MVC and multiple google checkout merchant ids

Question

This will be my first time to handle credit card transactions and merchant ids. I have a site that offers services to both event organizers and its users. If a user would want to buy tickets for an event, I want the money to go to the organizers directly. I was thinking I have to handle this with an organizer having their own merchant ids and just store them. My question is though, do I have to ask for their merchant key as well?

As a follow up question, is this a better way to handle transactions instead of having just one merchant id (the website) and funnel the money through it and distribute to the organizers from the users, at the same time charging them for some extra fee?

Answer 1

I want the money to go to the organizers directly

Then you should think of your implementation as a "service provdier only" that has Google Checkout "integrated" into your service. Your relationship is defined as such - while your customers - event organizers and their customers have their own relationship(s) with Google Checkout

This way you are not party to the transaction that occurs between them and Google Checkout.

Additionally, Google Checkout only pays out directly to the merchant (they don't have any other type of "disbursement" that I know of).

is this a better way to handle transactions instead of having just one merchant id (the website) and funnel the money through it and distribute to the organizers from the users, at the same time charging them for some extra fee

I think you already realize the pitfalls just by asking it - you realize that its not just a technical matter - you have your own liability to think about when you are party to the transaction(s).

• What would you do on a chargeback? It's your account that is "hit" by that...
• What would you do on a refund?
• What would you do when there is a dispute between event organizer and their customer?

In these sample cases, you will have to deal with all of them - your "users" are "irrelevant" to Google Checkout (they don't "exist" in Google's eyes).

Also, I'm no lawyer btw, but Google doesn't allow any "fee" that is somehow added to the transaction for use of Google Checkout, per their TOS.

Answer 2

If your merchant account is used for sales then you're reselling the event tickets.

As a reseller, you can provide a very clean experience to your customers. But you'd be paying the event organizers later on (not in the same transaction). A good reason to pay the event organizers later is that you can hold all or part of their money in escrow to cover yourself in the case of a chargeback.

If you want the customer's money to go directly to the event organizers, I think there are some methods:

1. The customers sell via paypal, google checkout, authorize.net, etc. You direct the customer to the (event organizers) payment page and then back to your site. I think this is what EventBrite is doing. You'd need to collect your fee from the event organizer separately. (You could simultaneously charge a credit card owned by the event organizer.)

2. You use Amazon Payments which explicitly includes a 3rd party feature. -- It enables you (the 3rd party) to control a transaction that occurs between two other parties (the event organizer and the end customer)

Good luck!