Trying to get started in real time e-commerce

[elguapo]

I have been selling ad space and few ebooks on my website for several years now. I just use my web host's SSL, no shopping cart (just individual order pages for each product), and all credit card payments processed offline (I key them manually with my terminal). I currently have a merchant account.

Now with my products growing, I want a more sophisticated ecommerce system and start processing items in real time. In trying to understand things, I have a few questions:

1. When I signup for payment processors like Authorize.net, does that mean I will replace my current merchant account with Authorize.net? Or Authorize.net will just be gateway that connects my website to my merchant account?

2. If I use some fraud protection systems like Verified by Visa, is that another step and how will that system integrate with the scheme of things?

3. Do I need to buy an SSL certificate on my own if I want to have my own shopping cart and if I use payment gateways such as Authorize.net? Can I not just use my web host shared SSL certificate?

Can you please guide me as to what I need to get started? The whole e-commerce thing can be daunting, and I really appreciate your help

[hfwd]

1. Auth.net is just a gateway, you get to keep your old merchant acct. You can ask them to use Authorize as a gateway, and most of them will set it up for you.

2. You can adjust settings for accepting/rejecting cards based on fraud score - i.e. if the zip code matches the billing zip on the card, requiring CVV (the 3 last digits on the back of the card). Authorize also has optional settings such as IP filter, amount & velocity filter, etc. Fancy bells and whisles that you have to pay extra for. Most e-commerce website won't require these extra things.

3. You can use the shared ssl, but buying ssl is now pretty cheap - you should use your own so your customers will see [yourstore.com...] instead of the IP address of the shared server.

Good luck!
hfwd