Central Payment Features for eAuction

eAuctions Video Chapter 6: Central Payment Features

eAuction Payment Integrations

Auction eCommerce and marketplace eCommerce systems can be really challenging to get right, and one of the biggest challenges is the payment process. Payment integrations for standard payments, such as credit cards, PayPal, Google, Apple Pay, etc., are all crucial when dealing with B2C.

It's also really important with business-to-business eCommerce to be able to offer payments via check, electronic fund transfer, ACH, a purchase order, and a credit account that is available with some proof that the credit is available and is being allocated to this purchase.

Therefore, it's really helpful for businesses to have the flexibility to use their standard payment methods and wire an ACH and check, that are all are common payment methods.

It's vital when businesses are making a purchase that the fees be as low as possible. Using a wire transfer or an ACH transaction is very helpful for that to keep the cost down so there aren't large transaction fees.

Clarity works with any payment provider that has an API with ability to integrate with their payment provider, which can be implemented when you custom auction website is designed. We also have several off-the-shelf payment providers, which are:

Capture Payment Plans for eAuction

Reserve Amounts for eAuction Purchases

Depending on the size of the item, there may be a reserve amount or a purchase that is made to show good faith that would be forfeit if the full amount isn't fulfilled. For example, if it's a $100,000 purchase there may be earnest money or some kind of reserve payment. That could be, for example, $2000 or $5000, and then that could be done via credit card.

And maybe that's even just pre-OFT, so it's not actually captured. But the end person who is authorizing that has the funds held on their card, and then they're required to actually wire the funds, either into an escrow account or directly. As long as they do that within 5 business days then the earnest money/escrow funds/reserve amount would then be refunded or unlocked again so that there would no longer be an ACH hold on those funds.

It’s a great way to prevent somebody from frivolously bidding and then not fulfilling their bid whenever it comes time to close out the eAuction, so that in order to complete the auction, they have to validate their payment information. Otherwise, perhaps the next bitter in line would receive the option to put that earnest money out there.

So that's a really nice way to handle things for large purchase amounts so that the ACH can happen over the course of a couple of days and give the businesses time to coordinate and get the funds into the appropriate accounts.

Escrow for eAuction

We also typically work with clients who want to do an escrow account, so they might have an escrow where the funds are wired or somehow transferred, and then from that escrow account that the money is kept safe until the item is delivered, the services are received, or the fulfillment process is completed.

Once the customer has received it, they would indicate, "yes, I've received it and it's in good condition. It's okay to go ahead and release the funds from the escrow." Then the funds would get removed from the escrow or transferred from the escrow into the into the seller’s account.

eAuction Payment Plans

Another common scenario for auction eCommerce platforms is payment plans, as some of these items that are for sale can be quite expensive. The business might be purchasing something and decide that if they can purchase it on a payment plan so they can make it an operating expense instead of a capital expenditure, then that will be viable for them to purchase a much more expensive solution.

The idea would be that they would be able to see payment plan options whenever they’re bidding, and then go ahead and make a bid knowing that they would be able to pay over 12 months or 24 months. There's probably going to be a fee for that, but that could be part of the options whenever somebody goes to pay, which is a really nice capability.

We can even work with financing companies or financing teams that have APIs that can actually plug into the eAuction software to offer financing and payment plans during checkout.

Auction International

In addition, depending on where the actual items are sold and where they are shipped to, there could be customs, duties, taxes, and you want to make sure that you’re incorporating the ability to not only show those to the end user but also into the transactions, including all the paperwork and legal documentation, the tax filings, etc.

We work with third part providers who provide the customs and duties as well as the tax forms to be able to track and manage these customs and duties and fees and taxes associated with fulfilling overseas internationally.

Even just within a particular country there can be different taxes across different states, etc. Therefore, it's really important for compliance to be able to track and have the documentation, ideally generated by these third-party providers that we integrate with, and we do so seamlessly so that they can gather those on behalf of your auction eCommerce or marketplace website. They can gather all this information and send out monthly, quarterly, and annual reports and returns, etc., as needed.

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