Accept payment using credit card

How to setup my website which can accept payment thru credit card? Which merchant account do you recommend?And how about fee?

 

I think Paypal is the right choice for you.

 

It really depends on what country you are in, what services / products you are selling, and volume.

 

If paypal works for you, take it.

Add 2checkout too. They're good, although I am angry with them for not activating my new account and not answering my emails.

The combination of those 2 is the best in my opinion.

 

Neither paypal or 2checkout are merchant account providers, they are 3rd party processors. The main difference is that with a merchant account, the transactions are processed in your businesses name, with a 3rd party processor the transactions are processed in the 3rd party processors name. This becomes important if you have disputed transaction charges. 3rd party processors remove the liability and much of the protection from both the purchaser and the business.

For startup businesses I would recommend going with paypal. Once you reach about $1000 / month in processing, I would recommend switching to a merchant account.

As far as fees go, it does depend a lot on the country that you live in. If you are US based, you should be able to find a rate staring at about 2.1% and $.25 /transaction for internet transactions. If you are non-US then you may want to stick with paypal or 2checkout as fees for international businesses start at around 5% and they almost always have a substantial setup fee.

Once you get a merchant account you will need a payment gateway to integrate with your website. The payment gateway is what actually allows you to process transactions online. There are several popular payment gateways, authorize.net, Verisign, Linkpoint. I personally recommend authorize.net, using the AIM method, which allows visitors to remain on your website for the entire transaction process.

 

I would think that it is best to start off with a 3rd party processor first until you bring in a steady stream of income to get your own merchant account.

Paypal Business Account is probably the easiest to go about using.

Well, what kind of products would you be selling ? It may make a difference to what you can use.

 

I would really take the suggestion of jestep - he knows what he's talking about.

Just look at his blog!

 

I used PayPal, i got tired of their policy of them being able to freeze your account on a whim, i don't like any person to have control over my money, especially after i have sent the goods.

I use 2checkout, i like them, they are a 3rd party processor, but they are the closest you will get to a merchant account without having a credit check done on you. 2checkout also has good anti-fraud checking, which i really like.

If your business does more than 5000 worth of business in credit card, get your own merchant account (if you don't have good credit, like me, you won't get one, or one with a shit load of limitations and high fees).

Right now there's really only one major 3rd party processor and thats PayPal (2checkout doesn't consider themselves a payment processor), all others have gone. PayPals a monopoly and like all monopolies, they are bad for everyone.

 

I had a business account frozen with them for having a high volume. Every transaction was completely legitimate and I eventually got all my money cleared but having a company hold $50,000 dollars on a whim is scary. Especially when you consider how poor the support is with paypal. My account was frozen 3 times within a 2 month period. Every time was for the same reason and without any warning or anything. Also, I don't ship through paypal, so they see it as the merchandise was never shipped. Pretty poor system for tracking fraud.

At least with a merchant account you have someone who you can talk to, and if you are with a good company you should have a direct account manager that will fix any problems you have.

 

you can have a look to loudcommerce, I think you shall get a proper solution there if you are supposed to be incorporated any where in US/Canada, For Europe you may consider chronopay a nice payment system.