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Many developers contemplate handling their E-commerce service themselves, and while it is true the developer may be able to negotiate rates with credit card companies that are less than a 3rd party E-commerce provider, the developers often fail to factor in all of the costs and services they receive when using a 3rd party e-commerce company to handline online transactions.

Consider the intangibles that a 3rd Party E-commerce Provider offers:

Fraud Screening
E-commerce companies are able to provide extensive fraud screening. They have the advantage of aggregate data and have fine tuned their fraud screening procedures. Using a 3rd party service for handling fraud screening will help reduce fraudulent orders.

Tax Collection
Sales tax laws in the US and countries in the European Union can be complicated. Using a 3rd party to manage E-commerce transactions will often mean that developers need not be bothered with sales tax collection and remittance where appropriate, as the E-commerce companies usually handle it

Automated Registration Key Delivery
Most E-commerce companies allow for automatic registration key delivery once an order has been processed.

CD Delivery
Several E-commerce providers will provide a service to handle physical shipments of CD ROMs, and relieve developers of this burden.

Affiliate Access/Affiliate Tracking
Many E-commerce companies provide access to a network of affiliates and handle affiliate tracking and payment.

Security
E-commerce services provide secure servers for online ordering.

Foreign Currency
Many 3rd party E-commerce companies allow customers to pay in multiple foreign currencies.

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