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An Overview of Shareware Registration Services

Below, I present the calculated processing fee for each registration service, for a variety of product prices. Following that is a brief summary of the transaction and other associated fees for each service. Please note that some services have "setup fees", and most, but not all, charge the vendor each time a customer requests a refund.

The information below was gathered from the website of each registration service, and is believed to be accurate, but be sure to check with the actual service. If any registration service notes an error in any of the information here, please contact me at cps@blackcatsystems.com and I will be happy to correct it. Likewise, if a registration service that is not listed wishes to be listed, contact me with the details / transaction fees for your service, and I will include them in the next update of this page.

I am not affiliated with any service listed below except as a customer, and have received no compensation from any service for the listings below.

Chris Smolinski
Black Cat Systems

Click on the above link for some really great Macintosh software!

Calculated Processing Fees For Each Registration Service

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
8.9%, $3.00 minimum

Refund fees:
Unknown

Monthly fees:
Unknown

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
Two schemes: 8%, min 2.5$ or 4.9% + 2.5$

Refund fees:
None

Monthly fees:
Unknown

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard (both also within 3-D Secure System), Amex, DinerŐs, JCB, Wire transfer.

Sign-up fee:
Possibly for credit card merchant account

Transaction Fees:
$0.25 plus 2.35 - 4.00% (2.5% average, depends on address verification or not)

Refund fees:
$0.25

Monthly fees:
$2.50 per 10 MB over 3 MB free allotment
$19.95 per month if more than 2 products
$39.95 per month if more than 20 products

Payment types accepted:
USD, EUR and GBP, Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Eurocard, American Express, Diner's Club, Carte Blanche, Novus, Optima, JCB, Switch/Solo, Maestro, eCheck, PayPal and Purchase Orders

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
WebSeller Standard: 9.5%, $1.25 min
WebSeller Plus (customized order forms, key generator integration, etc.): 15%, $1.25 min, over $40.00: 13% %
WebSeller Pro (adds ftp hosting, mailing list): 18%, $3.00 min, over $40.00: 15%
Comprehensive (adds custom programming, ftp hosting, mailing list, etc): 20%, $1.25 min

Refund fees:
Equal to 7% of the product price, no fees for Comprehensive Tier

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Eurocard, American Express, Diner's Club, Carte Blanche, Novus, and Optima

Sign-up fee:
$29.99 (Essential)
$199.00 (Advanced)
$9.99 for each additional product

Transaction Fees:
13.9%, never less than $3.00 per product. $0.01 per 100,000 bytes downloaded for electronic download service

Refund fees:
$2.00

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
10%, No minimum

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex, Diners Club, JCB, Purchase Orders, Paypal, Checks, Cash, Money Orders, and Wire Transfers.

Other Services:
CD delivery of products.
Marketing Services

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
13.9%, $3.00 minimum

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, Eurocard, Check/Money Order, Wire Transfer, Purchase Order

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:

Pricing based on sales volume:
 Aggregate Sales of   But not greater than   Service Fee Percentage 
 $0.00                $15,000.00                      10%
 $15,000.01           $50,000.00                      15%
 $50,000.01           $100,000.00                     14%
 $100,000.01          $500,000.00                     13%
 $500,000.01          $1,000,000.00                   12%
 $1,000,000.01        $5,000,000.00                   11%
 $5,000,000.01        No Cap                          10%

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover.

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
15%, $3.00 minimum; except 10%, $2.00 for ASP members

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
MasterCard, VISA, Amex, Discover, JCB, Diners Club, Carte Blanche

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
Transaction Fees: 6.5% of transaction total (excluding taxes) + $0.50

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Check, Money order, Visa, MC, Amex, Discover/Novus, PayPal Monthly Fees: NONE

Sign-up fee:
No sign-up

Transaction Fees:
The transaction fee is the lesser of:
10%, minimum $2.50
5% + $5.00
Except 5% + 1.25 for products up to $25.

Refund fees:
$5 charge-back fee, plus transaction fee
No fees for refunds

Payment types accepted:
US and foreign cash, US checks, money orders, American Express, Carte Blanche, diners Club, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, Optima, and Visa.

Other services:
Custom CD Delivery via SwiftCD partnership

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
4% plus $2.00 for Internet orders
Also a 6.5% plus $.45 rate for low to mid-ranged priced products

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, Amex, Discover, checks, money orders, wire transfers, e-checks, and PayPal.

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
15%

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard, Discover, Amex, checks,money orders, wire transfers

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
7% +$0.60
Declined Credit Cards: $0.60

Refund fees:
Refunds: same rate as orders
Chargebacks: same rate as orders

Payment types accepted:
Discover, VISA, MasterCard, Amex

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
10% + $0.75 per copy-protected software licence
8% + $0.60 per upgrade or non-copy-protected software licence

Refund fees:
Refunds: original fee retained
Chargebacks: original fee refunded

Payment types accepted:
Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, ACH, wire transfer, check, money order, PayPal (instant, e-check, Switch & Solo)

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
$3.00 + 10% of remander
20% for programs $20.00 or less

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Discover, MasterCard, VISA, Amex, Diner's Club

Sign-up fee:
None (?)

Transaction Fees:
6.9% plus $1/unit with a $2.00 minimum charge.

Refund fees:
None (?)

Payment types accepted:
Unknown

Sign-up fee:
No sign-up

Transaction Fees:
$3.00 per registration fee for products $30.00 and under. For products over $30.00, 10% of the selling price of the Product

Refund fees:
No chargebacks or refund bank fees will be charged to the vendor

Payment types accepted:
Bank Cards Accepted: Visa, American Express, Mastercard, Discover/Novus Money Orders, Checks by mail (please allow time for processing), Eurocheques

Other services:
Custom CD Delivery via SwiftCD partnership

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
Option A: US$2.95 + 5% per order
Option B: 14.9% per order, $2.50 minimum
Starting with the 1000th order of each month: US$1.95 +4%

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Visa, American Express, MasterCard, Eurocard, Diners Club, Wire Transfer, US Check, Eurocheck, Money Order, Cash (USD and DEM)

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees (choose one):
$1 + 6% (min. $1.50, 2% Amex surcharge, $20/monthly fee per account)
Micro-payments: $0.69 for items up to $7, subject to restrictions

WARNING! If a customer buys multiple items at the same time, you are charged the $1 + 4% for each item! This can make the total commission come out to be much more than you otherwise expect.

Special 9.9% Rate
Flat 15% rate, no monthly fee

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
Mastercard, Eurocard, VISA, Delta, JCB, Switch, Solo, Discover, American Express, Diner's Club, UK cheque, US check, Eurocheque, International Money Order, Bank wire, Paypal.

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
15%

Refund fees:
None (?)

Payment types accepted:
Visa, MasterCard

Sign-up fee:
None

Transaction Fees:
FRF 10 ("something like US$ 1.20") + 10%

Refund fees:
None

Payment types accepted:
MasterCard, VISA, Amex, Euro-Card, Cart-Bleue, Aurore

The author of this site reserves the right to determine which services are listed.