STRATEGIC PARTNERS
September 22, 2002
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Jeff Jetton, a co-founder of Card Capture Services, the influential ISO that was sold to E*Trade Group in March of 2000, has created a new venture called AuctionPay, according to a report in the Portland Business Journal.
According to the report, an AuctionPay terminal is used to process credit cards when auction attendees check in. The company's software then keeps track of the attendees' winning bids, bills the card and creates a receipt to be signed at check out.
The software also tracks people who wish to pay by cash or check and ensures that two bidders aren't given the same bid number.
Jetton created the concept after a lengthy wait at an October charity event. In addition to speeding check-out times at auctions, Jetton said his product will generate more revenue for charity groups. The better organized check-out is, the longer bidders stay and spend money, he said.
Jetton said his research indicates that 100,000 to 600,000 charity auctions are held annually. His goal is to have 10,000 customers within five years. After a little less than a year in business, AuctionPay has been used at 30 events and has 70 accounts, Jetton told the Journal.
Jetton said his Card Capture experience made it relatively easy to roll out AuctionPay in less than a year, because he already knew how to process payment cards and how to work with financial institutions.
The company's fee is a percentage of the credit card transactions tallied during the auction. Jetton said clients usually save money even after paying the fee because AuctionPay uses its merchant account with an arm of Wells Fargo, which is charged a lower transaction fee than would be available to organizations setting up one-time accounts.
