BBS hosting services?

[TFG]

Merry Xmas folks.

Hope you guys had a great time.


I'm considering setting up a commercial, subscription BBS site here in Japan, and just talked to Asahi net who, recommends using a Japanese bbs hosting site rather than using their services.

I will need to be able to assign password access and have administration services. Also, I will need to be able to upload videos and photos to the BBS & accept credit card payments.

Any ideas for a service here in Japan that has ready to go BBS software.

Thanks in advance

[Bucky]

TFG,

These guys are in Seattle, but they have very big presence in Japan: http://pspinc.com/

I have two sites hosted with them and they should be able to help you out.

The company is owned by a Japanese guy I have know since '85.

[FG Lurker]

With all the bandwidth between the US and Japan there is rarely much advantage to hosting in Japan these days. 2ch, the largest Japanese forum/BBS (by a considerable margin I'd say) is hosted in the US.

From a cost perspective (a lot cheaper) and a support perspective (in English) you'll be much better off in the US than Japan.

Regarding the technology you need to make it work, you don't need much to get it going. Set up some forum software (phpBB is free but make sure you keep it updated or you'll soon find it hacked) and set the forums to be private. When someone applies for an account and pays the amount you are charging (via PayPal is probably easiest at first) manually give them access to the forums.

If/when things start to grow you can pay someone to set up more automation for you to make the process smoother.

[TFG]

Thanks People...I will check them out.

You guys certainly know your way around this stuff.

FG, yeah, I have read a lot about BBS getting hacked and spam.

Definitely want to keep that at bay.

Thanks again folks.


Not sure about Pay pal though as I will be targeting Japanese customers, I had the impression that pay pal is not very well liked here in Japan?
Is that not the case?

[FG Lurker]

[Bucky]

Not sure about Pay pal though

I am actually looking into Google's Google checkout as an option for accepting payments.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

Shite...I misunderstood BBS for BBW and was just about to post some links that would make even Coligny blush...

[TFG]

[FG Lurker]

I am actually looking into Google's Google checkout as an option for accepting payments.

Unfortunately businesses/people in Japan can't receive payments via Google Checkout. We can send money with it though, so a US-based business can receive payments from Japanese customers, just not the other way around.