From what I understand of micropayments, a lack of standards will hamper their acceptance.

The growth rate of the Internet means the skill level of the average Internet user is going down fast. There is a lot of money to be made by converting much of today's commerce to an electronic one. Those running an Internet site need to understand the tradeoffs in making it secure or how the Internet is likely to be secured. There are tools that will work and once management is convinced, the growth with be explosive.

With these new units that will just hook to you tv and phone line and allow you to connect to the Web I can't see how you will be able to charge in microunits. The internet is soon becoming an extension of tv. Fiber optics are being laid in cities, cable tv companies are upgrading there cable to handle higher bandwiths. Tv stations are being gobbled up left and right. It will be made easier for people to connect to the "Superhighway". Changes are happening real fast. For the better???? Who knows?

I have no quarrel with paying for something of value. Some of the things available are of poor quality, some are excellent. How does the customer know if a product is worthwhile? Will they get their money back if they are not satisfied? These questions will have to be answered? I agree with much of the previous comments.

And will the channel they are buying from have security and integrity?

Terry...Where can I find a normral chat room? (like the ones on AOL??)

In the austen conference there is a link to one.

The July issue of ZD Internet Magazine reviewed: Catalog 3.0 www.virtualspin.com 49.95 / mo / 150 items Cat@log 1.0 www.thevisionfactory.com 1,950.00 ECS 3.0 Pro www.icat.com 9,995.00 Creator 4.0 www.formaninteractive.com 149.00 StoreManager www.outreach.com 3,495.00 Intershop O/M www.netconsult.com 4,995.00 (UNIX 7,995.00) Live Store 3.0 www.viaweb.com 100 - 300 / mo Mechant Bldr www.ifact.com 1,495.00 single store OrderPoint 3.0 www.speedware.com 20,000.00 for NT (30k UNIX) All run on NT Server 4.0 with SP 2. They tested all of them. Their "final analysis": Live Store for a fast startup with a small budget. For your own server, iCat electronic commerce suite. At the high end for isps, Intershop Mall.

Has anyone looked at http://www.ibill.com ?

Not yet...

Check it out if you get a chance and compare it to www.cybersource.com And let me know which you think would be the best e-commerce solution for the Spring. We're going to need to start selling things here pretty soon to support this community. I can float it another year or so, but pretty soon the Spring's going to go out and earn a living on it's own.

Will do...

After looking around, not quite sure what you're asking...do you want to be like them, or use them? (and if you're using them, whathca plan on sellin?)

some comments from suebd-is-suebd@well.com I'm looking to open an art gallery/shop connected with a community site, and one of the exhibitors is a jewelry artist, who makes pins, etc. in several different finishes, sizes, metals, etc. So the ordering system needs to be able to deal with that. I'm looking for one of those deals where you don't need a merchant account, and the card processing company takes care of all the credit card stuff and sales tax for you, for a fee of (generally) 15% (but hopefully lower?). I've found three possibilities, and have questions on a couple more - wonder if anyone here has dealt with these folks? http://www.ibill.com/ looks good on paper, but would prefer to pay less than 15% if possible. Any horror stories about Ibill? http://www.securetrans.net/ looks OK too - similar stuff to Ibill, and they also charge 15%. http://www.Kagi.com - the shareware software payment processors, who are starting to branch out into hard good. I fear, though, that their ordering system (a one page thing rather than a cart setup) would be way too simplistic for what I need, and the order form would be about six miles long. Their fees are based on amount of sale, and range from around 8-12%. http://www.merchantonline.com and http://www.outreach.com/ - (Clear Commerce) - both recommended above, but I can't see on their site that they do this particular non-merchant account kind of thing anymore. Unless it's well-hidden. Anyone know for sure? http://www.gmwnet.com - a small business catering to small businesses, allegedly trustworthy and a good guy.

hmmm...