firearm friendly payment processor?

[grumpydasmurf]

I'm sure people ask for recomendations on which is the best payment processor. However being that I sell firearm parts and accessories such as magazines and barrels and other parts... well these items are against their acceptable use policies.

 

I see there are several corporate sponsors, but before I begin checking with the various sponsors I was wondering and hoping someone could give me a referral or heads up of a good payment processor who is firearm friendly.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Guest]

I'm sure people ask for recomendations on which is the best payment processor. However being that I sell firearm parts and accessories such as magazines and barrels and other parts... well these items are against their acceptable use policies.

 

I see there are several corporate sponsors, but before I begin checking with the various sponsors I was wondering and hoping someone could give me a referral or heads up of a good payment processor who is firearm friendly.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Have to tried going to some other company's web sites that sell similar items and finding out who they use? I'm not sure they would just tell you, but you might be able to find out another way. Cabella's, Dirt Cheap, Galco, etc. would have to deal with the same issue.

[npn2531]

Are you saying that credit card companies, vampires that would sell their dying grandma for a profit, actually hesistate when it comes to selling guns anonymously over the internet?

[grumpydasmurf]

I actually don't sell guns, but I do sell parts an ammo. You'd be suprised the pariah I am to the corporate community. PayPal? Absolutely not. Craigs List? Even worse. Suprisingly (not realy) these companies are cali based.

 

Yeah I browsed a few sites trying to find out but have been unable to really see who others are using. As for a cabellas or cheaper than dirt, I have nowhere near their volume so that makes me less attractive to processors.

 

Besides I wanted to make sure which ever processor I settled with was completely compatible with OSC. I'm going to have to begin contacting the OSC sponsors asking if they support the 2nd amendment.

[npn2531]

I support the 2nd amendment, 'A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed' , a phase which clearly preserves the right of any and all nutjobs to purchase high velocity bullet proof vest piercing ammunition (Cop Killers rounds), and high capacity magazines so long as they have a credit card and an internet connection.

[Guest]

Thomas,

 

I would suggest contacting your financial institution to see if they have a credit card module or API requirements to process your purchases. The cost to create the API, if one is not readily available would be high, but you won't have to deal with the policies (politics) of online payment processors.

 

 

 

Chris

[grumpydasmurf]

Thomas,

 

I would suggest contacting your financial institution to see if they have a credit card module or API requirements to process your purchases. The cost to create the API, if one is not readily available would be high, but you won't have to deal with the policies (politics) of online payment processors.

 

Chris

Chris, thank you very much for the reply. While in theory that seems to be the right answer, the problem is as you said "the cost will be high". I need to keep the costs down as I am currently starting out and my volume is only a couple orders per month.

 

I run another business that has nothing to do with ecommerce and for that other business I have a terminal in my office and can swipe or key in numbers. Therefore I was thinking for now with my very low volume, keying in numbers won't be too time consuming. At least that may buy me time to find a better solution as volume grows.

[Guest]

Thomas,

 

Before advancing on that idea, you may want to read up on PCI DSS compliance. In most states/provinces it is illegal to accept credit card information electronically for processing offline and/or without a secure API. You may find that doing that will cost you much more than teh development of an API.

 

A company I know of was fined $80.000 in Arizona for non compliance.

 

Chris

[grumpydasmurf]

Now I remember where I remember your name from! I knew we had spoken in the past.

[MrPhil]

I wouldn't be surprised if there were legal liability issues (especially for California-based third-party payment systems) that would cause many payment systems to shy away from firearms-related financing. I'm sure it's not their personal politics -- profit is profit -- but concerns about liability, even if your business is strictly legal and on the up-and-up. As you presumably have no track record (unlike established firms mentioned earlier), they may not want to risk having the ATF knocking on the door. Anyway, if you can't see that these other sites are using a reputable third-party payment processor, they probably have their own merchant accounts and payment gateways to handle credit cards (expensive at low volumes). All I can suggest is that you keep looking for payment systems, if you want credit card payments. You may end up having to bite the bullet (ha ha) and get a merchant account. As Chris said, don't even think about using a POS card system to process ecommerce, unless you can get explicit written permission from your bank to piggyback your e-sales onto it (you will likely have to pay higher rates, as e-sales are riskier for fraud).

 

As for Jase's comments, keep in mind that the 2nd Amendment was intended as an adjunct to the 1st (the 3rd was, as well). "Well-regulated" state militias were encouraged as a means of countering any misuse of a (largely mercenary) Federal army to suppress free speech/government criticism and entrench a non-democratic government. 220 years ago, firearms were so slow firing that they were not a serious crime issue. If our Founding Fathers could have envisioned technological progress on the weapons front, perhaps they would have been a little more careful in their wording to clarify just why they were protecting the ownership of firearms.