I am currently planning to develop a web-app which will allow a 3rd party to list and sell their own products on it.
While I have experience with developing e-commerce solutions I personally do not want anything to do with the actual payment system myself (legally rather than technically) so that any transactions are between the buyer and the seller, with myself just as a 3rd party.
I am hesitant to use Paypal as I want to seem professional, plus I don’t trust or like them. I also do not want to use any banking or merchant account as ideally I would need one for each customer (rather than having a centralized one) which would lead to excessive fees placed on the seller.
What is the best way of doing this? I possibly would be willing to accept some part in the transaction (preferrably low-risk) if absolutely necessary. I am looking to minimize fees and overhead as much as possible.
This will be a UK based site initially, but with potential worldwide access. It will also be developed in (probably) PHP but that should be tangential to the issue.
Thanks for any insight!
we run http://www.hitmeister.de a large marketplace in Germany. What you are planning sounds like what we do, quite exactly…
On our system, the contract is between the buyer and the seller. All funds run through our accounts though, making us an intermediary in the transaction. The client can pay through direct debit, credit cards, paypal etc. The seller can only receive the money via bank transfer. We hold the money in escrow until the transaction is complete.
Getting this setup for Paypal and direct debit was not a big problem. Credit card operators generally do not like these arrangements, as you are turning into a (semi-)acquirer. They will do it though, if you talk to them.
Hope that helps