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http://www.ecommerce-guide.com/resources/product_reviews/article.php/128841
By Kevin Reichard May 28, 1999 Since online credit-card authorization services are popping up like wildflowers, companies need distinguishing features which sets them apart from the pack which the well-conceived ComBill platform does by combining 24x7 authorization services with enhanced customer tracking and business reporting. The platform enables Web-based businesses to conduct secure e-commerce instantly and cost- effectively. ComBill provides a 24x7 online merchant reporting and monitoring system with instant notification of new activity and the ability to block or audit customer activity in real-time. The powerful back end Oracle database also provides the ability to track customers. The actual billing capabilities are extensive, with real-time credit-card processing supported for MasterCard, VISA, American Express, Discover and Japan Card. In the case of ComBill, real time is real time -- merchants can block or audit activity in instantly and can be notified of new activity immediately. In addition, ComBill processes online checks with the same instant verification. Businesses can also set up a subscription management service that handles recurring billings of either credit cards or checking accounts. As with most of the popular services these days, ComBill provides a link to the ComBill processing service, which can be accessed from a Web page on the merchant site. A secure Java program (using the Secure Sockets Layer or SSL for security) acquires the data and sends it to the Oracle back-end database, which handles the actual billing. Payments from credit-card companies are paid immediately and sent to a merchant account. The ComBill system is really geared to smaller businesses that don''t need any integration with a back-end inventory system and want to use the ComBill inventory-management capabilities for order fulfillment. When a customer is released to the ComBill Web site, ComBill manages the transaction and sends back a purchase order with the ComBill transaction code via electronic mail. The merchant must enter the transaction on their system and make sure the shipment is made. (The purchase order will contain shipping and tax information so that the customer is properly charged.) For larger corporations that want to tie in a billing system with a larger e-commerce initiative, ComBill''s Oracle back-end will interface with most database-driven fulfillment systems or EDI system. ComBill data is available in JDBC and ASCII formats and can be set up to automatically interface with databases supporting these formats. The entire ComBill system is based on Java, which means that there can be some extensive customization done between the ComBill system and your system. For all businesses, the extensive tracking capabilities offered by ComBill is useful. An administration section on the ComBill secure server provides all information about ordering activity, including a record of previous orders. The secure server also contains order status information so that when ComBill e-mails an order confirmation to a customer, a URL linking to client-shipping information is also sent to the customer. When a merchant receives an order, they must enter the shipping information into the ComBill system and only when a product actually ships are funds released to the merchant account. ComBill will work with most popular shopping-cart software. ComBill directly supports several shopping-cart packages; check with the company for the specifics. Partnerships are important in the electronic-commerce world and this is an area where ComBill is weakest when compared with the competition. Currently ComBill has relationships with only Charter Pacific Bank and Imperial Bank to automatically set up merchant accounts necessary for Internet billing. It''s becoming hard for competitors in the authorization field to distinguish themselves. In the case of ComBill, there are some pluses not offered by the competitors, including a totally Java-based system and an Oracle back-end that will make it easy to connect fulfillment and customer back-end databases. For larger corporations this connectivity will be important, but for smaller businesses who want a turnkey system, ComBill may not as appropriate a choice as other credit-card processing services. Pros: Can authorize Internet credit-card and check payments; works from Java and an Oracle back end. Cons: SET is not supported; limited relationships with merchant bankers. |
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