Willing to accept online payments. options?

Options on how to actually accept online payments

[javb]

I am new on receiving online payments via a website.

We are selling a digital/download product. Not shippable.

We live outside of US.

We are not US resident nor citizen.

We do have a company in the US.

We do have Tax id number (EIN)

We do have a bank account in the US.

With all that, we opened a paypal account, and a google checkout account, that are working just fine.

We were rejected by clickbank.. no reason given. (twice)

So, what we want is to accept credit cards, but not those suscribed to paypal and google checkout...

We opened an account on Authorize.net ... they said that they are just a "payment processor" and that we needed a merchant account.. so they reffered us to "First Data" ... where i completed an online application... the are "underwriting it? "

Finally, the question is...

1. The actual difference beetween a payment processor and a merchant account....

2. What other option do i have to sell online ? ? And accept credit cards?

3. Be aware that i want payments and secure forms hosted on third party solutions, in the meantime, with dont what to deal with this...

4. What are the risks that we are taking by doing this...?

Please orientate us a little... based on ur experience..

Thanks in advance.

[piatkow]

So, what we want is to accept credit cards, but not those suscribed to paypal and google checkout...

I don't use Paypal myself but other people posting here have said that your customers should be able to pay without registering. Having said that I have twice been forced to open unwanted Paypal accounts in order to make specific purchases so you may have done something wrong in setting up your account. I rejected Google Checkout when it was first launched because it forced the creation of a Google account, I have never bothered to check if they have changed things.

Apart from these two (and Nochex in the UK) most service providers in this area charge hefty flat rate fees on top of transaction processing. You need to be sure of a decent turnover before committing or you can easily be out of pocket.

The Wikipedia page on Merchant Accounts looks accurate enough to answer your main question in more detail than we can here.

[Propools]

First, let me welcome you to WebmasterWorld.
Second, we use Card Services International and have our merchant account through them. We use Authorize.net as the processor. It's been working smoothly for years. NO problems.
Check them out at [cardserviceinternational.com...]