Confused about payment processing... Help!

[DavidO]

For three years I've been using Paypal buttons as my only online payment option. Very simple. I also have a merchant account with a virtual terminal that I use for phone orders.

Now I want to offer my own secure payment page linked to my merchant account, while keeping paypal as an additional payment option. But I'm totally consused by all the zillions of options out there.

My needs are really pretty simple: I currently sell a single product in two options/price levels: digital and physical.

DL Guard looks interesting and would also manage my downloads. But do I still need a payment gateway? Authorize.net is often recommended. But do they host a secure payment page or do I need to get my own SSL certificate?

It gets confusing (and expensive!) when you suddenly start throwing in payment gateways, then shopping carts, SSL certificates, etc. etc.

I just want a simple, secure payment system that will increase conversion by offering customers something more than Paypal. Any suggestions?

[Lokesh Sharma]

If you haven't heard yet, check out E-junkie.com ...
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- Lokesh Sharma

[Glenn Grundberg]

Authorize is the way to go IMHO...

They take care of gateways, etc. and are very easy to integrate. They are kind of a "middleman" in the transaction so you don't have to deal with all the minutiae, although you already have a merch acct, so you could certainly set up a cart/certificate for yourself and avoid some costs, but at a cost of time if you get what I mean.

Personally in your situation I think I would integrate my sales systems into DLG or 1ShoppingCart and forget about your existing merch acct unless you are taking phone or physical orders.

Let them handle the gateway and other nonsense!