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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>First posted at: <a
href="http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/amazon-flexible-payment-system.html">http://deancollinsblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/amazon-flexible-payment-system.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Amazon have just announced they are finally opening up their
API's to their credit card processing platform<br>
<a href="https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=devfps/o">https://payments-sandbox.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/business?sn=devfps/o</a><br>
<br>
So does this mean that micropayments have finally been cracked?<br>
<br>
It certainly helps out users because you can easily process a transaction
without entering in credit card details (it uses the credit card details you
have stored on your Amazon account) and for content providers the transaction
fees are finally reasonable to low cost content access.<br>
<br>
For Transactions >= $10:<br>
1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers<br>
2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits<br>
2.9% + $0.30 for credit card transactions. <br>
<br>
More importantly For Transactions < $10:<br>
1.5% + $0.01 for Amazon Payments balance transfers<br>
2.0% + $0.05 for bank account debits<br>
5.0% + $0.05 for credit card <br>
<br>
<br>
So lets say you want to sell a 24 hour access pass to your cartoon library
content for 20c, that’s a pretty reasonable charge for the consumer.<br>
<br>
Up until now this transaction would not have been possible as the access fees
would have been eaten up in transaction costs.<br>
<br>
But using the Amazon FPS your fees would be ($0.20 x 5%) + $0.05= $0.06<br>
This means the content provider would receive $0.14 for selling this 24 hour
limited access license.<br>
<br>
I don’t know about you but that’s probably way more than what they
would have made in click throughs or display advertising.<br>
<br>
There are some issues in that it requires a <st1:country-region w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region>
based credit card for content providers to collect money (hopefully this is a
temporary issue for offshore web content providers) but it doesn’t look
like there are any requirements for incorporation in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">USA</st1:country-region></st1:place> or IRS tax collection issues.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The API’s are well documented and easy enough for any
competent web developer to get you started with under a few hours of
development work.<br>
<br>
What do you think?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Post your comments on the blog if you think this could change
how you do some of your business.<br>
<br>
<font color=black><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:black'>Regards,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=2 color=black face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;
color:black'>Dean Collins<br>
Cognation Inc<br>
<a href="mailto:dean@cognation.net"
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net">dean@cognation.net</span><font
color=black title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
style='color:black'><br
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net">
</span><span
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net"></span></font><font color=black
title="blocked::mailto:dean@cognation.net mailto:dean@cognation.net"><span
style='color:black;text-decoration:none'></span></span></font></a></span></span><U1:DIAL u1:st="on">+1-212-203-4357</U1:DIAL>
<st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:State><br>
<U1:DIAL u1:st="on">+61-2-9016-5642</U1:DIAL> (</span><U1:CITY u2:st="on"><U1:PLACE u2:st="on"></font><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'><ns0:City
w:insAuthor="Dean.Collins" w:insDate="2009-02-05T10:50:00Z"
w:endInsAuthor="Dean.Collins" w:endInsDate="2009-02-05T10:50:00Z"><ns0:place
w:insAuthor="Dean.Collins" w:insDate="2009-02-05T10:50:00Z"
w:endInsAuthor="Dean.Collins" w:endInsDate="2009-02-05T10:50:00Z"><st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font color=black><span style='color:black'>Sydney</span></font></st1:place></st1:City></ns0:place></ns0:City><font
color=black><span style='color:black'></U1:PLACE></U1:CITY> in-dial).<br>
+44-20-3129-6001 (<st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:City>
in-dial).<o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></p>
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