GlobalCollect is expected to announce today that it has increased the speed and scalability of its e-commerce transaction system that accepts credit card, invoice, bank transfer and check payments from dozens of countries and in their languages.
Though aimed at online retailers and catalogers, the WebCollect system also works for charity organizations wanting to take donations worldwide, said Erik Uljee, vice president of North America operations for GlobalCollect, San Francisco.
Uljee said many countries have distinct payment preferences for Internet and catalog purchases. For instance, French consumers pay almost exclusively by check while Germans tend to use bank transfers, he said.
“Going into France without the ability to take payments by check would be like not taking credit card payments from people in the United States,” Uljee said. “It wouldn't make any sense.”
Based in the Netherlands, 7-year-old GlobalCollect has partnered with numerous banking firms in Europe and Asia to make payments by check or bank transfer possible.
The system can be bought where the clients house WebCollect or GlobalCollect can host it. In the hosted version, the transaction is delivered to GlobalCollect's server before being returned to the client's checkout page. However, the client brands each step in the transaction, and viewers will not be able to notice the data transfer occurring on the back end.
While GlobalCollect takes varying percentage fees for credit card transactions and charges a fixed fee for the other payment methods, the firm did not divulge specific rates. However, the system comes with a $150 monthly maintenance fee.
Sharper Image and Apple.com are among the firms using the system.
Visit www.globalcollect.com for more information.
