what's the EASIEST way to process CC's on a website?

[partha]

the client I'm working for now wants to charge credit cards on their site. They want to use the system both to automatically process cards entered by customers on the site, and for employees to process cards given to them over the phone.

I've never done this before, so what's the simplest, easiest, failsafe way to do it?

[Jon_King]

The easiest... don't take cc's over the phone and use PayPal on your site.

[partha]

; ) alright what's the next easiest?

[iJeep]

i think that a payment gateway like authorize.net is the easiest after it is set up. It is pretty complicated to implement, but after it is running everything is done for you. The card will be authorized during the order process so the customer knows immediately if their card is declined, accepted or whatever else.

Also, you can set up your own form for submitting credit card transactions, fill out the order form on the web site while on the phone, or key in charges at the authorize.net site.

I'd assume most other gateways work the same way.

[Jon_King]

; ) alright what's the next easiest?

FWIH MonsterCommerce.

Keep in mind I'm giving you some easy-to-use solutions.

IJeep has it right if you want to really have a handle on your transactions... the major gateways at this level all operate in a similar fashion, but you have to get pretty involved into deploying them, no matter whom you choose.

In my mind it's a low tech implementation or an ecommerce education with the software package you choose.

[Corey Bryant]

Most of the electronic payment gateways will provide you with what you need.

Authorizenet.com is usually about $20-$30 a month with a $,10 transaction fee (on top of what the Merchant Account Provider (MAP) will charge. Auth also charges $20-$25 a month to use their recurring billing features. Some companies give you 250 free transactions and charge you $.05 after that.

LinkPoint charges are about $15-$30 a month with no extra transaction costs and no extra charges to use their recurring billing.

Netbilling charges 1.5% and $.15 or a flat rate of $.45 on top of what the MAP will charge you.

Verisign is about $20-$80 a month. They give you 1,000 transactions a month and then charge about $.10 per transaction. Recurring billing is about $30 a month

-Corey