC 1999 |
Progress report on this (I'm temporary treasurer right now).
The bank sent us a Cyberspace Communications VISA card. There were
some problems in getting it activated, but today I was finally able
to get it activated, so we are OK on this. We needed this because the
company that runs the secure server needs to use it to charge us various
fees.
So the application to Charge Solutions is mostly ready to send. It
needs signatures from the company president. Mark had suggested we do
that at the next board meeting. There is also a blank named "Business
License #" (which is different from "Tax ID #"). Mark left it blank and
didn't say anything about it. I don't know what it is or if we need it.
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i
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response 23 of 29:
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Aug 19 23:47 UTC 1999 |
I'd guess that the State sales tax license # or Corporate ID # is what
they're looking for.
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janc
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response 24 of 29:
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Aug 22 17:09 UTC 1999 |
"Tax ID #" is asked for in another blank (already filled in as
38-2998091, which is our Employer Identification Number - pretty much
the corporate equivalent of a SSN). The State Sales Tax License Number
sounds plausible - only I don't know what ours is.
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i
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response 25 of 29:
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Aug 22 18:26 UTC 1999 |
I'm about 90% sure that it would be B 38-2998091. (I think that the
leading 'B' is a geographical region code, and is often omitted.) If
the context is "legal type of organization....state of incorporation....
names of officers....etc." then it's more likely that they're looking
for the Corporate ID #, which could be found on the incorporation papers
that we filed with the State of Michigan or (probably) an annual State
corporation registration renewal form.
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aruba
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response 26 of 29:
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Aug 23 18:13 UTC 1999 |
Walter is correct that the sales tax license number is the same as our
tax id number. I don't know that we have any other identifying numbers.
(I am away from home right now, so I can't check the papers.)
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janc
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response 27 of 29:
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Aug 23 18:36 UTC 1999 |
I just looked over the paperwork, and it looks like they also want a photocopy
of our Articles of Incorporation and DBA papers. This really has to wait to
Mark gets home to send. I'll get John's signature on it tonight so that that,
at least will be all done.
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don
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response 28 of 29:
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Aug 26 01:18 UTC 1999 |
This response has been erased.
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