For global commerce, look for CSPs specializing in this area--some promote mirroring sites overseas, for example. Be sure to explore global shipping and tax implications as well (see "Making Peace with Global E-Commerce," page 50). Only about 19 of our respondents offer multilanguage support; only 15 support multiple currencies.

If your goal is business-to-consumer commerce, you'll find many qualified providers. But for business-to-business commerce--an area expected to eventually dwarf consumer-based commerce--the pickings are still slim. We found only about a dozen CSPs with 50 percent or more of their sites dedicated to business-to-business transactions. (For a review of toolkits and out-of-the-box solutions that address the business-to-business commerce segment, see page 75.)

Finally, there is price--replete with circuitous methodologies, vast numbers of categories and plenty of hidden costs. Site design alone can cost anywhere from less than $100 to multiple millions; for mid-tier businesses, our survey identified a number of companies offering pricing around $3,000.

Beyond design, there are fees for almost everything imaginable: server setup, number of servers, type of OS, Web server and commerce platform, custom programming, application setup, application licensing, back-end integration, domain name, digital certificate support, chat service support, monthly maintenance, secure server and encryption fees, varying disk allocation allowances with corresponding fees, fees for megabytes of data transferred, for statistics reporting, for online cost calculation setup, tax calculation, shipping calculation, fulfillment services, fax orders, transactions (CyberCash, merchant bank and CSP), mailing list management, real audio and video, e-mail, banner advertising, fees for specific numbers of catalog entries. You get the picture.

The clear message is that merchants not only need to shop around to find a CSP that meets their commerce needs, they also need a crystal-clear idea of what they want in a commerce site. They also must contract for these services in a way that leaves no room for misunderstanding.

The High-End CSPs' Sales Pitch
While differences in CSP service offerings can be striking at the low end of the market, the high end is a battle of equally armed titans.

In fact, four of the five merchants we analyzed in this sector had such close scores that a change in help-desk hours or addition of a new service could move almost any one of them into the top position on our scorecard (see "High-End Merchant Breadth-of-Service Profile" at left).

But the tight race doesn't mean these companies are interchangeable. Each CSP has its particular strengths and weaknesses. GTE Internetworking, which scored the highest number of total points, shows considerable strength in its network, performance and reliability. But GTE's weakness is its payment system--it doesn't offer invoice support, bill presentment or subscription support.

IBM might have topped the list if its policies had not prevented it from releasing staffing figures, which were an important part of our evaluative process (see "How We Profiled CSP Services" on page 66). IBM excels at integration, performance and networking. Its Achilles' heel: The gaps we unearthed in its commerce-related services. IBM's survey responses show it fails to offer several basic credit-card fraud-checking mechanisms, not to mention frequent-buyer support, an e-mail alert and notification engine, and a catalog search engine.

In fact, only two top-tier CSPs--DIGEX and MCI WorldCom Advanced Networks--offered services for either scrutinizing overuse of a credit card or establishing purchase limits by product. That's not to say that any one of these five high-level CSPs couldn't readily initiate these or any other custom services requested--for the right fee.

The CSPs commanding the greatest number of commerce sites in this category were GTE Internetworking with 500, and IBM with "thousands." Both companies assist merchants of many sizes, from the smallest commerce sites to multiserver, highly customized online shops pedaling millions of products.