Minimizing transaction fees in Commerce

[PrettyPixels]

I'd like to allow my members to sell things such as downloadable files, club memberships, etc. I realize this ability is built into Commerce. However, since many of the items are micro-transactions, I'm concerned about all the transaction fees eating into profits.

Is there a way to require users to use account credit for smaller transactions? That way, users would need to load their account with a larger amount that will justify the transaction costs.

I'm open to any other suggestions to minimize transaction as well. What has worked best for other communities?

[IPCommerceFan]

I wrote a small plugin which selects account credit by default if the user has any available.  This doesn't require them to use it, but it encourages it since it is already selected when they get to checkout.  If this would be of any use to you I'd gladly share it.

[Marc Stridgen]

You could disallow any other payment method within those items. That way they would only be able to pay with account credit

[PrettyPixels]

16 hours ago, IPCommerceFan said:

If this would be of any use to you I'd gladly share it.

Thank you, @IPCommerceFan. Yes, I would really appreciate the share. 🙂

5 hours ago, Marc Stridgen said:

You could disallow any other payment method within those items. That way they would only be able to pay with account credit

That sounds perfect @Marc Stridgen. Ideally. I'd like to set up a system where all paid member-submitted items are required to be paid with account credit (clubs, downloads, etc.). The only exceptions (that can be paid with credit cards, PayPal, etc.) are purchasing account credit, advertising, or account upgrades from the site.

Is it possible to set the system up this way?

[Marc Stridgen]

Well, each item you select the payment methods that are allowed to be used

 

The only thing I can think is going to be an issue here, is you 'have' to allow a least 1. So you may need to put a manual method in or something to state to use account credit. Its not a perfect solution, and there will be downfalls to this approach

[PrettyPixels]

Thank you, Marc. What kind of downfalls would I be dealing with?

[Marc Stridgen]

They could ignore what you put on the manual method for instructions, and leave it there. In which case you would have an item there to approve, which you would have to sort manually

[PrettyPixels]

Thank you for explaining, Marc. 🙂