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Security is of primary concern when we are dealing with shopping carts and online financial transactions. Here are some definitions to help you understand the process: merchant account -- this is a credit/debit-card "processing" account that you arrange with a clearing house, typically your bank. Its sole purpose is to take the funds collected from credit/debit cards and forward them to the bank account you've arranged for that purpose. gateway -- this is a computer-driven processing system that talks to the credit-card clearing house computers in the national banking system and determines whether a card is valid or not, and allows collection of funds via your merchant account configuration To process credit cards online directly on your site, you will need an SSL Certificate for your online shopping, along with a payment gateway and a merchant account. A SSL Certificate costs about $20.00 Here is a list of Payment-Provider Partners supported in the Zen Cart E-Commerce solution that NWspirit is currently working with. Authorize.net is a well-respected name in the business of online secure payments. They don’t advertise pricing, you have to “Call for pricing.” More info on their pricing structure is at the URL below: http://www.authorize.net/solutions/merchantsolutions/pricing/ 2Checkout.com is one payment provider partner that I have noticed used by a lot of the merchants that I do business online with. There is a one-time set-up fee of $49. Transaction Fees: 5.5% commission on each transaction, plus a $0.45 charge per transaction. PayPal has no setup fees, recurring monthly charges, or gateway fees. – Transaction fees are 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction or lower. You don't need a SSL Certificate or separate merchant account. The client is directed off your site for the transaction – so you don't need an SSL Certificate. And an online customer can use their credit card with PayPal without having a PayPal Account. |