[LINK] Paymate

[Roger Clarke]

At 1:05 +0930 18/9/07, Brenda Aynsley wrote:
>Anyone care to comment on its utility, reliability, trustworthiness, 
>privacy concern and security and cost?
>In other words, anything and everything about it.  I have been asked 
>by a 'client' who I work for in an honorary capacity to investigate 
>it for their membership fee and donations collection.  They are not 
>merchants and dont have merchant facilities, so if paymate is not 
>the answer anyone care to suggest what is?

Quick reactions.

As I read the fee schedule, if a casual buyer/subscriber/donor wants 
to remit $100 to a small seller/association, then the costs are $5.95:
-  the buyer pays $103.55 ($100 + 3% + 0.50+GST)
-  the seller receives $97.60 ($100 - 2.4%)

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but that almost makes cheques look *cheap*, 
but maybe I'm failing to factor in the bank's annual fees and the 
cost of interest foregone.  And for a volunteer organisation, 
simplicity, reliability and automated operation is *good* (right, 
Jan?).

For a $25 transaction, the costs are $1.90:
-  the buyer pays $26.30 ($25 + 3% + 0.50+GST)
-  the seller receives $24.40 ($25 - 2.4%)

There appears to be a 1 business day deferral, creating a modest risk 
of default by Paymate.  But you wouldn't think it'd be worth their 
while to get to Brazil on the proceeds of a 1-day-window sting. 
(Okay, so what enforces the 1-day window, eh?).

They say:
*   You are protected by our world-class technology that can identify 
most fraudulent transactions [mmmm ...]
*   Your transactions are secured by our systems with 128-bit 
encryption of all financial data [so I infer https/SSL v3/TLS]
*   Your personal information is protected under our Security & 
Privacy policies  [That gets a fail grade.  They didn't mention L-A-W 
law.  That could mean that they aren't subject to the Privacy Act ...]

I haven't had time to run their 'Terms of Use' against my checklist 
for marketer-consumer communications.  Their Terms are in a dumb 
javascript thing at the bottom of the home-page.
My checklist is at:
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/EC/ICEC06.html#TNT

I also haven't had time to run their Privacy Statement against my template.
Their Privacy Statement is also a dumb javascript thing at the bottom 
of the home-page.  My template is at:
http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/DV/PST.html
(There are some templates around, but I think mine's more useful).


[RFC:  If anyone has the time to put in, I'd greatly appreciate 
feedback on both of my links.  Note that the consumer terms is merely 
a checklist rather than a full template.  When I did that paper last 
year, I was astonished that I couldn't find a decent template 
anywhere.  (I checked with Louise Sylvan, ex ACA/Choice CEO and these 
days Consumer Commissioner at the ACCC, and she couldn't point me to 
a comprehensive template either;  so I had to fling that one 
together).]


-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
                    Tel: +61 2 6288 1472, and 6288 6916
mailto:Roger.Clarke at xamax.com.au                http://www.xamax.com.au/

Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW