credit card processors?

[sharktacos]

Hi there, I would like to sell some stuff on my site and am trying to get an idea of the options out there. As I understand it, even with an open source program like osCommerce, basically this is just the "front end" and I would still need to have a merchant account with a credit card processor which is the part that costs money.

It looks to me like there are basically two types: either something like paypal or amazon where they take a percentage of each sale (at least a dollar) OR something like verisign where you need to pay a monthly charge just to have the service but is more "invisible" and thus seems more professional.

So I'm trying to get an idea of the different options with credit card processors, and would like to know

Are there are other options I have overlooked?

Are any overviews on the web of various credit card processors opptions/companies that someone can point me to?

What solutions have you found that you might recommend?

thanks!

[Golden Apple]

We just (like Monday at 12 noon) went live with our CC processing through Authorize.net. I have been using it for my retail store for a year now, and I am very happy with their prices and service. The installation/interface with osC was pretty simple. For the last month I was using Paypal while I waited for my account to get set up. I thought Paypal was expensive, clunky and I had three dropped sales (I'm still waiting to hear back from one!) You have to manually sweep the money into your account, and the limit is $500 per month. I've had two orders go through with A.net so far, and both worked like a charm.
John
Goldenapplels.com

[sharktacos]

hi GA,

how much does Authorize.net cost?

[Cmoazz]

I also wanted to use an ecommerce for my site. Problem is, my site is already up and running and done with the pictures. I use PayPal right now, only because they take just 2.9%, seems alot, but my highest costing product is only 80.00, so its not too bad. I wanted to know if there was a system that when people payed, it sent the money STRAIGHT to a checking account you have with a bank. Does anyone know one? Let me know, thanks!

www.305kicks.com

[sharktacos]

I've been looking at the yahoo mercahnt site. Looks kinda cool.

http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/merchant/c1feat.php

anyone have any expereince with them?

[Golden Apple]

I am paying 2.3% plus .20 per transaction. On a $50 sale that's about $1.35 plus $10 a month in gateway fees. This is about 2x what we pay in-store. I don't know what I paid in set-up fees, but I will when the first bill arrives. I expect to renegotiate later in the year when I have a better idea of how business goes. The money is automatically deposited into my account every night. Having "real" credit card processing has in my opinion improved our site, and we seem to have less abandoned carts.

John
Goldenapplels.com