Ken, Disclaimer: Going back a few years so this response may not be entirely up-to-date.
1. Find a payment processor (gateway) that is Authorize.net compatible. 2. A reasonable priced choice should cost no more than $30/month for all reports, features, etc. plus a % transaction fee and a fixed charge per transaction. Example, $30/month + 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Note: Most payment processing services unbundle their fees so it looks like their monthly fees are low. *BUT*, you don't have a choice regarding these unbundled fees - you have to pay them all - so make sure you get the total monthly min fees (if you don't sell a single item) in writing. 3. Find a vendor offering a month-to-month plan. Do not sign a multi-year plan. Also note that many vendors waive a setup fee. 4. You do not need to lease hardware for an ecommerce site. Stay away from vendors pitching this option. 5. Many (most?) payment processors are rip-off artists. ***READ ALL PAPERWORK VERY CAREFULLY.*** PayPal has its own liabilities (see paypalsucks.com), but they do offer a reasonably priced credit card payment service from a known entity. Another alternative is 2checkout.com. They charge a $49 setup fee plus 5.5% + $0.45 per transaction. They are more expensive but have the least amount of paperwork. This would be a good alternative if you're not sure how big your revenue stream will be. Finally, you will need a decent shopping cart solution. Two interesting choices are mals-e.com (no relation to me<g>) and shopify.com. Both services allow you to sign up for a free account to test drive the service and both services have excellent forums. I would ask your payment processor question in both these forums for the latest recommendations. Let us know what vendor you finally end up choosing. Good luck! Malcolm _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[email protected] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
