Advice on managing bank details

zig

Hi,
I have an idea for a site. For the site to actually do what its supposed to the user would have to submit their bank details, and not just for one transaction. These details would need to be stored.

Im not going to be naive and think that this is a system I would be managing myself on the site, so after doing some research it seems to me that the solution is to find a third party information handler.

Im wondering has anyone any experience with this and what kind of costs are we talking?

FSL

This is an aside but I would never use a site where it was mandatory for my bank or credit/debit card details to be stored.

zig

FSL wrote: »

This is an aside but I would never use a site where it was mandatory for my bank or credit/debit card details to be stored.

This is part of my issue, Im not sure how Google for instance hold onto bank details (granted you cant compare your every day developer to Google). But they make it very convenient for you to use their app store without having to enter payment details more than once.

I also dont want to go down the Paypal route.

Sparks

Honestly, I wouldn't touch that idea with a ten foot pole. If you screw up the storage and someone gets everyone's bank details, what then? How many lawsuits can you handle at once? How bad a reputation can you and your developers get? Not to mention the resistance to using such a site and the brake it would be on that site's takeup.

28064212

What do you mean by bank details?

• Are we talking Credit/Debit card details? If so, look up PCI Compliance: http://www.pcicomplianceguide.org/pcifaqs.php.
• If you're talking about Bank account details, the best place to start is the Data Protection Commissioner: https://www.dataprotection.ie/‎;.
• If you're talking online banking login details... just... don't.

zig

Thanks 28064212,

Sorry, I should have been clearer, I meant debit/credit card details, not actual bank account details, Ill take a look at that link now and see where it takes me.
Cheers

Graham

User a credit card processor that stores the customers payment details on your behalf. Don't go near trying to store the customers payment details yourself unless you really, really, really know what you are doing OR you can afford to pay someone that does.

If I remember correctly Stripe will store a customers payment details for you and give you a unique identifier for that specific customer. Future transactions for the same customer are then charged using the customers identifier and handled by Stripe.

I'm sure the same applies to many other payment processors.

zig

Thanks Graham,
I actually didnt realise this could be a standard thing by payment processers , my experience is with Realex where payments are made to one merchant.

However Ill give them a call to see if they have any other options.

Stripe sounds great, unfortunately the site involves very small transfers. Its also a non profit site so even though its only 24c per transaction that would actually eat up more than Id like it to, plus they dont offer any not for profit schemes.

Ive no interest in managing those kind of details in any way myself , I just simply want a means of debiting and crediting various accounts without the user having to enter details every time thats all.

timetogo

zig wrote: »

Stripe sounds great, unfortunately the site involves very small transfers. Its also a non profit site so even though its only 24c per transaction that would actually eat up more than Id like it to, plus they dont offer any not for profit schemes.

Is the product something that a user is likely to purchase multiple times. If that's the case why not get them to buy credit e.g. rather than get them to enter their details for 1 X 24c transaction get them to buy 40 transactions for a tenner. Then you could deduct 24c every time they get your product and notify them when they were getting down to €1 credit left.

zig

Thanks for the help with this.

I set up with Stripe (very quick to set up I have to say) in the end and they create a customer ID that you can store in your own database, they handle everything else, so thats perfect !

@timetogo, the site isnt product based. Its more like those charity sites where people can set up fundraising. While its not ground breaking it does have a uniqueness in the speed, efficiency and management of donating and fundraising. Even if nothing comes of it I will have it in my portfolio so to speak. One of the fundamentals of it is encouraging people to donate tiny amounts so Im thinking 24c is still too much in this situation, but perhaps not.

Unfortunately Stripe seems to be lacking in any decent payout features too, and this is an integral part of the system. Perhaps for now I could simply manually do payouts, not ideal but at least I could get the ball rolling.