urely, sales agents have heard merchants say this hundreds of times: "We love the technology, but it's not in the budget." Merchants want to offer their customers multiple methods of payment but get sticker shock when they're faced with the cost of point-of-sale (POS) hardware, leased lines and discount rates. But what if the technology being offered was within the budget? What if the Merchant Level Salesperson and the merchant both walked away from the deal feeling as if they got ... a deal?

Coral Springs, Fla.-based SLIM CD, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Online Commerce Corp. (OCC), which specializes in processing Internet credit card transactions and works with banks in Europe and the Middle East. SLIM CD has developed a free software product that turns a merchant's PC into a POS device that uses the Internet to securely transport transactions - no additional hardware required.

"The small merchants have been largely ignored by the software providers and the merchant account providers of the world," said Christopher Mawby, Chief Operating Officer of SLIM CD. "We are providing the tools that put them on a level playing field with the big boys - the merchants that are with Chase, with Bank of America, etc., using their suite of products."

The name of the company and product, "SLIM CD," is an acronym for Secure Link Internet Merchant Services but also is the name of the company's founder and CEO, Sami Slim. Slim has been a successful businessman for more than 20 years; his experience ranges from exporting rice and oil trading to being an e-commerce services provider.

SLIM CD, Inc. was formed in 2001 by Slim when a banking affiliate of Online Commerce Corp. asked the company to develop a solution for the bank and its merchants for processing credit card transactions. There were a few requirements: The solution should have functionality similar to a POS device, and it should be cost effective for both parties. Online Commerce Corp. formed subsidiary SLIM CD, Inc. to focus on the project.

"We took advantage of the software development that we had performed [with OCC]," said Frank Haggar, Product Developer for SLIM CD. "There are certainly parts of our products and systems that were formed, used and proved in production environments long before SLIM CD, Inc. was put together."

The SLIM CD software runs on any IBM-compatible personal computer with Internet connectivity. The software includes a POS desktop user interface, built-in gateway services, fraud-detection capabilities, back-end reporting of transaction data and a choice of free shopping carts hosted by the company.

Instead of using a traditional dial-up connection to connect to a card processor and conduct a transaction, the software connects using the Internet. Transaction data is transported using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology, and, according to the company, transactions are performed at leased-line speeds (3-5 seconds).

SLIM CD software is designed for retail merchants, restaurants, hotels, auto rental businesses, direct marketing and e-commerce merchants. Users manually enter customers' account information to complete a transaction, or they can add on card-swipe devices, PIN pads and signature-capture devices.

SLIM CD sells and supports low cost products such as the Interlink Electronics e-Pad signature pad; industry-standard, PC-compatible PIN pads, such as VeriFone, Ingenico and MagTek; several different types of desktop and receipt printers; and almost any card-swipe wedge with a keyboard interface.

"We're not necessarily in the hardware business, but we will provide it as needed," Haggar said.

SLIM CD also is available in an Enterprise edition for larger merchants. Both versions of the software store fully encrypted credit card information on SLIM CD's servers, including electronic signatures, but the Enterprise edition also stores this data directly on the merchant's PC. The Enterprise edition also supports recurring billing for health clubs or other scheduled monthly dues and charges.

Potential users of the SLIM CD Enterprise edition include merchants with multiple check-out lanes and multiple terminals who want to integrate several cash registers and track all transactions locally, or direct-marketing or retail merchants who want to capture names, addresses and telephone numbers of customers to target them in future marketing efforts.

SLIM CD partners with banks and ISOs that, in turn, have partner banks to distribute the SLIM CD product to merchants, free of charge. SLIM CD offers them a way to provide their merchants with an easy and cost-effective solution for conducting bankcard transactions.

The company recently partnered with ICBA Bancard, a provider of payment system products and services and a subsidiary of ICBA, the Independent Community Bankers of America. ICBA-member banks are now offering the SLIM CD solution to their merchant customers.

SLIM CD believes it's an attractive deal for merchants. "It's easy to set up, you're quick to get started (you pop in the CD and you're up and running) and it's a comfortable price plan - not a lot of up-front money," said Mawby. "You're getting a Web presence with the SLIM CD shopping cart, which other service providers can charge quite a bit for. You're getting retail transactions plus your Internet e-commerce package all in one solution. Merchants instantly open their store up with all of the sales opportunities that a larger merchant might already have."

Merchants also benefit because there are no setup fees, no licensing fees, no monthly equipment lease fees, no shopping cart fees, no monthly gateway fees and no fraud-screening fees. Instead, SLIM CD charges only a nominal fee per transaction with a small monthly minimum.

ISOs can benefit from numerous upsale opportunities through the sale of optional POS hardware. The SLIM CD software requires only a PC and an Internet connection, but some merchants still might want to add magnetic stripe readers, signature capture devices, PIN pads and receipt printers. SLIM CD offers all of these devices, and they are compatible with the software.

"Because [the ISO] is getting a more affordable package to the merchant in terms of what it may cost for equipment, he can then potentially improve his markup discount rate," said Haggar. "As a merchant, if I'm getting a better deal on the accessories that I need to process the transaction, I'll probably be a little more flexible in other areas of the arrangement. I may not mind a monthly statement fee as much if I've been reduced on my monthly lease."

ISOs also could charge merchants a minimal amount for the product. "Basically all you need is connectivity to the Internet in order to transact business," said Mawby. "On the flip side for the ISO, he has the upsale of all hardware that's related to SLIM CD. He also has the ability to upcharge the product because there's a lot of room between [other competitors], at $400 a copy for a single user, and zero, which is SLIM CD's base price."

A majority of SLIM CD's employees are developers. "Product quality and data integrity are certainly the most paramount issues for our whole team," Haggar said. "We are processing financial transactions, and we have respect for that, and the emphasis is on accuracy. We make sure that the data we process is as accurate as we want our own paychecks processed."

In addition to taking pains with data security, the company prides itself on its ability to stay on top of industry regulations. "Following Visa regulations and staying on top of them is very important to anybody in this industry. We are on top of all the regulations as they are posted," said Mawby. "Period."

SLIM CD has been certified by Concord EFS and NOVA Information Systems and Class B certified by Vital Processing Services for credit and online debit transactions.

SLIM CD also looks out for its merchants. "Online Commerce Corp. is a 9-to-5 company," he said. "SLIM CD is a 24/7/365 company. If you call our toll-free number, if the office is not open, that number will ring through to one of our staff that is on duty to answer any of our calls that may arise. Our systems are all monitored 24/7."

If an Internet connection fails, the company provides a backup Internet connection. SLIM CD has set up a facility that allows a merchant to dial directly to SLIM CD as if it were an ISP, connect them to the Internet long enough to process the credit card transaction and then disconnect.

"SLIM CD will always be up, whether or not [a merchant's] Internet Service Provider is up and connecting to the Internet," said Mawby.

"You can connect and authenticate with SLIM CD and transact business. SLIM CD guarantees the ability to process the transaction."