[Asterisk-biz] Open source billing poll

[snacktime]

A few weeks back I started a thread regarding an open source billing
solution.  I havent' forgotten it and have been working on putting up
a website and thinking it through a bit more.

Before I go making assumptions about what people want I thought I
would ask first.  The question I have is in regards to billing through
a third party processor, or having code that connects directly with
bank networks.  Connecting directly to bank networks requires some of
the code being closed source, and also makes the whole application
more complex.  It also adds to my own cost since I have to foot the
bill to go through the certifications and pay the associated fees.  At
this point certification is just busy work for me, but it does take a
lot of time and a certain amount of $$ depending on the network.  If
it's not viewed as a bug plus, I might just skip it for the time
being.

So the first question.  Would it be a huge plus to have software that
connects directly to the financial institution, or would connections
to online payment processors such as Verisign/Authorizenet be
sufficient?  One plus of going direct is you get rid of the
transaction fees from the payment processors (although that does not
get rid of the merchant account fees).  For some processors that have
pay as you go plans with low limits, I can see a $.25 transaction
charge actually being an issue.


Secondly,  if the answer to question 1 is to use an online payment
processor, would you rather use their recurring billing system, or
have open source software that handles that part that can be
customized?

Chris