In addition, there are two billing options that are unrelated to credit cards. The Web900 program charges customers via their phone bill, with the charge appearing as a 900-number charge, without the use of a credit card. The fees for this service are considerably higher than for credit-card charges, ranging between 20 percent and 35 percent of the
transaction, depending on the charge for the call. You can also choose to accept online checks, where a user passes along their account information and iBill electronically transfers the funds from the account. Again, no credit card is needed, and iBill charges a flat 15 percent fee, with no monthly minimum. You can sign up for any of these services online.
iBill''s Web site also contains a host of useful information about establishing an e-commerce site, along with some of the necessary tools. Be warned that it''s important to know what iBill can do and what it''s not going to do. At its core, iBill offers a set of plans for pure transaction processing, with or without a merchant account on your end. The CMI interface is excellent at tracking transactions, but iBill does not offer the advanced tools needed to interact with, say, a back-end accounting or inventory system.
All in all, iBill is a strong choice for e-commerce sites wishing to add billing services to their e-commerce sites.
Pros: Excellent Web-based administration tools; manages real-time credit-card processing; wide array of plans to meet most needs; rate structure is very reasonable.
Cons: Not an all-in-one solution; no way to link transaction services with back-end databases or accounting tools.
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