What is the best way to organize automatic payout at the website?

Question

I have Ruby on Rails application. I can get money from users cards using ActiveMerchant. Now I need to make payouts to the some users based on application logic.

For example,

• Get 10$ from Andrew
• Get 10$ from Mark
• Get 10$ from Mike
• ... application magic that finds who should get money ...
• Pay 30$ to Mark

Generally, I can use not only Ruby/Rails based solution but any protocol based on requests and responses.

I am planning to use Authorize.net but if this feature implementation will require to use something else then I can switch to other billing processing system. I prefer not to use PayPal.

Few technical details:

• Ruby 1.8
• Rails 2.3.2
• ActiveMerchant 1.4.2

How can I manage automatic payout in my application?

Answer 1

Both the Authorize.net and the Braintree gateways support processing payments via ACH, or direct deposit into someone's bank account. Authorize.net's implementation is called eCheck, and is not currently supported in the ActiveMerchant gateway code. Braintree's API is supported in ActiveMerchant, and the Check model in AM will help you along.

You'll need to collect an account number and a routing number from Mark so that you can make deposits into his account.