online merchant account
 

well if you've been reading this forum i just recently started a new technology company. problem is i need to take credit cards online to pay invoices and buy products through a shopping cart. i would like a merchant account and payment gateway that allows me to connect and charge (like a authorize.net or linkpoint) not something that is cobranded.

i want to reduce my monthly expense on this as my first several months probably will cost me the $45 with virtually no charges. Are there any out there that are cheaper? Has anyone had good luck with a particular gateway?

Thanks,
--Josh

I've had clients do this, and that sounds about as cheap as you can get. It's a big racket is what it is!

Make sure you factor the cost of the credit cards in when you set your prices. Typical cards charge you, the merchant, between 2-4% of the sales price. Ouch. Don't let your margins slip!

Where did you open your merchant account?
I'm curious as now it appears that I may require one as well.

In any case - there's always Paypal if you don't wish to go the merchant account route. Still though - that 45/month is a lower price to pay than Paypal's charges ;)

i would actually go the paypal route at first until i get some sales up. However from what I can tell paypal offers no true integration with credit cards, they always have to have a paypal account.

I've had an actual merchant account through Itransact.com as well as through paypal.com. Itransact cost about $125 to set up (I believe) and had a monthly fee of $25 and I believe 2% per transaction fee. It was a lot better than paypal as you had more of a level of control over transactions and could cancel payments, issue refunds, or set up recurring billing with a few keystrokes. Unfortunately I wasn't able to afford to keep it going, but I'd give them a shot.

I use Linkpoint Central for my online merchant account. Have had it for about 4 years now and I''m happy with it.