Web Developer Insurance needed?

I am considering offering free web development and/or website maintenance to 501(c)(3) organizations in my community. I am assuming they will want the capability to accept credit card donations on the site. Does this create a liability issue for me, as the developer? Should I be insured?

I’ve not heard of developers getting insurance, but take that with a grain of salt. For small budget sites, though, I would suggest using a third party service for credit card transactions. There are many carts that integrate seamlessly with your site but which handle all the security, meaning you don’t have to worry about it.

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If you are doing this work as a business (as opposed to doing it out of the goodness of your heart), then you might already be covered by your standard business policy (if any).

That said, I can’t see why you (the developer) would need insurance in this particular case. If you are worried about fraudulent credit card use, wouldn’t it be the entity that is accepting the credit card that is taking that risk?

Mike

Can’t agree more with @ralphm regarding the third party service. If you use a traditional merchant service from a bank, you’re facing far more security risks, regulations, fees, fines, etc. If you use a third party service that’s taking care of transactions on their systems (PayPal, Stripe, there are others) then you’ll negate that risk.

Thank you for the replies. I’ve been thinking about using something like PayPal also, I just don’t know what these organizations are going to prefer or if they are just going to let me make that decision myself. I didn’t know if I could be held accountable (and therefore suable) for anything. And to answer Mike - I think you’re right. I think the party accepting the card would be held accountable since I’m doing this as a donation. Does anyone know where I can find a definitive answer to that? Thank you everyone for the input, I appreciate it.

If you use a reputable shopping cart and cc service, you should be OK. The only way you’d be liable is if you stored the CC information locally and get hacked, or if you’re not using SSL and someone gets into your sites traffic to intercept CC data.

Thanks, Dave. I appreciate the feedback.

A lawyer. :stuck_out_tongue:

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