I'm in the process of designing my website. Is Authorize.net the way to go? Any experiences and thoughts would be appreciated.
Authorize.net is one of the most popular payment gateways. It's compatible with a wide range of shopping cart solutions and is pretty easy to implement.
Authorize.net is just the "gateway" part, what you generally look for is a "merchant account" that uses the Authorize.net gateway. I currently use e-onlinedata.com for my merchant account (they process payments with the authorize gateway)
If you're going to be doing a lot of ecommerce and want an easy way of taking payments, it's a great way to go.
The downside (of any merchant account) is that there are monthly fees each month that you have to pay.
The upside is that once integrated, it makes it super easy for a customer to pay you securely without having to leave your site. I've found this results in more sales than just using a PayPal (website payment standard) only type payment solution which doesn't have monthly fees.
Authorize.net is one of the most popular payment gateways. It's compatible with a wide range of shopping cart solutions and is pretty easy to implement.
Authorize.net is just the "gateway" part, what you generally look for is a "merchant account" that uses the Authorize.net gateway. I currently use e-onlinedata.com for my merchant account (they process payments with the authorize gateway). Look for a good, trusted merchant account provider that uses that authorize.net gateway.
If you're going to be doing a lot of ecommerce and want an easy way of taking payments, it's a great way to go.
The downside (of any merchant account) is that there are monthly fees each month that you have to pay.
The upside is that once integrated, it makes it super easy for a customer to pay you securely without having to leave your site. I've found this results in more sales than just using a PayPal (website payment standard) only type payment solution which doesn't have monthly fees.
Thanks for the reply! Is Paypal Pro another option or do you have to use it in conjunction with authorize.net?
Thanks for the reply! Is Paypal Pro another option or do you have to use it in conjunction with authorize.net?
I think PayPal Pro is similar to a merchant account in that you can accept credit cards on your site without the shopper having to leave your website.
The difference is the "gateway" part.
PayPal Pro uses PayPal for the gateway, which means when setting up your shopping cart, it has to be compatible with PayPal Pro (which several shopping carts are these days). I think PayPal Pro might have a lower monthly fee as well.
I've just personally found merchant accounts using Authorize.net to be much more flexible as to which shopping carts and other software that it'll integrate with.
I think the first step might be: figure out what is going to be "powering" the ecommerce part of your website.
Is it going to be an off the shelf ecommerce shopping cart script like CubeCart, Zen Cart, OSCommerce (or something similar? Or is it going to be something that is custom built by a developer.
Then, take a look at the features of that ecommerce software to see what payment systems it can easily integrate with. Some will integrate easily with PayPal Website Payments Standard, but not with PayPal Pro, some will integrate easily with Authorize.net, but maybe not with another gateway provider.
Then look/search in the support forums for those software solutions to see if anybody else is already using the payment system you're considering to see how they are getting on.
OSC, Zencart and OSC clones have payment modules. Yes there are authorize.net and Paypal IPN and Paypal pro modules for them. In most cases it's just upload the code to your site to the correct place, then go to the admin and configure the modules.
Paypal Pro is more expensive. $30.00 plus additional fees. The funds go in to your paypal account and if you want to transfer to bank it takes 3 to 5 business days to get there.
Under a merchant service money moves right in to your bank account 24 to 48 hours later depending on the bank.
i am working to establish an account with merchant warehouse. They are $18 a month, lower rates than PayPal Pro, also there is a minimum transaction deal where if you dont sell you pay $25 dollars or what ever the difference is.
Im still looking tomorrow, if I dont find anything better, I am applying with mw.
I process all of my credit cards with Paypal using their Virtual Terminal.
The downside is that payments are not processed immediately and the service does cost $30 per month. My fees are around 2.4% for all 4 major cards (MC, Visa, Discover and AmEx) plus .30 per transaction.
The upside is, when a customer wants to add something to their order I don't have to process their card seperately or if they want to change something, I don't have to go in and refund. In my line, this happens a LOT.
The other plus side is that I use my Paypal debit card for most of my transactions so I get 1.5% cash back on every purchase. That definitely helps offset the fees.
Oh, the other upside to paypal is that you have instant access to your money. With a typical merchant account, you don't have access until it's been deposited 24-48 hours later.
I know Paypal isn't the best payment option out there, but I've been using them for 7 years and I'm satisfied with their service. Your mileage may vary.
Paypal Pro is more expensive. $30.00 plus additional fees. The funds go in to your paypal account and if you want to transfer to bank it takes 3 to 5 business days to get there.
Under a merchant service money moves right in to your bank account 24 to 48 hours later depending on the bank.
i am working to establish an account with merchant warehouse. They are $18 a month, lower rates than PayPal Pro, also there is a minimum transaction deal where if you dont sell you pay $25 dollars or what ever the difference is.
Im still looking tomorrow, if I dont find anything better, I am applying with mw.
Thanks, that sounds like it could be done. I will look into it. Let me know if your search finds something better!
You can also negotiate the fees! If you want to go with Authorize.net because of their great reputation, but feel that their fees are a bit too high, you can tell them what other fees you've found and ask if they are willing to match it.
Pro: Authorize.net is user friendly and easily compatible with back end
Con: Merchant account needed; Fees; One week before a "batch" of funds is released into bank account
Pro: PayPal Pro Flo allows the user to use either a credit card OR paypal. That sometimes is worth the fees. You can get PPFP through your bank, or go straight to the source..
Con: Fees; Money transit time of 3-5 business days to withdraw into account
Thoughts on Authorize.net--is it any good? 
