A Real Payment Directory

I’ve been working on a new project for some time now, and it is finally complete enough to make public (still has a long way to go though). I started making a payment provider directory a few months ago and after integrating various ideas into it, I think it is finally going to be something worth the effort. All of the other payment services directories (BOTW, DMOZ, Business.com) are terrible, and I hope to make this an authoritative, unbiased directory for processing services.

Basically, this payment directory is designed to list only real, registered payments related service providers. There is no bias to any company. This should help business owners that are trying to verify the validity of a company that they are looking at. It also has a visual feature on the front page that organizes different service providers in a hierarchical model. It’s the only visual model of processor relationships that I have ever seen, and it makes a lot of sense to me especially after seeing it come together. I don’t plan to have user reviews of any companies at this time, mainly to avoid the “this company sucks” reviews, which don’t provide a lot of value to most individuals.

Current Categories:
Registered ISO’s / MSP’s / Banks (Must be registered with Visa, Mastercard and a sponsor bank. Sales agents don’t count.)
1st Tier Payment Gateways (Co-branded payment gateways don’t count.)
Processing Equipment Manufacturers
Bankcard Attorneys (Must be an active member of a state Bar, and have experience in bankcard law)
PCI / SDP / CISP Security Services

Future Categories: (the spam potential is huge for these so I’m hesitant to add them)
Outside Sales Agents
Shopping Carts

There’s definitely some inaccuracies in relationships at this time, but I expect to work these out in the next few months. As more companies are added to the directory the visual model will become increasingly accurate. I have to give credit to smashing magazine, as their recent post on data visualization inspired me to apply it to the directory. Also, the data visualization code JsViz was used for the homepage which is pulled dynamically from the directory database.

I will admit upfront that the visual model is innaccurate in the sense that many ISO’s are registered with more than one processor. As a result, an actual visual model would look like a spiderweb rather than a snowflake.

So, if you get a chance, check out the payment directory. Contributions will be very appreciated, and please let me know if you find any incorrect information, or suggestions.