In late 2013 Google Checkout shut down permanently. This has left us with only Paypal as a payment option, and some members are unable to pay us using it (or do not wish to use Paypal). So, we need a new payment processor.

The current plan is to take all of the potential payment processors and call a vote of the membership, implementing the top two choices as soon as possible.

1. Goals

• Accepting payments from countries that paypal does not support
• Acceptable to members who hate Paypal

For reference, Paypal charges 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction, and slightly more for payments originating in some countries

2. Candidates

List any payment processor you might want to support here. All options will be added to a poll, and the leading ones will be implemented.

2.1. Coinbase

• https://coinbase.com/merchants

• fees: 1% + $0.15 for every ACH to our account
  • Really low! They are also waiving the 1% conversion fee from the looks of it. However, the fee is per ACH (for daily receipts) so we can't really associate it with any given member. With fees so low, however, we could simply enter the transfer fee as a general bill.
• Overstock.com is accepting bitcoin, why aren't we? (Automatically converted to USD of course)
• Payment button support, so we could continue our manual payment processing (path of least resistance / fast implementation)

2.2. Stripe

• https://stripe.com/us/pricing

• fees: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction
• reddit uses them
• supports recurring payments
• requires us to set up automatic payment processing
  • Higher integration effort, but then we'll have automated payments

3. Non-Candidates

These payment processors are not going to work.

• Square
  • Their online payment processing is for their digital market only
  • They only accept US credit cards anyway
• Direct ACH

  • We might be able to, but it requires the treasurer to ask the bank a number of questions. Perhaps after Election2014 if there is interest.