I've always just used revecome.com for my payment processing, but I've recently considered using a "real" merchant account.

Can someone explain the whole process in layman terms? here's what I understand so far:

1. I sign up for a merchant account with someone.
2. I sign up for a gateway account with someone.
3. I implement the gateway software to access the merchant account.

Is this correct? My understanding is that authorize.net is kind of the "standard" for gateway providers.. is that right? If so, do they work in Canada with Canadian merchant accounts?

Also, how does the "reseller" and "associate" programs work with authorize.net? Should I sign up directly with authorize.net or is there some advantage to going with a reseller or associate?

Thanks!

mrzippy, personally i know exactly how you feel. I was with revecom for ohh...... a whole 7 hours (after faxing and la la).

This is the deal.
You need a merchant (definately) and some form of shopping cart or software to send the transaction to the merchant. Sometimes you'll get lucky and find someone who does it all (but find it's not-so-good).

Authorize.net is who i am with now. The reseller im going through is modernbill only because..

1) modernbill sets me up with authorize.net at no charge

2) I can have *MY COMPANY NAME* on the customer's credit card statement and not some third-party name there (unprofessional)

3) Modernbill intigrates with CPanel and can suspend accts, keep track of em, send invoices, ALL THAT FUN STUFF and fully intigrates with Authorize.net.

what i like about modernbill is that they will soon allow instant cpanel activation when a user signs up for an account (yeah, that caught my eye). Now this instant activation with CPanel IS NOT out yet, but they say they're working on it. ??? I think it's a great deal. Give modernbill a look see for yourself.

Did you have to also sign up for a merchant account? Or just with ModernBill for the authorize.net account? I'm a little confused how the two things fit together (merchant account and authorize.net).

I actually wrote my own signup/billing manager and it works pretty well (with revecom) so far. I'm not really interested in a new billing system.. just a new way to charge credit cards.

Thanks!

well, i wouldnt know about setting up authroize.net by itself.

This is how it worked though. I signed up for Modernbill and MB took my info for me to Authrorize.net. Next thing i know Im getting a phone call for setup with Authroize.net (wahoo!). they hooked me up tho! I definately would give authroize.net a buzz and see what they can do for you. I have, however, heard of other resellers who will also hook you up without the setup fees... but am not sure.

So, the bottom line: i signed up for BOTH a merchant and gateway... my gateway was just nice enough to sign me up with my merchant for me. :)

Originally posted by mrzippy
Did you have to also sign up for a merchant account? Or just with ModernBill for the authorize.net account? I'm a little confused how the two things fit together (merchant account and authorize.net).

I actually wrote my own signup/billing manager and it works pretty well (with revecom) so far. I'm not really interested in a new billing system.. just a new way to charge credit cards.

Thanks!

Go to one of authorize.net resellers and get a merchant account through them along with the gateway. Some authnet resellers which are known to be good here on WHT are
www.ezmerchantaccounts.com
www.merchantexpress.com
www.jaguarpc.com
www.www-hosting.net

-Steven