tlug: E-commerce in Japan

[Darren Cook <darren@example.com>]

>The Japanese seem to still be in the stone age as far as
>consumer commerce is concerned ("Grog-san take cash-only, or
>wire-[snort]-transfer.  And no returns"), or something like that :)

As someone trying to set up a Japanese web site to accept credit card
payments, I'd like to forward the blame to the banks. Try to become a
credit card merchant in this country.

GOL has just started a service where they'll run the secure server and
process credit card payments in real-time for you. The problem is you need
to already have a merchant account with each credit card you want to
accept. So unless you're a big company, this is useless.

Does anyone know of any service in Japan that can take credit card payments
in yen? There are plenty in North America, but they can only take payments
in dollars. Not good for the potential Japanese customer already nervous
about giving his credit card number over the web.

My research so far tells me there are ZERO companies offering this service.
This is a huge business oppurtunity - tell your boss ;-).

Darren



---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Meeting: 10 October, 12:30 Tokyo Station Yaesu central gate
Next Nomikai: 20 November, 19:30  Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
---------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsor: PHT, makers of TurboLinux http://www.pht.co.jp