Date: Sun, 29 May 94 18:40:48 -0700 From: hughes@ah.com (Eric Hughes) If you use the ACH system, you can't pre-authorize sporadic payments for arbitrary amounts. I talked to both Fidelity Checks and Checks-By-Phone, and both of them said that they would accept electronic mail as evidence of authorization. They work as alternatives to credit cards. When a customer calls you up, you tell them that you can accept a check over the phone. They read you the check number, account number, and routing code. You submit that information to them by modem and they print up the checks and overnight them to you. Fidelity Checks charges $200 startup fee plus $2.50 per check. Checks-By-Phone charges $350 startup fee plus $2.00 per check. They both contend that this a standard way to buy things and that customers accept it. Personally, I've *never* had a vendor suggest that they could write a check on my account. -russ <nelson@crynwr.com> ftp.msen.com:pub/vendor/crynwr/crynwr.wav Crynwr Software | Crynwr Software sells packet driver support | ask4 PGP key 11 Grant St. | +1 315 268 1925 (9201 FAX) | Quakers do it in the light Potsdam, NY 13676 | LPF member - ask me about the harm software patents do.