kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com
The
Dwolla payment service just
launched a new payment API called Grid. Before you can understand grid, you need to understand Dwolla'sphilosophyon payments.
Every time you want to do seemingly simple things, like buy a coffee, pay for lunch, or buy gas, current providers are requiring you hand over your name, credit card number, and expiration date, leaving trail of personal and financial data behind you.
With an opportunity to start fresh, Dwolla wanted to change this, and thats what they are doing with Grid.
Grid provides third party developers tools to create a seamless in-app purchasing experience with no more credit card numbers. Creating a new kind of payment network, one that doesn't leave behind personal information.
Why is this huge for consumers?
This new network puts consumers, not networks, in control of who can access, their payment information, allowing users to revoke and modify who can access their payment network.
Why this is huge for merchants?
Merchants can get paid online without the recurring costs associated with other networks, and accept payments with Dwolla's regular merchant account and pay no special account fees.
Why this is huge forkinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com
For the first time ever, developers will have access to a payment network to innovate and build on top of, that removes a lot of liability that is typically associated with credit card networks.
I tend to only focus on stories around innovative approaches to the business of APIs, which usually means how an API is delivered. Another area that I enjoy covering is how businesses are using APIs to change entire industries. Dwolla fits this profile.
Dwolla is taking on an industry that is extremely complex, full of holes and was not build with the Internet in mind. Providing a simple web interface, an API, and flat pricing model, they are reinventing how we do payments from the ground up.
Dwolla provides a REST and SOAP API, and employ OAuth for authentication. You can find more about their API in their developers area.
Dwolla is free for anyone to use, and charges a flat .25 per transaction. Thats it.
