2Checkout.com

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2Checkout.com (2CO) is an authorized online reseller for over 40,000 international web sites offering a wide range of shipped products, downloadable products (such as ebooks and software), and online services (such as web hosting and site memberships). 2CO's proprietary e-commerce technology supports back-office functions including financial reporting, tracking, fraud prevention, customer service and sales tracking. 2Checkout was established in 1999 by David A. Homewood and is currently located in Columbus, Ohio.

1 Services
2 Criticisms/Ambiguities in Methods of Payment
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Services

2CO suppliers are web businesses offering products or services for sale. Each vendor agrees to supply their products to 2CO for immediate resale to any paying customer. Customers shop at the vendor's web site, then proceed to the 2CO order form to complete payment. 2CO integrates well with a variety of shopping cart software packages, including OsCommerce, CS-Cart, CRE Loaded, Cube Cart, Mambo labs, X-cart, and Zen Cart.

2CO accepts payment in numerous currencies, including Australian Dollars, Pounds Sterling, Canadian Dollars, Danish Krone, Euros, Hong Kong Dollars, Japanese Yen, New Zealand Dollars, Norwegian Kroner, Swedish Kroner, Swiss Francs, and US Dollars.

A sales odometer posted on the 2checkout.com web site suggests that 2CO completes approximately $550,000 in sales per day. 2CO's primary competitors are payment processor PayPal, and digital products retailer ClickBank. 2CO vendors are permitted to engage in affiliate marketing, but 2CO does not participate in the process of tracking commissions, or reporting earnings to affiliates.

[edit] Criticisms/Ambiguities in Methods of Payment

Various users of this service have pointed out ambiguities concerning, for example, the currency conversion practices of 2Checkout.com. In particular, the currency conversion costs and processes of 2Checkout.com are rarely discussed or delineated during the actual payment process for it.

Approximately a 5% levy of the costs of a payment could be levied in order to make payments with 2Checkout.com that require some currency conversion process/procedure for transaction completion.^{[citation needed]}

2CO receives quoted rates from its currency partner once a day. These rates are based on inter-bank rates (only available to the largest international banks purchasing currencies in quantities of $1million USD or more) and include a calculated value of the costs of hedging, currency conversions and foreign exchange activities needed to guarantee the rates throughout the life cycle of the transaction. These guaranteed rates are used to calculate the USD settlements as well as refunds and exchanges.

Payments can be made in any of the available currencies, but preferably in the currency of the customer’s credit card. When a customer pays in a currency different than the one their credit card was issued in, the currency exchange rate is determined by the credit card company. The final charge is exposed to currency rate fluctuations and conversion fees and is unknown to the customer until it appears on the credit card statement.

On the other hand - when taking advantage of their new multi currency service, the exchange rate is determined on the day of the purchase and is guaranteed until settlement, so customers will know the exact amount that will be charged to their credit card at the time of purchase.

Currently they offer customers the ability to pay in the following currencies:

Australian Dollar (AUD)
Canadian Dollar (CAD)
Swiss Franc (CHF)
Danish Krone (DKK)
Euro (EUR)
British Pound (GBP)
Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
Japanese Yen (JPY)
Norwegian Krone (NOK)
New Zealand Dollar (NZD)
Swedish Krona (SEK)
U.S. Dollar (USD)

2Checkout competitors include CCNow, Dclickz Affiliate Program, PayPal, Google Checkout

[edit] References

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