Merchant Accounts, Secure Payment Gateways, etc...

[juhko5]

Okay here's the Scenario.
I am registering a fictitious/DBA name in California and will soon have a business license. I plan on opening a checking account for the business. I want to be able to accept credit card payments on the website and have those funds deposited into my business checking account. I am not sure what all I need. I don't have a shopping cart setup on my website. I was thinking of going through Wells Fargo for the business checking account and they mentioned they would waive the Merchant Account setup fee. I looked into it (

http://www.wellsfargosecure.com/internetmerchantaccount.htm)

but don't know what else I'll need after I do that. Obviously a Secure Payment Gateway - but I was thinking that service should be bundled with the payment processor (Wells Fargo - right?).
This is my first e-Commerce website and I've had my head so far in the design I don't really know what's next.

 

[juhko5]

Okay nevermind - I spent some time reading and searching the net. As I understand it, Wells Fargo does indeed bundle the payment gateway. They are resellers of Authorize.net, Cybersource and Verisign. I'm not sure which level of service they package with the Internet Merchant Account service as the cheapo Verisign service utilizes a "secure host form" which looks really ghetto because the customer is directed to a whole different site.

One thing I'm not clear about is the Shopping cart - Payment Gateway relationship. Can anybody clarify this?

 

[CoreyBryant]

Actually there are a lot of CC processors out there. Authorize.net is the gateway & Wells Fargo is the processor. Yes it takes a lot of time to understand it all.

You can put your shopping cart on a regular web site - and then have a SSL site enter the CC number & process. We do something similar like this. Your shopping cart is hosted on your site - so you maintain the DB & keep the DB for yourself. When the customer makes a purchase, and enters his information, he is then directed to a co-branded payment page so he can enter his CC number securely. You do not have to worry about security of this CC since we handle all of that. The CC is processed in real time & a batch is ran on a nightly basis automatically. The money is deposited into your bank account usually in the next day or so (with the exception of American Express).

__________________________
Corey

http://www.pay-it.com

http://www.merchantaccounts4less.com