CALIFORNIA SOFTWARE LABS

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1 CALIFORNIA SOFTWARE LABS R E A L I Z E Y O U R I D E A S California Software Labs 6800 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 100 Pleasanton CA 94566, USA. Phone (925) Fax (925) info@cswl.com

2 A Technical Report The paper provides a comparitive analysis of different credit card processing systems, with regard to aspects like versatility, ease of use, cost and other features. Technical Expertise Level : Intermediate INDEX INTRODUCTION... 3 CYBER CASH:... 3 EASE OF USE:... 3 VERSATILITY:... 3 COST:... 4 SERVICES:... 4 SPECIAL MENTION:... 5 VERISIGN:... 6 EASE OF USE:... 6 VERSATILITY:... 6 COST:... 6 SERVICES:... 6 SPECIAL MENTION:... 7 AUTHORIZE.NET:... 7 EASE OF USE:... 7 VERSATILITY:... 8 COST:... 8 SERVICES:... 8 SPECIAL MENTION:... 9 CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 2

3 INTRODUCTION This paper takes a closer look at three credit-card processing systems, namely Cyber Cash Authorize.net VeriSign's Payment Solutions In this appraisal, we considered different criteria such as: Ease of use Versatility (in terms of processors and platforms) Cost Services provided Any special features and advantages of the services are also detailed. CYBER CASH: Ease Of Use: Cyber Cash provides a Merchant Connection Kit that takes care of the connection from the merchant to the Cyber Cash services. This kit is relatively easy to use. Cyber Cash allows the user to access information about his transactions directly from the website or by means of Command APIs. Versatility: Cyber Cash supports different languages like Perl,C,and ASP. It also provides support for a wide range of processors. It allows both manual and automated transaction settlement. It allows for voiding of transactions, and allows returns back to the customer in case of refunds. CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 3

4 Cost: CASH REGISTER PRICING Setup $495 Monthly Fee $20 Fee Per Transaction $0.20 FRAUD PATROL PRICING (The prices in brackets are valid when Fraud Patrol is chosen) Setup Fee $99.00 [$495.00] Monthly Fee $39.00 [$59.00] Fee Per Transaction Transactions per month Rate <1000 $0.18 [$0.20] $0.17 [$0.19] $0.165 [$0.18] $0.16 [$0.175] $0.155 [$0.165] $0.15 [$0.16] $0.145 [$0.15] Services: Cyber Cash offers the following services: Cash Register This is a better-integrated product than most available in the market. The company provides Command APIs and Message APIs that are rich in features. Security is through triple DES encryption. CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 4

5 Fraud Patrol This is a good product that uses neural network technologies to grow from experience. The software uses a database that includes almost 80% of the total credit card transactions in US, and about 60% of all transactions world-wide. Automated Clearing House(ACH) This is a system where the merchant can accept electronic check payments from clients. The feature is not strongly emphasised in the company s documents, and other competition products seem to better in this particular area, specifically Authorize.net. Address Verification System(AVS) This is a means to check the address of the credit card holder. Special Mention: 1. The company provides service solutions to more than 27,500 Internet merchants and has shipped more then 145,000 copies of its product 2. The company has been put for auction as part of its restructuring policy and April 10 has been set as the last date for receiving bids.the company has however said that it will continue its transactions during this period also, predicting 11 million transactions during this month alone. CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 5

6 VERISIGN: Ease of use: The product is relatively easy to use. The SDK provided for the client to connect with VeriSign Servers, is lightweight. Modifying a single parameter is sufficient to implement a wide range of operations. Versatility: VeriSign offers two approaches to credit card transactions. The merchant can either host the web pages at his own site or he can transfer the client to a secure page at VeriSign. The merchant need not worry about maintaining a Secure connection in this case. VeriSign works for all major credit cards and also has a wider range of options than others. These options include like purchase cards, debit cards and electronic check payments. Cost: Product Setup Fees Monthly Fees #Transactions PayFlow Link $179 $19.95 <1,000 PayFlow Pro $249 $59.95 unlimited $995 unlimited PayFlow Pro w/premium support $249 $995 unlimited< PayFlow FraudScreen $29.95 $0.15 per transaction Services: The main services offered by VeriSign are: PayFlow Link CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 6

7 This product enables the secure page to be stored at the VeriSign Server. This frees the merchant from the worry of maintaining a secure connection. However, this is useful only for merchants with less than 1000 transactions per month. PayFlow Pro: This software is a small TCP/IP enabled messaging agent that controls communication between the application and the VeriSign server. It creates a dedicated SSL TCP/IP level connection thread for each transaction between the client and the server. PayFlow FraudScreen: The FraudScreen must compulsorily be used with PayFlow Pro and never alone. It uses data mining and neural network technologies powered by efalcon. Special Mention: 1. Noted for its domain name and Digital Certificate services. 2. With about 14 million registered users, it has one of the largest business subscriber bases in the Internet ,100 online merchants and 18 million transactions during the past year AUTHORIZE.NET: Ease of use: The product comes with a client SDK that is relatively easy to use. There are only two functions in the SDK, making it easy to handle. CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 7

8 Versatility: Authorize.net supports any business model and over 150 currencies, which makes it quite versatile. It provides both manual and automated transaction management. Cost: They have a reseller scheme whereby pricing is dependent upon the reseller. FraudScreen.Net Setup $0.00 Monthly Fee $20.00 Per Transaction $0.20 Services: Virtual Terminal: This software is meant for traditional merchants. Through the software, the merchant can manually enter transactions through any web-enabled PC. This replaces the standard authorization terminal. WebLink: This is the standard product that enables the merchant to carry out automated credit card transactions. Similar to VeriSign, the merchant has the option of placing the secure page either at his storefront or at the secure servers of Authorize.net echeck.net: CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 8

9 This allows online and traditional merchants to accept electronic checks from their storefront. Pocket Authorize.net: This is a software application that will run on any Internet-enabled hand-held Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) device, allowing people to perform credit card transactions from any place that has cellular service access. This is a free service offered to all Authorize.net customers. The service works with Palm VII Palm VIIx Palm V or Vx with wireless modem HandSpring Visor Prism with wireless modem FraudScreen.net: This is powered by the technology of efalcon. Special Mention: 1. This service is relatively feature-deficient when compared to Cyber Cash 2. Most of the administrative functions have to carried out at the web-site. Unlike Cyber Cash, there are no APIs to perform these programmatically Copyright Notice: 2002 California Software Labs. All rights Reserved. The contents on the document are not to be reproduced or duplicated in any form or kind, either in part or full, without the written permission of California Software labs. Product and company names mentioned here in are the trademarks of their respective companies. CSWL Inc, Pleasanton, California - 9