This is my first time trying to find a payment processor to allow my website to accept online payment transactions. I am unfamiliar with the process of what needs to occur once I have identified a provider I would like to work with. I was wondering what steps are needed and how long the process usually takes in getting "approved" to work with a payment processor? I am charting unfamiliar territory, so any help to clarify the expectations would be greatly appreciated. Also, my assumption is that once I find the payment processor (whether that be Authorize.net, Paypal, etc.), all I need is to have my programmers setup the shopping cart and that should be it... Please correct me if I'm missing anything (I already have a regular business bank account, so hopefully this is sufficient to accept payments into). Thank you!
I've set up several shopping cart for clients over the years. The easiest processor I've found is Paypal. I would take the opposite approach though. I would find what shopping cart system I'm going to use, and then find which processor is compatible. Hands down, the easiest system I've worked with is Zencart with Paypal (but then, I'm biased toward Open Source). I setup a cart system for my sister-in-law last month, and it took me about 2 hours setting up the cart on the server, setting Paypal, and integrating the two (she still had to add the products at that point).